How are you drying washing?

[YouLookinSusBro]

It's been really wet and rainy here over last few weeks so no chance of outdoor drying, but I've used over £50 in gas in the last week (prepayment meter) drying on radiators and small airers over the back of doors. I really cannot afford £50+ a week on gas 😔 especially as it's not even freezing here yet and could manage without much/any heating if it wasn't for the washing.

I've thought about heated airer but they are pricey and quite honestly there's nowhere to put it

I forgot to mention I have a desktop fan pointed at my airer too - it does help!

Clothes horse on the balcony. After a few days I take the driest things off and give them a quick blast on the radiators. 10 minutes does the job. It's a laborious and slow process but the best compromise we can afford.

Stick stuff on an airer overnight , no heating but not very cold here at the moment, then bung it in the tumble dryer for 20 minutes the next day. I like the sound of the launderette though, reminds me of my youth, a good book or ID magazine and half a pack of marlborough lights and a can of diet coke got me through a weeks worth of washing

Usually one wash on a day and put on a clothes horse. Towels and heavy clothes, socks /jeans dry in the tumble dry. When I was dark clothes I put it on a cold quick wash, wash the towels then put them together in the dryer.

I put some bits in the airing cupboard too.

It’s much easier now that DDs are in Un.

Heated aired in our spare room with a de-humidifier

I have a heated airer and have started to use that now I can't dry outside (stopped about mid- November)

It's OK if you do 8-9 items at a time so have to wash every other day or so. I put socks and pants on radiators.

Towels and bedding I wash and take to the laundrette. It's £2 for 18 mins there and I find because they are large I can dry the whole families towels or Bedding in one dryer - so £4 each time I do this.

We tried an airier and dehumidifier but it took ages. I could wash a couple of loads and get them dry in the tumble drier in that time. We’ve gone back to using the tumble drier most of the time

I don’t see how tumble drying in the laundrette is cheaper than tumble drying using your own electricity (if you have a tumble dryer obviously).

I use my drier a few times a week and it costs about £2 a load.

They also recover and use some of the the latent heat of vaporisation as the water is condensed. Really good idea.

Clothes horse in front of log burner overnight.
Or if I haven't lit it, in bathroom on heated towel rail (and clothes horse in front of it) as I can shut door, leave fan on and window ajar, so nowhere else gets damp.
Still use line on dry days too to take the edge off.
My washing machine doesn't have extra spin (only 'rinse and spin') which is really annoying- if anyone is buying one, check for this!

Tumbler here. I've tried hanging stuff outside for a few hours in the day when it's dry to take the edge off, but they're still soaking when I bring in 🤷‍♀️

Stuff that can't be tumbled is dried on an airer, with wo dues open and heating on

I wouldn't be able to manage without a tumbler, for sheets/towels etc

I've also been ironing a lot less if I fold it straight away from tumbler, so that's saved me a bit of energy (massive steam generator and I used to iron a couple of hours a week minimum)

I have a spare box room in the loft. Two airers and a clothes rail in there which is enough for 3 loads of washing. Dehumidifier on with the door closed for 24 hours and it's all bone dry.
I worked out the cost at about £1.50 for the 24 hours.

It made me think how it was done when I was little in the 60’s. Pre spin dryer days both my parents did the washing together on Sundays and the washed items were put through a ringer. We had a coal fire then a gas fire, no central heating and we used to have a washing line in the living room and kitchen for rainy days plus 2 clothes horses. My mum got a washer with a combined spin dryer around 1966 so my dad stopped helping her. But it wasn’t plumbed in so each time she used it she had to run pipes from and to the sink

Cant ever remember having any damp in the house though but wash day used to be a full days job for mum. We are lucky these days

tumble Dryer and aider. My dryer isn't too bad I don't think, costs about 50pence per hour.

I got a big load outside today (10am2.41pm) - I’d say it was 2/3 dry (but pretty cold)/ when I got it all in. Tops trousers went on hangers on door frames to finish off and the rest over the Aldi heated drying rack. Put that in for 3 hours (cost on smart meter 68p). It’s all folded and away apart from DH’s joggers as the waistband is still damp.

My Nan, showing y'all how it was done in the 60's 😄

Launderette- I wash and spin at home. Cost me £4 yesterday to dry 6 bath sheets and a set of king size bedding.

We’ve just bought a heat pump tumble dryer. When we moved house we didn’t have a vent, or an outside wall in the utility room to put a vent into , so needed to buy a new one. We decided to pay the extra in the first place to save money in the long run. I know that’s not an option for everyone.

I’m really pleased with it,p. Everything goes in because it’s more gentle on your clothes and it’s got a wool cycle so dries jumpers. I could have probably dried some outside yesterday but typically it was the only day that I’ve been out all day for weeks.

High spin followed by hanging it next to the dehumidifier.

I would like a heat pump dryer but the room it would have to go in isn't heated much so the dryer would either have to work harder or I would have to heat the unused room more so neither would be energy efficient so I am stuck with my vented dryer for now and will probably have to replace it with another vented one, the room is often only about 12-13c in winter. It's similar if you keep one in a garage or outhouse.

An extra spin really does help, not that I always remember!
I have a series of clothes airers that I usually put the washing on in the spare room with the window open for one day.
I then put the half dried washing on the radiators for a few hours to finish it off.
As I have multiple loads going at once and different radiators on at different times, it is a very inefficient and time consuming process.
I really need a better way.

Tumble dry here too. Someone did some maths on this and for a full load, a heated airer and dehumidifier takes quite a few hours to dry. Then it cost more than to just turn the tumble dryer on.

I think many here find the same as going to the laundrette and using their tumble drier.

I put it outside and hope it doesn't rain, if it does I hang them over a clothes horse but it can take days to fully dry, unfortunately I have storage heaters so can't hang clothes on them, it's a breach of tenancy.

@BeyondTheLetterOfTheLawTheLetter Your Nan is much braver and hardier than me! Fabulous photo.

I have a heat pump tumble drier