Drying clothes

[OrmIrian]

OK. I was doing fine in the summer. Managed to dry most of the washes on the line. But once the weather gets wetter what are you supposed to do? There are 5 of us and I try to only wash when I really have to but it still ends up with about 6 washes a week.

If I want to avoid the tumble drier and it's p*ing down outside, do I really have to have wet washing everywhere? What do you all do?

there are 6 of us inc one in cloth nappies, i have just started struggling with drying because of the weather. we have 2 airers in our bedroom which are always full of washing, occasionally put a few nappies on the hot water tank if i get stuck! when heating is needed i will be sticking everything on radiators so no probs then

do you have high(ish) ceilings to hang a clothes pulley on? they are amazing.

We don't have a tumble drier and have under floor heating so no radiators (and live in a cold country so outdoor winter drying not an option). I have a fold out clothes drying rack that works just fine. Luckily I do have south facing floor to ceiling windows so catch the winter sun

No high ceilings unfortunately.

I will invest in an airer though. Just finding somewhere to put it where it won't be knocked over or be used as a 'jungle' for DS#2's plastic dinosaurs.

Not sure whatthe energy use is (anyone know?? - its only on 2-3 mins) but a spin dryer is fab for getting a lot more water out of your clothes than the washing machine does - making drying on airers a much quicker job. Over the radiator dryers quite good for small stuff. We've got a tumble dryer but only use it in emergencies - we put it in the garage which is great - because if its raining you really think twice about going and using it. In our old house we had a 'shiela Maid' dryer and it was brilliant but you do need the ceiling space. Also if you have an aring cabinet I put my almost dry nappies in there to finish off

I do half and half.

As in i do the washing (2 loads + bedding) monday, wednesday and friday. This mean i can use the 2 clothes horses in the spare room (very sunny room). This normally drys by the next day ( don't over crowd the airers).

To dry sheets and towels i use our open bannisters.

If i have things which are still damp i just finish them off in the dryer usualy for about 30mins.

everything on an airer next to bathroom radiator

I tend to do more, smaller washes in winter so that things aren't cramped on the airer

but generally if we have the heating on they are dry in 24 hours

My parents have an AGA which is great for drying stuff. There is always a warm room even if the other heating isn't on. Probably not all that eco-friendly though as it runs on oil...

I guess it comes down to what uses more power - having the CH on when perhaps it's not cold enough, or using a tumbler. We don't often have our heating on unless it's really cold.

I was wondering about this very problem last night as I put our sheets in the tumble dryer. We use an airer for our clothes but as we have king-sized sheets air-drying them seems to be impossible (they take up half the lounge spread tent fashion over chairs). I've been wondering how other people manage and how we're going to manage when our baby's born and the washing increases. Thanks for all the tips and for letting me know that I'm not alone in pondering this issue.

I have 4 airers so it all goes on those in the utility room. Sheet, towels and table cloths go on the bannisters (we have 4 floors so plenty of bannisters).

Do you use a green electricity supplier, like Green Energy? Means you can feel slightly less guilty about using the tumble drier as most of their energy is from completely renewable sources.