How do you deal with washing in the winter...

[blahrahrah]

...when you dont have a tumble drier?

With this recent spate of crap weather I have got behind and it is starting to pile up.

I have two airers and wash everyday, but it just never seems to dry. This is going to be a BIG problem in winter with a household of five and one in cloth nappies!

How do you dry sheets etc and not end up with a house with clothes drying everywhere/sheets hanging off doors and looking like a laundry? What if people come over??? The house would look very messy!

How do you get things to dry quickly?

(I come from a hot country so this is all new to me!)

I have a utility room which is very warm....and a tumble dryer.
Sorry- I couldn't cope without one for towels, sheets, bedlinen. Never tumble dry my stuff- I do dh's shirts.
Have you no space for one?

I'd have to have a tumble drier even if it had to come out of Kay's. No outdoor space/garden in this flat and we are in the West of Scotland where it rains heavily and often all winter long.

I don't have a tumble dryer and mostly it isn't a problem...apart from now when it is too warm to have the heating on and it is raining outside.

In the winter I put the bedsheets onto the radiators and clothes on airers near the radiators and I also put them in front of the fire if we have it on.

With our super king size bed sheets, I drape them over the dining room chairs on the weekend and shut the door until they dry so at least I don't have to look at them!

We have spare sheets so I can wait a couple of days for them to dry as they don't need to be put straight back onto the bed by the evening.

But I feel your pain at the moment as I have a backlog too and DP wants us to get a tumble dryer and I am running out of reasons not to get one now.

I put stuff in the airing cupboard too if that helps??

Winter's easier than wet summer days, because you have the central heating on, and stuff dries well on the airers. Try putting them in the empty bath if you don't want them all over the place as most houses have a warm bathroom as that's the radiator that doesn't usually have a trv. In summer, I've often struggled, but this year dh thought to put electric heater on for an hour in our utility room, and what a difference! We've never felt the need for a tumble drier, and that's with 3 kids over 4 year range, who all wore cloth nappies - had two in them at one stage.

Im definately investing in a tumble dryer this winter! with a toddler and twins on the way, its got to be done!

Tumble dryer and airing cupboard, and I spend hours daydreaming about the perfect laundry room.

M house always looks like a hinese Laundry.

I just hang big things off doors and everything else goes on a clothes drier.

Radiators are good for drying things quickly.

Clothes horses, hangers in door frames, things over doors and bannisters and the odd trip to the launderette when it all gets too much.
:)

I hate having stuff drying all over the house making it look so untidy.I hang everything outside no matter what the temperature. They will dry eventually -unless there is a downpour obviously.
If it is actively raining and unlikely to clear up soonish I use the backs of chairs to dry things as quickly as possible.
I once had a dryer but rarely used it as it was rubbish I am eco friendly

In the Winter I hang things on radiators.At the moment I have things on the line when its dry,and on a wooden clothes horse in my conservatory when its raining.

Two clothes horses, and a dehumidifier!

I did wonder about \link{http://www.ecowashinglines.co.uk/rotary-washing-line-cover\a washing line cover/tent thing} - has anyone tried them?

I watch the weather like a hawk and the minute it stops raining out goes the washing. I save it up and don't wash until I know its not going to rain. It does mean we all need more changes of underwear as I don't wash every day but I sponge marks off school uniforms etc so they can be worn again. I did manage with 2 in cloth nappies for a quite a while. Mind you - do also have a rayburn with a rack over......

I wash at home, then take all the wet stuff to the launderette. I can dry two or three loads for a pound in twenty minutes, partly to keep my leccy bills down, but also the industrial dryers are so much more efficient than the domestic ones...
If I had the space, I'd look at buying/hiring one of these at home, cos the normal domestic ones just don't do it for me...

Have two airers and an extra thing to hang "smalls" on.But I absolutely couldn't manage without my airing cupboard.
SO i wash the clothes then if its raining they go on the airer/s for one day and then next day they go in the airing cupboard for a day and so i have a two day drying cycle. This has worked for our family of four even when we used cloth nappies.
The main airer goes in the conservatory in the summer months and in the study next to the heater in the winter.Secondary airer is in dd's bedroom-only use it when we have large sheets or towels to dry inside.
I always try and line dry if at all possible .I also wait for a dry day to do the sheets/towels etc. I have recently discovered that if you hang the washing out in the evening it will often be almost dry in the morning.I somehow thought it would be all damp but no -and we live in wales!

Dehumidifier here. Works a treat for drying washing, especially if you can shut the machine & the laundry into one room. It ends up being less crispy than when it is tumble dried.

I get my Dad to put ultra strong brackets above my washer so I can fit my tumble dryer on there

I cannot live without a tumble dryer. I will find space somehow, somewhere.

I bought one of the large electric drying racks from Lakeland. I'd attach a link if I knew how to do it. I got it last autumn and used it all winter long. You can fit loads of washing on it and it seems to dry pretty quickly. Lakeland claim it is very economic, although I don't know how it compares to a tumble dryer.

\link{http://www.lakeland.co.uk/lakeland-dry-soon-heated-airer/F/C/washing-laundry/C/washing-laundry-clothes-horses-airers/product/21736\Lakeland heated airer} - they do look good.

No tumble drier here. Never had one growing up either. We have an overhead airer in the utility room. I grew up in the W of Scotland, and traditionally people who didn't have the space would hang the overhead airer over their bath.

I've heard the electric drying racks from Lakeland are good.

Put stuff on hangers and hang it around the house (stair well is good) doesn't need ironing then either. Also a smalls dryer helps on space. Leaves the clothes horses for towels etc

I have a tumble drier but have used it less and less over the last few years (used to use it all the time, summer or winter).

I have an airer similar ish to this and a couple of these.

The bulk of stuff goes on the airer, which is either in the spare room or the conservatory. Sheets go on the radiator airers which are then hung over the top of doors upstairs - so they have a long hanging length and don't have to be folded so much.