Drying Laundry - any other options?

[Lovethesea]

I'm in Scotland and outside drying is looking less possible. Now there are 4 of us there is a lot of washing and I can't stand it building up. I hung a load on an airer Tuesday morning and rewashed it this morning as it was still wet and had a wet dog odour!

I've had the heating on all day with the washing on an airer next to the radiator and it is still damp. I'm running around moving things onto radiators directly but this takes time and is thwarted if we go out/DD pulls it off/go broke with heating costs/pass out in house sauna.

I've seen the rotary line covers, but I really want an all winter solution and I can't see the washing drying in cold air.

I've read love/hate reviews of Lakeland's heated airer. I like the idea of the washing in one area (small 2 bed), but I'm a bit wary of £75 if it's not great.

Is that it? Any other options? We have a washer dryer, but the dryer has never worked. Maybe being stuck in a cupboard with no external air doesn't help, but it comes out warm and wet so totally useless.

I keep hoping there is another solution.....?????? Or is it radiators or heated airer?

5 of us here, soon to be six. No tumble dryer.

Get one of those circular hangers with lots of pegs on for drying socks and underwear.

During the winter, shirts, tshirts and jeans (adult sizes and one teen) all go on hangers and hang from the curtain poles in our bedroom and dry overnight.

I have a huge Minky clothes dryer that I dry the younger DC clothes on. I find that they dry best if each item goes over 2 racks rather than folded in half over itself by just using one rack (if that makes sense!)

Hang the smallest, thinnest items at the bottom and work up the dryer with bigger items. Towels hang over the top racks.

I also have a separate dryer for towels and bedding.

I have the radiator racks too and find them good for jumpers and thick items.

A tumble drier would be less work but even the condenser one we had gave us terrible damp.

But I will be trying to use my line outside for as long as possible. It can fit 2 8 kg loads on it, has a pulley and I have a huge prop. Washing drys so well on it, it is sad just how much I love my washing line!

There are 4 of us (soon to be 5) and we have never had a tumble dryer. We use those aireres that hang from the radiators, standing airers and those circular thingies that you can hang underwear and socks from. WE also hang towels and bedding over doors to dry overnight and use the bannister in the upstairs landing. We have recently moved and we have no outdoor washing line yet, a very small banister and no airing cupboard - this has made it more of a challenge, but we are managing! oh, and if house is a sauna drying on the radiators, crack open a small window somewhere.

Also, I have seen some airers that sit over the bath, and indoor washing lines that you can use in the bathroom.....may be worth giving those a go....

Well youve now find what i was going to day re the spin. I find an extra spin maeks a difference is its going to be drying in the house. If drying inside you really need a window open to try and get make sure no mositure stays in teh house.

In the winter months (i.e. September-March/April in the UK!) you need to get stuff hung out first thing (unless it is literally below freezing point or very foggy or raining). By mid afternoon the weather is usually getting a bit cold/damp.

We have a long line and a line prop. Prop it up high to let thei air circulate. There are very few days ime that a good blow on the line won't take some of the "wet" out of it.

Agree with those who have said that hanging indoors causes more damp problems etc, so get the windows open.

Years ago (even a generation ago) people did tend to wash a lot less. e.g. if people only had a bath once a week then that is a lot less damp towels. So perhaps your mil's mother for example did get it all dry on one clothes' horse?

Try and assess how often/how much you wash stuff. In winter for example if your dcs are clean perhaps they don't need clean pjs every night? Ditto towels (there are loads of threads about this). If you wash towels every day try leaving it for just an extra day or two.

Also I honestly think that for people who need to have the heating on high just to get a lot of laundry dry, if you can afford to buy a tumble dryer this is probably more cost effective and will protect your home from a lot of very damp air.

What castleonthehill says. Usually dry within 12-24 hours except for jeans, though the last few days things have been taking more like 2 days. We have a dehumidifier too which helps with the condensation - though DP grumbles about the noise it makes.

When we moved into our house (Scotland) I started putting things on the line outside, but soon got fed up with them blowing into next door's garden/freezing on the line/being damp at nightfall so I'd just have to re-hang them somewhere indoors anyway.

Very useful thread thanks...

In emergencies, the launderette is the best option for us! Even just spending £1.60 on 16 mins of drying is worth it to either finish off a load or give a head-start. And the machines are huge. And it is a moment of peace for me too, strangely!

Have you got an airing cupboard (or, as my Irish dh calls it, a "hot press")? We got a chippy friend to put several slatted shelves in ours so we could hang washing inside the cupboard - dries off brilliantly.

Peg racks for socks and pants brilliant too.

Hi we changed our kitchen radiator for one of the wall ladder radiators and it works really well even when its off for drying clothes and happiest in particular. I also picked up a small heated airer from our local cheap shop which works ok for drying small things although you do need to move things round a lot. It doesn't work for bedding though so in really wet weather I tend to resort to the tumble dryer

Happiest? That should be nappies!

I'm with mjinhiding, check the weather for the next day, wash overnight and get it straight out in the morning. You might all know this, but the BBC Weather online does a 24 hour forecast split into about 4 hourly chunks for each main uk town which is really useful for planning outdoor drying!

I have the Lakeland heated airer and I think it is great. It is very damp here today and I put my washing on it at about 9am. My daughters super thick hoody is nearly dry as are my jeans. Some t-shirts are already dry and put away. Also has a cat asleep underneath it!

If you're drying on a clothes horse, pointing a desk fan at it helps with the air flow and the clothes dry quicker.

Do those heated airers use lots of electricity?

It costs 3p an hour to run.

Thanks might get one!Not keen on tumble dryers tbh as they shrink everything

No tumble drier here and six residents in the house. We use pulley airers - two of them - and radiator airers and the bannister, and I hang shirts/fitted sheets over the corners of open doors. Also those circular pant/sock peg things - ours was 99p from Ikea with stick-on eyes and we call it the Socktapus.

If you put wet washing an unventilated airing cupboard you risk getting damp problems.

Agree with getting it out on line if possible even just for a few hours, and with the fast spin cycle suggestion.

We have a dehumidifier, and although it was expensive to buy, it costs very little to run. I can dry 3 loads overnight on an airer with it underneath, no problem and no condensation caused at all. And it's not noisy.

I put everything possible on hangers so they have air all round them

CMOTdibbler, what kind of dehumidifier do you have? If it isn't noisy or expensive I might be able to convince to DH to agree to get one!

We have a Mitsubishi - had it 3 years now and use it all winter. We bought it originally as previous house had a condensation problem, but found it dealt with both problems at once

Brilliant - thanks CMOT. Does it stop itself when full until you empty it?

Yes - you can put it on for a certain time, or to keep humidity at a certain level, and it has a laundry setting

Sounds like I need to have a talk with DH!