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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

If you don't have a tumble dryer or don't use yours....

46 replies

LaCerbiatta · 21/10/2011 12:52

How do you manage to dry your clothes? Need tips, please!

I'm really struggling with this at the moment. Used to put the clothes airer next to the heater but in this new house that doesn't seem to work as heaters not as hot, specially since we're trying not to have the heating on for more than a couple of hours a day.

Tend not to put them outside because half of the time it'll rain and I'm out of the house all day and always end up with damp smelly clothes.... Also, it's usually so humid, even if sunny, that clothes take forever to dry outside.

So, what do you all do? I'm almost giving in and buying a tumble dryer but only when I can afford a really efficient one. Absolutely refuse to give an extra £20 a month to bloody energy provider!

(i'm working so won't log on again until tonight but please don't ignore me )

OP posts:

ruddynorah · 21/10/2011 13:57

Airing cupboard for things we need quickly. Clothes horse in bathroom for general things. Bannister on landing for sheets.

FancyForgetting · 21/10/2011 13:57

Like Bunbaker, I have the heated airer from Lakeland. It's brilliant - I put it in whichever room I'm working in during the day in winter and find there's such a good warmth emanating from it, I don't need the heating on while it's going, unless it is really cold. Light things like shirts are ready to iron the same day.

Managed with this last winter when tumble drier broke and we had snow for weeks on end. Have replaced with better washer/drier now and agree that using 1600 spin makes a huge difference to drying time. Although I do use the tumble drier now, I do so far more sparingly than in the past (live a Long Way North, so sometimes just unavoidable).

mousyfledermaus · 21/10/2011 14:17

at 1600 spin speed. my or better the landlord's mashine only does 1000... and it is 15y old and will just not die...

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 21/10/2011 17:18

Thanks everyone! Loads of good ideas. Washing machine goes up to 1200rpm. Don't your clothes get a bit to creased when you spin at 1600rpm?

May consider the lakeland heated thingy... also my airer keeps the clothes way to close together. Had never thought about that.

But I think the main issue is just that the house is to effing cold! and damp!....

OP posts:

ReastieHorrorShow · 21/10/2011 18:13

We have one of these in the kitchen. Even with no heating on I find the heat of the oven means the clothes dry really quickly. We are going to put another one up in our bathroom this week end as even so we never have enough space to dry stuff.

We hang sheets at the top of the stairs on the bannisters or if needed over the doors upstairs. We have an airer and it's all in the method of hanging clothes as to how quickly they'll dry - DH is a pro at this

Abra1d · 21/10/2011 18:21

Putting wet clothes in an Unventilated airing cupboard may cause damp problems, beware!

berryfreeze · 21/10/2011 18:32

i find it easier to dry clothes in this weather as the heating is on, and put it all on radiators, i usually give tops shirts etc a good shake when coming out of washing machine( i have quite a high spin 1400) and hang straight on hangers, they go on curtain rails, don't take to long to dry and not too creased, only have trouble with all the socks

Matronalia · 21/10/2011 18:56

I have one of these in the kitchen and a normal concertina airer in a corner in the lounge. The kitchen is v cold but things seem to dry faster on this one than the concertina style.

DS kept pulling the clothes off the bottom so I can't use those bits, but I can fit two loads on the top and they will be mostly dry in 12-24 hours (jeans take the longest). The bottom V is now a tent as I threw a throw over it which was large enough to make door flaps at the front. DS sits in there whilst I cook.

Woodlands · 21/10/2011 19:07

i have the lakeland heated airere. my gran asked what she could buy us when we had ds last year and that's what i asked for. not v exciting but a godsend in a flat with a baby!

startail · 21/10/2011 19:18

I have a washing line the length of the kitchen and cloth horses in the conservatory.
Line in garden if at all possible. Hate my tiny combination washer drier it costs money and creases everything and I haven't seen my iron since last time the DDs did Hama beads

ReastieHorrorShow · 21/10/2011 21:38

this heated airer everyone seems to have - how much quicker does it dry things?

fromheretomaternity · 21/10/2011 21:40

Just looking at lakeland heated airer and am v tempted, does it really work?

notcitrus · 21/10/2011 21:48

I've got 4 of those over-radiator racks, and a couple of the over-door hangers for putting shirts on hangers on, and put stuff over the biggest radiators.

If stuff really doesn't get dry in the depths of winter then it can be finished off in the dryer.

Woodlands · 21/10/2011 21:53

I love my heated airer. It drys a load of washing in a day.

dizzyday07 · 22/10/2011 00:32

I tend to put my washing on in the afternoon so its ready and on the airer (by the radiator in our spare bedroom) for when the heating comes on in the evening and then again in the morning.

I have never had a tumble drier - even when DD was in washable nappies!

Notnapping · 22/10/2011 00:36

I solved it with this:

direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-0182.aspx

Tis great :)

nickelbabe · 22/10/2011 10:10

the house I used to live in was damp downstairs - where the bedrooms were , and it was bloody cold a lot too.
Ex didn't let us hang the washing on the clothes horse upstairs "because it's the living room!", so they did take days to dry.

Definitely put as many clothes as poss at the top of the stairs - like the idea MyMelody suggested wit hthe thing that pulls across the to pof the stairwell.
In our house, the stuffo n the bannister dries really, really quickly - that's where we put stuff if we need it quickly.

Original poster

LaCerbiatta · 23/10/2011 21:12

Omg! The difference a second spin makes! I feel like a complete idiot for not having thought about it before!

Many thanks for the suggestion! I feel like we may make it without the tumble dryer after all. Am still considering the heated Lakeland dryer tghough....

OP posts:

Bearskinwoolies · 24/10/2011 00:08

I don't have a tumble dryer (donated to my work place) and I use the radiators & an airer for clothes, and the bannister and tops of doors for bedclothes and towels. Normally dry overnight.

gaelicsheep · 24/10/2011 00:33

My reasoning is that if you need the heating on more/higher than you would otherwise in order to dry clothes then you may just as well use a tumble drier. Ours is in the bathroom so it has the dual purpose of making that room nice and warm before bathtime. I tend to put everything in the tumble drier for 10 minutes before hanging it on the airers - things dry much quicker and end up much less creased. And then stuff that can have a full tumble get one. If we didn't have one there is no way we could dry our clothes in the winter (or most of the summer).

Abra1d · 24/10/2011 09:37

I do a reverse, gaelic, and put them on the line, then take them in for the last ten minutes and stick the things in the drier, if needed. There's no way, on a dank November day, we'd get towels dry outside. But I hate using radiators as I'm worried about mildew: two children with asthma.

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