How do you deal with your washing?!

[mollysmum82]

I'm just curious what other people's laundry habits are. I never seem to see wet washing hanging at anyone else's house so I wondered what I was missing! Obviously when it's a glorious day you can hang it outside but if you don't have a utility room and its peeing it down what do you do? Do you tumble dry everything? (If I try this everything seems creased beyond repair) or do you just iron everything from wet? What other options are there? How often and when do you do your washing? I feel like such a novice at this house keeping malarkey! Thanks so much for any tips!

I use 40 cotton cycle for most things, 30 for wool or delicates. Agree for whites you really need 60, which is what I do,but I'm sure some people will disagree.

I wash white tshirts and shirts with ariel actilift powder and def coming out white, but who knows maybe they have loads of bleach residue from the powder?

sorry I mean I wash those items at 30

reading this thread i am v keen to get a dehumidifier. are any ones better than others?
i have no idea how people are getting stuff dry on a airer in 12 hours. mine stays damp for days and yes often smells. i would prob use drier more if we had a decent one - as it is its for emergency bedding etc.
i think airing cupboards are key. we dont have one. my mum used to have a huge one with the (badly insulated) hot water tank in there and it was toasty warm and anything still damp but ironed would dry in no time and smell lovely!

I wash most things at 40 because I know that things don't get properly clean at 30 (either in the visible sense or the invisible sense).

Towels and bedding at 60 or 90, depending on how much time I have.

Most things get dry on an airer in between 12 & 24 hours. Nothing ever smells. But I am very particular about how things go on the airer. Everything must be shaken out so it has as few creases as possible, and be laid on the airer so that it is completely flat with no bunches or folds. I also try to alternate bigger things (t-shirts, leggings etc) with small things (pants, socks) on the next 'line'.

Anything I can hang up instead (jumpers, skirts, dresses, hoodies, cardigans etc) gets hung on hangers and hung over upstairs doorframes. They're always dry the next day.

Shirts, school trousers, jeans, towels and sheets get tumble dried, guilt-free, if it's too wet/cold to hang them outside. I don't iron. Saving the environment, bit by bit.

i hope the plastic bottles were fully finished with the last bit watered down to make it last longer before the bottles were thrown away .

Eggybrokenoff, I find it's only the lighter stuff that dries in 12 hours on an airer and it depends on the weather, heating etc. But if I just leave it on the airer all spread out it dries in a few days regardless of circumstances. Trousers and skirts get ironed so they dry more quickly and might be hung on the side of the airer on a hanger to add space. Usually pants take longest to dry and I have them on a separate hanging thing on the side of the airer. I used to then transfer the stuff to an airing cupboard but I don't have one now so in winter I put it in a pile on a chair by a radiator. I sometimes cram 2 machine loads of washing onto the airer and it still dries.

Although I've never had a tumble drier, I've used one in a launderette and also owned a washer-drier at times and I've always then transferred the washing to the airer, so I'm not sure what people who use a TD do with the washing afterwards. I'd want to either hang it on an airer or put it in an airing cupboard. Surely you can't just take stuff out of the TD and put it away with your clothing - it must be hot and steamy?

I take it out of the dryer, fold it or hang it immediately so it doesn't crease, and put it away. It's not steamy because it's dry.

I do what TobyLerone does - except I put some in the ironing basket so my environmentally aware cleaner can iron it on Fridays She's very environmentally aware - last time she got the coach back to Poland instead of the Plane.

I did an actual LOL at the coach thing :o

I do about 5 loads a week (me, DP & 2 DD's). If dry I always hang washing on the line. If there are days of rain I will hang washing on clothes horse at night in living room & put dehumidifier on, they are great and dry a whole load of washing overnight.

I use 4 squirts of Method laundry detergent with some soda crystals (to soften London water) for the kids clothes, sheets and towels. I use ecoballs for my clothes and my husband's clothes! I also make sure to buy Method refills rather than buying new plastic bottles of Method (I buy them from Ethical Superstore) so I have had the same bottle for a couple of years now.

We have a small cellar where the boiler is located so I know that we are lucky in that clothes dry out very quickly down there so no concerns about mold etc when it's damp outside.

Of course I care about family health - which is why I wouldn't touch conventional washing powder with a barge pole. Typical ingredients include optical brighteners, fragrance (including hormone-disrupting phthalates), phosphates (toxic to marine life and can't be removed at water treatment plants - already banned in many EU countries), napthas (cancer and lung damage), formaldehyde (a known carcinogen), bleach etc... I wouldn't want these products anywhere near my skin or my children's skin which is why I don't use conventional products to wash our clothes, sheets etc!

"I use 4 squirts of Method laundry detergent with some soda crystals (to soften London water) for the kids clothes, sheets and towels. I also make sure to buy Method refills rather than buying new plastic bottles of Method (I buy them from Ethical Superstore) so I have had the same bottle for a couple of years now."

I do the same as 1789 though I used Method on my clothes too. LOVE Method & soda crystals. Love just having that tiny bottle and a refill lasts forever and takes up no room in the cupboard.

My Lakeland heated air dryer just arrived - everyone in the office is curious.

Can someone do the Maths for me on the Lakeland heated airer v a tumble dryer. Lakeland only quotes the kw/hr on it but I've heard people say you need to leave it running overnight to get the stuff dry. Whereas of course a tumble dryer uses more electricity but for substantially less time.

I just wonder how much more environmentally friendly the heated airer truly is? Is it much different to standing a normal airer in front of the boiler which is what I do in the winter and it seems quite efficient. (harder to get stuff dry indoors in Spring/Autumn though ime)

I don't have a tumbler dryer so the maths doesn't matter to me.
I'll just have to make sure I turn the bloody thing off!

global warming is all a con anyway.

Oh that's it then.

99% of scientists disagree with you, but if you say so :)
You and claig would get one well.

PS "Global warming" is not a term generally in use apart from by people who comment on Daily Mail articles saying this like "So much for global warming!!!!" when an article about snow appears.

Heater, such a brilliant parody, I am properly laughing!!!!!

99 per cent you say?do you have proof its 99 per cent?

To be fair it was tongue in cheek,either way im not bothered,global warming climate change,its all the same to me,i have no idea what its called i only hear what other people call it,i have better things to think about!

That is the oft quoted statistic yes, but no, I don't have proof that is definitely 99% no.

Anyway, you're not bothered so it doesn't matter. You have better things to think about like washing.

Thank you 1789.

I have never tried the Method stuff,but I will now look out for it.

I also use soda crystals. Just seems to get stuff that bit cleaner as well as softening the water.

For anyone concerned about airers being knocked over, I have 2 over-the-bath airers I mentioned upthread, so it may have been missed by those late to the party! My DCs only have a bath twice a week so it is the least used part of my house, but the airers are easy to fold flat for half an hour with the clothes still on them, they can be put back up once the bath is empty. Keeps clothes out of the way and if they are slow to dry I sometimes prop them along the landing next to the bannisters so the rising warm air dries them even more quickly.

I have a washer/drier which is crap as a drier (like someone else said, it can only dry half a load, so you have to empty it out when the wash finishes, then choose which half to dry, it takes ages and then the clothes come out all screwed up and still partly damp most of the time.) I much prefer my airers, free, take up no space and no environmental impact.

FWIW, those saying they don't care about the environment, I think its more that our tiny little impact compared to big businesses and larger countries really makes very little difference on a global scale. I remember a comedian once (Sean Lock?) who likened his recycling efforts of rinsing out a Marmite jar to turning up at an earthquake with a dustpan and brush.

yy two steps

but if 10 million people turned up at a earthquake with a dustpan and brush......?

Yes, but has it ever been ok to just say, "Well at least I'm not as bad as they are"? That's just like giving up! Lots of people making small differences is surely better than no one being arsed to do anything because no one else is. Anyway some charming soul will accuse me of being smug and preachy in a minute - which I'm not - so I'll stop :)