Can a family of 4 survive without tumble dryer????

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

And if so what is the secret...!!???? I am drowning in laundry here- help me[muffled cries emoticon]...

Poor dh is neglected - my utility is inaccessible due to mountainous piles of sheets, clothes etc. etc. etc. The children never have matching socks

Now I take full responsibility for general shiteness at sorting and dealing with laundry - but - I just cannot find enough dry hours in a day to get this stuff done - can't really aford to buy new tumble dryer - the one that came with this house doesn't work.

any tips from you housekeeping guru types??? It could well save my marriage....

We just have a couple of big airers and stick them in the garden in the summer and by a radiator in the winter. I have never had a tumble dryer and wouldn't want one. Why pay to dry your washing?!!

nope

yes, easily. Airers, and make sticking a load in your priorty in the morning, even before a coffee.

But beanssprout, what do you do when it is in-between sort of weather? - not cold enough to have the heating on, not dry & sunny enough to get things dry outside? Those are the times when I value my dryer - I don't dry things from wet though, put them on the clothes horse overnight and finish then off in the dryer - it speeds up the process so I can get a load washed and dryed every day. (Plus reduces the ironing...)

I've always managed with 2 airers. I've always wanted a dryer but it's never happened! I'va also got a big bathroom so it doesn't get in the way to have one airer in use most of the time.

This family of 5 survives very well - buy a clothes horse, sort your laundry before doing washes then clear up as you go along.

but surely radiators are only good for a few items and are not much good during summer months when I refuse to put on heating - also ds and dd spend time dragging stuff off radiators and spreading them artistically around house.

That is when dd is not pulling down airer onto her head!!

The kids are getting older and bigger so I can only see this getting more difficult tbh - I need a laundry fairy

I have a rotary airer in garden and one i can use in house but recently I have been in and out of the garden like a fiddlers elbow trying to retrieve washing from torrential downpours. I do have a timer delay setting on washing machine allowing me to set cycle to complete first thing in am. But I am still not getting it done.

I am a rubbish housefrau

It doesn't help that pil's kep bringing sackloads of kids clothes from carboots!

Agree with beansprout - just put everything on airers outside or in front of radiator. The only pain is when its too hot to have the heating on but its raining outside, so things take longer to dry. Because DS gets through a lot of clothes, bibs, etc I've just bought him a few more clothes/towels so we don't run out if they take a long time to dry - still MUCH cheaper than buying and running a tumble dryer.

Family of three. No utility room. Both parents work outside the home. Couldn't possibly live without the dryer!

I haven't used our tumble dryer since we moved house in January. It is a combination washer dryer so I need it as a washing machine more often. I do the same as beansprout, garden if the weather is good and indoors of not. I have 3 bannisters (the house is on 4 floors, so they are good for the sheets etc if bad weather. The secret is to not let the dirty laundry mount up, I do a load every day so there is only a smallish amount to hang out to dry.

Yes, if you have a garden and a big washing line AND a house with radiators AND you are a SAHM with lots of time to take washing in and out and down and do lots of ironing (tumble driers save a lot of ironing).

Otherwise - with great difficulty.

I think it is also about expectations. I don't expect washing to be dry within 2 hours (unless it's sunny etc outside). It's a PITA having it hanging around and I can see how tempting a dryer would be but I can't justify it on cost and environmental grounds.

Thank you all - I have the airers etc. this is clearly a situation of a poor artist blaming her tools!! So I need to organise...

now I am off to start a new thread about getting wee smells out of soft furnishings! after sorting out me smalls of course

ohh I will get a gazebo for my outside line but the moisture in the air will still delay drying process??

i am sahm so no good excuse for my crapness cept I tend to efficiently carry out the jobs I don't mind doing (ie. I am happy to bake bread and make my own stock) - and neglect the ones I hate - laundry and ironing - hate hate hate

Family of 5, no central heating, ie. no radiators, no washing line, minimal ironing. Works fine, it's just about being organised. I have one of these and it is the most fab airer known to humanity. It will take pretty much a whole washload, and will dry overnight in a reasonably warm kitchen, or outdoors in times varying from an hour upwards, depending on the weather and the type of laundry.

On warm weekends I put the first laundry load on before breakfast, and aim to get a couple of loads washed and dried in a day. In the winter I put it on in the evening and leave the stuff to dry overnight. All works fine, though I wouldn't mind an airing cupboard as well.

Bmsa, Top ironing tip...
Leave it all until sunday evening.
Buy yourself a litre of vodka and fav mixer.
Do a relay with DP/DH. 1 hour on the board, refills supplied by DH as and when required. then swap, you sit and fill glasses whilst he gives it his best hour. (we tend to find I hate sheets, bedding so he does those, then i stick with clothes). Works a treat for us.

We are a family of 4 and don't have a tumble drier. I think we survive .

We're a family of 5 (including newborn baby) and we survive

And I work 3 days a week (although some working from home does help ).

not and mumsnet prolifically as i do.

God, this weekend has been difficult, hasn't it? I hung what I could outside and the rest is draped over an airer in the sitting room (the only room with enough space) and over the bannister. You'll get there in the end, I promise! IF you can do a load in the evening and hang it out overnight, it's usually dry enough by morning to iron.

Oh, and I can highly recommend Soapnuts (they won't dry your washing but they're fab!)