Talk to me about drying clothes

[MidwifeMel]

Sooo...my old tumble dryer gave up the ghost last year and with the energy price hike I decided to look for other "space saving" drying ideas. I did invest in the large heated airer with cover etc....but its always been dodgy ( lowered tier intermittently works) ...plus it was huge and always up due tp washing every other day and taking almost 24 hours to completely dry and get folded ( work, kids, you know how it is). I really don't want to buy another tumble dryer as I'm still waiting for this winters leccy bill to drop and quite frankly I'm nervous!!!!
So tell me how you do it? The only space I can really put something is in the corner of my kitchen at a push or maybe the bathroom. There's 4 of us in a small 2 bed house and it already feels like a squish.

My heated airer fine, you must have been unlucky

Can you not dry outside ?

Some days yes but up in the North it's not been too good for drying. Always do I. The Summer and Spring.

Maybe. It was as tall as me and the same footprint as my tumble dryer so not ideal in a small space.

I bought a dehumidifier for condensation in my bedroom. It has a clothes function. It was taking days to dry clothes when I didn’t have it, now a full clothes horse dries in a day. Quite cheap to run and combats the mould at the same time

I'm in a 2 bed terrace. My stairs are at the back of the house and underneath them is open rather than with cupboard doors. I fit airers underneath and dry them there

Not heated airers just normal ones

Do you have a bath? I found a drying rack that fits into my bath and then I just pop a dehumidifier in the bathroom and close the door. Washing is dry within a couple of hours.

Do an extra spin on the washing machine and set up the maiden in the kitchen to dry overnight. This is what I do if weather lets me down. Bloody Manchester.

Extra spin on the washing machine.

We bought a dehumidifier and it has a clothes function. It's great as it dries them in about a day and the whole temp of the house is warmer too as a result

Have you space for a ceiling pulley airer?

Otherwise tbh I compared the electricity usage of my tumble dryer vs the length of time it takes to dry things on the heated airer and the electric usage for that and the dryer was cheaper.

We use the pulley as much a possibly but stick things in the dryer if we need to.

Macclesfield..was Chadderton. It feels gloomy forever! :)

I hang washing outside all year round. Even if it's cold, if there's a decent breeze the washing will dry. There's a load out today - bedding and towels - nearly dry (am in NW England)
If I have to dry inside I have an airer over the bath and I also have a standing airer which is a sort of tripod with 3 arms sticking out which each have multiple holes for hangers, so about 20 items of clothing can hang on it while taking up only a small area. I find clothes dry faster if they're on hangers rather than folded over the bars of an airer. I also have a few of those hanging dryers with pegs for socks and small items. If possible I leave a window slightly open if clothes are drying inside, to avoid mould. We don't have a dehumidifier but I haven't felt I needed to buy one yet, they do sound useful though

We have a pulley that goes up to the ceiling so good when empty but when full you can't really walk past it

Outside if it's not raining. On a raised airer if it is.

We dry outside all year round, we're north west. Have a dehumidifier for finishing off or days when it's wet but generally only wash on dry days. Airer in living room or bathroom. We have those peggy things (the rings with loads of pegs attached) for underwear and a few overdoor hooks Like these that I put things on hangers on. Peggy things have been the main way I've cut out using the drier I can hang a load of underwear on the line and bring it in, in one go, to finish off inside. No faffing with socks on the airer. We have two peggy things so can start a load without waiting for first to fully dry.

I agree with the extra or fastest spin in the washing machine and then, random as it sounds I have an over the door airer tied to my banister. So the washing sort of hangs down next to the stairs. It's dries so quickly up there, especially if I've popped the heating on, I don't know why I'd never thought of it before and it's basically out the way. 🤣 going to get another airer for over the bath aswel

I second a pulley, I've just had one put up in utility room, it's great.

www.castinstyle.co.uk/

If the pavement is dry, it should dry outside.
If it doesn't dry completely, bring in before it gets dark

Dehumidifier. Game changer😀