Drying LOTS of laundry - your tips please

[TinyTeachr]

We generate a VAST quantity of laundry. 4 children with uniforms and extra curricular things, and we don't rewear things often as the baby has a knack for getting snotty nose/sticky fingers on people when she goes for a cuddle. Middle children often get food on school jumpers too.

In summer it was fine. We dried a lot outdoors - nice big outside thingy and I'd wheel the indoor airer outside when extra capacity was needed.

It's now getting tricky! Most things are dried in one room (we're very lucky to have that space!). I have a heated airer and a normal airer, and a large socktopus for small. I tend to shut the door so it stays toasty and run a dehumidifier to stop the Windows steaming.

Towels and sheets go in the tumble drier.

It still doesn't seem enough! That holds up to 3 loads (If they aren't jam packed) but it takes 48 hours to try when it's not summer. During the weekend I really need to do 4 loads or more most weeks, as although I do some during the week I don't stay on top of it.

What are your solutions? Ceiling airers exist, but sound like a lot of work, so I don't know if it would be worth it. I could put things on radiators as the heating will be on soon enough (probably Monday I'll give in!) But the baby will pull things off which is annoying. I prefer to save that for energencies rather than being something I do every week.

(and I have a heater airer for the other stuff with a dehumidifier)

If you've got the ceiling height and the space then either airers like this: pulleymaid.com/

Or wall mounted like this www.robertdyas.co.uk/brabantia-pull-out-drying-line

are worth putting up. The air circulates much better.

I hang clothes on coat hangers on a tension rod above the heated dryer with a dehumidifier (with fan setting ) pointed at it. This is in a small utility room.

I also use a 1400 spin setting and do an extra spin for 10 mins where I can

Heated airer with cover. Leave window open. Don't over fill it. Shirts/dresses on hangers in one side with the bar things down. I switch heat off in the morning and remove cover. It's dry by the evening.

Sheets, towels, towels towels, pyjamas, boxers, hankies, in the tumble dryer.

Tumble dryer on low heat so it doesn't shrink things. When it is time to replace get a heat pump tumble dryer which will use less energy than a either a heated airer or dehumidifier.

I have 3 kids, 2 younger ones who are filthy as soon as they leave the house and an older one who swims 5 times a week so they generate a lot of washing! I've found that especially at this time of year before the heating is really on that I just have to be less discerning about what I put in the tumble dryer. I do struggle to keep on top of it all though!

I think when you have a lot of stuff to dry it really needs to either be spread out across the week (not all done at the weekend) and hang it up on airers overnight, or more tumble drying.

We still have stuff on the line now which is really nice but it’s quite cold when it comes in!

I know you're not supposed to (but i've never had any problems with damp or condensation- maybe cos it's a cool, single glazed, well ventilated victorian terrace) but I just put the heating on for an hour and put stuff on every radiator. Jeans/ joggers/ towels ... all dry within the hour and takes the chill off the house too.
Towels do end up like Ryvita though.

You obviously don’t live near me. Magnolia trees, that hate wind, flourish where I live.
All these people saying do an extra spin. Does it not crease/ wear your clothes?
I don’t have a utility room. Most of my laundry goes in the tumble dryer. I often use a warm setting on it.

I’ve been on a mission to decrease washing recently so I now wear things twice instead of automatically washing after every wearing.

And, this is the bit that might help you a little, it reminded me of my granny ‘sponging’ marks off my school uniform so that she didn’t have to put it on the wash til the end of the week unless there’d been a complete disaster..?

I usually just buy clothes in a larger size so that when they shrink in the tumble dryer they end up the right size. Then I tumble dry everything.

Some pople also get a separate spin dryer that takes a lot of the water out of the clothes. It has a very high spin speed.

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We have a separate spin dryer - takes an extra 1-2 litres out of each load. Dry outside - if the ground's dry, your washing will dry. Use towels and bedding a bit longer - we use bath towels for a week (shower every day) hand towels changed more often. Sponge stains on school uniform rather than washing every time.

I agree, if a school blazer has a toddler fingerprint you can just rub it with a damp flannel.

Tumble dryer for towels and big things, however it's old and I think it causes damp. Then we got a dehumidifier, I press the t shirt button and it fans at a faster rate. I have everything on a big clothes horse, which stands at a tilt because DH fell on it. Nothing is perfect but we muddle along. 5 people to wash for with one who is a complete muck tub. Reading with interest.

I recently but some tension rods in the stairwell to hang shirts from, it's amazing how much heat goes up there!

@TinyTeachr for shirts on hangars / soctpus you could get a hangaway tripod. Have had one for years and it's brilliant https://amzn.eu/d/dA4PEbZ

I've got one of the old fashioned ceiling airers. In winter my routine used to be put the washing on about teatime then hang up in early evening when the heating is coming in. I also have a plinth heater (hot air blower connected to central heating). If anything still damp the next day they would have quick blast in the dryer.
It's best to try to wash most days then it doesn't build up.

Use your tumble dryer more . I’ve done 4 wash loads today , have a few bits hanging up and the tumble dryer is doing the rest - one load on cool tumble and 2 loads on normal .

I think with the rise of “loungewear” you can get everybody to change into a variation on PJs/tracksuit/sweats as soon as they get home, putting reusable workwear or uniform on a hanger for the next day.
If pjs get sticky finger marks it’s not the end of the world, they’ll do another day and it should cut down your laundry by about a third.

Spindry your clothes as high as possible 1400+++, creases will fall out as they dry.
Ceiling mounted dryers give you back your floor space and catch rising heat.
Don’t be a martyr about your tumble dryer. If you’ve done all you can it will give you the pleasure of toasty dry laundry for 30 minutes of use. Aaahh!

Tumble dryer, especially if it's a condenser. They are so very much cheaper to run. My husband doesn't like to use our heated airer because he thinks the tumble now uses less electricity.

We tumble only on low heat (except towels), and tend to hang adults' tops and all jeans. Adults' top because of shrinkage, jeans because they take so much drying and I worry the rest of the wash will get over-dried on an overly long cycle if it's in with jeans. But as long as you check labels most other things are fine. We tumble all pants, socks, PJs, school trousers by default but only ever on low heat.

Use your tumble dryer! I don’t understand why you’d have one and not use it.

Separate spin dryer is a really good call - I used to have one that spun things very dry indeed.

Same - we have a heat pump dryer and use for everything now. The heat pump type dries at a lower temperature so it's low cost and better for clothes

Would it be easier to wipe down the baby rather than wash loads of extra clothes that aren't really dirty?