Tell me all about drying clothes in Winter

[Starbear]

I have a dryer but it shrinks the clothes even in a low setting or is it my imagination!! Do sheets towels and bits in the dryer the rest on one clothes horse but have more washing than space in the house. I also don't fold as soon as I finish Tumble drying so they are more creased than on the horse. Do you have to be a Superwoman with no time of your own with winter laundry????

I think we all struggle with drying in the winter tbh. I use my tumble drier more often than I should and the rest gets dried on maiden (clothes horse) in the study where it is out of the way. Duvet covers and sheets get thrown over the bannisters, I find they dry much quicker like that that they do even in the tumble drier

We have 2 clothes horses, and no tumble dryer. But we have fairly recently bought a dehumidifier, and that has a 'dry washing' setting, which we use occasionally to keep on top of it. I don't think there's an ideal solution - it's either have the whole house festooned with washing, or use more electricity and get it dried sooner .

Yes I do think that stuff shrinks. Some stuff I never put in the dryer; bras, tights and very delicate items.

Other things that crease (inc shirts, t-shirts, kids trousers etc) I tumble for around 10-15 minutes. Once the dryer gets on to the cooling last bit of the cycle. I take them out, shake and hang over the airers near the radiator. They dry quicker (and generally no need to iron) than if they were hung about without a little tumble.

Towels, flannels, kitchen cloths and heavy things go in the dryer, but always a full load as it is more economical in the long run.

Sheets, if it is not raining/frozen I "start them off" on the line outside then finish off in tumble dryer. Imo it is worth even half an hour on the line.

i've never had a tumbler (well, long ago had an aged washer-drier that took literally all day to dry a load) so have always dried on radiators, plus an airer which stands next to our boiler, airing cupboard stylee. i seemed to spend half my life moving washing from one place to another and i'd keep getting backlogs a there was no space to dry another load.

but a neighbour mentioned she'd got a heated airer (i'd never heard of them before) and i got one from lakeland last week. it's been bloody brilliant - i've been washing for fun! i was worried it wouldn't work very well as i've read mixed reviews but it takes a full load and dries 2 loads over 24 hours. i don't have to keep moving things around to get them to dry and more to the point i can now turn the heating off e.g. in empty rooms, or when we go out instead of having to leave it on constantly to get the washing dry, plus we actually feel the heat when it's on. oh and the airer stands in a room that has no heating, so it keeps that warm too.

lol i'm a bit evangelical about it as you can see

I have 2 airers which I put in the bath. The clothes dry beautifully in 1-2 days without the awful 'drying/damp' smell.

It also means we dont use the bath which saves us money and we just use the shower in the en suite.

And we dont have a tumble drier either.

Puppydetox - your new airer sounds fab! I shall have to investigate further!

At the moment I only do washing as I can dry it so usually a load a day.

I have a tumble drier but hardly ever use it because of the cost. I have one airer that lives in the spare room and I also use the radiators. I hate doing that though as the house looks so messy but needs must!

backalleysally yes that Chinese lanudry look makes my DH twitch. Thanks for the tip on the electric clothes horse dryer. Will look that up as well.

My form of drying is called 'radiators'....its the only way. We got rid of our tumble cos our electric bill was astronomical...whereas our gas bill is copeable. Not ideal but I can't stand having washing on expanders for any great length of time. Nothing worse than going to have a wee and staring at my knickers on an expander...let alone a visitor having to endure looking at my underwear!

I hang a load on an airer overnight then it takes about 20 mins in the tumble drier the next day.

I generally have to do a load a day to keep on top of it.

The airer is upstairs in the bath.

We have a downstairs bathroom for guests and I generally use the en-suite so the bath is only used for the DDs

Try to hang out as much as I can but in Scotland in the winter it's virtually impossible

Wish we had a second loo...unfortunately we've got an old house with nowhere to put one. Such a pain in the mornings with us all queueing up to get in the bathroom. DH shares the house with 3 women...not easy!

I am trying not to use my tumble drier.
Have 2 airers that i have in my utility room next to my boiler - but god it takes ages to dry - in excess of 24 hrs and someetimes end up with that yuck damp smell
Usuallly end up finishing stuff off on the radiators.
Will be interested to see if my electric bill is cheaper

whispywhisp I know what you mean we have a two 1/2 bedroom cottage type thing No room to swing a cat let alone a washing. Can't have clothes on radiators NO room between that and furniture for a radiator rack.

I had a pulley like here which was fantastic. I have moved now and left it. we have been apart for ten days now...sob

Roll on the Summer...thats all I can say! Never has putting washing out on a washing line in the warmer weather seemed so attractive!

Radiators here too and a clothes horse as a permanent fixture in the kitchen during the winter months

Tumble dryer (only used it for towels, bedding and underwear) was proving too expensive so now towels and bedding gets draped over dining room chairs overnight and then finished off anywhere that I can fit it!

Every time my Mum visits she comments on how she would never allow her house to look like mine does with regards to laundry everywhere. What she fails to mention is that I was on only child and she was a lone parent whereas I am a Mum to 4, a childminder to 5 and I do her washing now too - cheeky mare

I have two clothes airers, plus two radiators that I put jeans and bedding onto, and I use my tumble dryer for undies (bar tights and bra's and lacy knickers), PJ's and towels.

I have to keep on top of 7 peoples washing, and I manage.......rarely having more than one basket full, let alone both (I have two laundry baskets for dirty clothes).

the only time I get overloaded is when the girls tidy their rooms and find all manner of stuff down the sides of their beds, or if their is a sickybug and I get ill, as DH is good at putting stuff IN the washing machine, but tends to forget it annpt get itself out and put itself on the airers!

puppydetox - is it cheaper for you to run the airer for 2 days to dry washing than tumble dry it?

ooh I just went on lakeland and it costs 3p an hour to run the heated airer - so if it takes 48 hours to dry a load of washing then it costs £1.44 per load - probably the same as a tumble drier roughly.

i've no idea how much it would cost to tumble as like i said i don't have one. lakeland reckons the airer costs 3p/hr to run and i've had it on 14 hours a day so call it 50p/day. i guess i'd have it on 6 days a week so £3/wk. my feeling is that the reduction in the amount i'm using the heating would more than cancel it out.

the chinese laundry look is one i can't stand either - while the airer isn't exactly lovely to look at, at least it keeps it all in one place, in a room we don't use during the day.

it dries 2 loads in a day laurie, and that's not running it overnight.

Nobody has mentioned minimising the washing in the first place. Most clothing can be worn two or three days in a row (not suggesting turning pants inside out etc. ), bedding (assuming no accidents etc) will be ok for a few weeks. Hang up towels after use instead of dropping them on the floor and they'll last longer between washes, etc, etc. And forget the ironing unless absolutely necessary. My mum irons hankies - that's just ridiculous!!!!

thinking about the heating - we have a 2-up-2down +loft. i used to run the heating downstairs and up for a good part of the day, mostly for the sake of the washing. now it's pretty much off upstairs all day, and when i go out i can turn it off downstairs too. the loft has no heating so having the airer makes the toasty come bedtime (is our bedroom). my guess is that must be a significant saving, as well as making the house more pleasant to live in.

lol, see why i'm evangelical

lol cuppa, having relied on radiators for years i'm super-strict on what gets washed. am hoping it should improve once my toddler's a bit bigger - she makes twice the washing her older sister does. tbh the washing situation contributed to me abandoning my faithful cloth nappies recently. hopefully now i can get dd2 back into those without ruining my newfound laundry zen.

The important thing is to have a w/m with a really high spin, then clothes really don't take long to dry.