Please help me abandon my principles ...

[roisin]

I've always wanted a tumble drier, but every time I get close to buying one (choose a model, decide where it's going, etc.) my
green-ish credentials kick in, and I just can't bring myself to buy something that I view as an unnecessary luxury, and environmentally damaging.

But this morning I hung two big loads of washing out, got wet in the rain, brought them in and rinsed and spun them again in the machine, hung them out again, then brought them all in again when it started to rain again, and have now hung them inside on clothes horses ... I just can't face the prospect of constant laundry in another Cumbrian winter.

Should I abandon my principles?

Do you like your towels fluffy or like cardboard?

YES YES YES.... get a tumble dryer!

You dont HAVE to use it all the time, but it will be a godsend come winter.... can you tell i couldnt be without mine!!

You should! I dont use mine very often, but when I do I realise how nice it is to be able to throw it in and have it all dry and away in a couple of hours. You dont HAVE to use it all the time. Just when its raining
I have the same dishwasher gremlin stopping me

charliecat - get the dishwasher!!! Saves so much time - which means more time for the kids!!!

yes, abandon, I would. bet there's a justification site somewhere!

Roisin, look at it this way.... Surely using a tumble drier every now and again is more environmentally friendly than having to rewash entire washloads over and over ?

lol.

I refused to buy a tumble drier for years. then dh made me buy one, along with a dishwasher when ds was born.

BUT as far as the tumble drier goes - I figure if I only use it in "emergencies" (ie on days when I get more washing done than will fit on the line/radiators) then its OK. appliances do last longer if you use them less frequently.

the dishwasher on the other hand I do use. I'll get rid of it when the kids are old enough to help me wash up!

anyway it doesn't have to be a question of abandoning principles - only modifying them. hoover up less to make up for it or something.

Ooh I like these answers!
SoupDragon I actually like cardboard towels, dh likes them fluffy. Which does a tumble drier create?

Charliecat - dishwashers can be more efficient than washing by hand apparently. If you stack them fully, and get an efficient machine.

tumble dryer makes fluffy towels!

I use my drier to finish drying stuff rather than drying it from wet. More environmentally friendly I think Except for towels which I like fluffy so I always tumble dry them.

driers make towel fluffy, but you have to iron things that you wouldn't have had to iron had they dried on a line.

that thing about dishwashers being more efficient than hand washing is b**cks though. They use less hot water than hand washing if you wash in the Spanish style (under a running tap), but more and hotter water than i ever use - and I have an efficient one.

Afraid I'm with the environmental damage camp - it's the one thing DP won't budge on, and I see his point.

is the environmental damage camp one where everyone damages the environment, or refuses to do so?

OK, I'll give it my best shot.
My bills soared when I got one. Also, when you empty the filter after every wash, there's enough fabric dust to make a whole duvet ... so they can't be doing the clothes much good.
They make clothes smell funny.
Things shrink too.

Get a pully system. They're fab.

In the It does too much damage blah blah blah camp, can't remember why, sorry, but since have abandoned all other principles such as Living In A Nuclear Family, Employing Another Woman To Clean My House and Dressing Daughters In Pink, who am I to lecture piously, eh

Get one-just expect your ironing to increase.If you remove clothes at the optimum time though you can usually get away with ironing!

Some body lend me a couple of hundred quid till dp gets his redundancy please I really seem to spend my life at the sink.

My advice is to get an aga!

You won't need a tumbledryer just a couple of large clothes racks

Mine was bought me by MIL by the way and I use it for emergencies only. So there!

Oh I miss my pully...

clothes horses suck.

Ironing? Really?
You must be joking.

Ah, you see Spidermama, I still have the Oh I Cannot Entertain Institution of Marriage principle

Get a BIG airing cupboard ! I can hang an entire load from my 7kg 'big drum' machine in there and it dries overnight. No mess all over the radiators and I save the planet (ish) !

I hang clothing on hangers suspended from the slatted shelving above the boiler/tank thingy and socks etc just get hung off the slats. It's fab. I'll miss it when we move.

Oh how I miss my airing cupboard....no radiators covered in smalls and all that......BUT I still won't buy a tumble dryer...I'm with MI on this one (and I'm in the 'won't entertain marriage' camp too...)