Clothes Drying

[scifisam]

We have loads and loads of over-the-door hangers, which are fine for big things like hoodies, towels, bedding and trousers, but not for small items. They go on the radiators; essential next-day stuff directly on the radiator, with other stuff on radiator hangers. I end up doing more frequent washes with smaller loads so that we can just hang stuff up every day. Our washing machine does have a small load setting, and we always use it at a low temperature - it barely registers on the meters.

We also use the microwave to do final drying for stuff that doesn't have metal in it (ergo, no bras!) Put an item in for a minute (no longer than a minute and a half), shake it and let it cool a bit, then do it again. This is mostly for socks, knickers and my daughter's school jumpers, because she gets through one jumper a day and loses one at school every couple of weeks.

 

[moose]

I live alone and my weekly wash consists of 7 tee shirts, 14 pairs of pants, 1 pair of socks and I even wash my combats occasionally, and towels annually.

I know I'm going to be sorry I asked, but you change your pants twice a day, but your socks only once a week? (I'm not even going to go there with the towels )

 

[Chz]

We've got a combo unit that came with the flat. It's borderline useless in that it can only dry about half the volume of clothes that it can wash. Still useful for emergencies, though.

 

[mango5]

We use one clothes horse thingy in the living room, drape sheets etc over doors. 2-3 washes a week and job's a good 'un. Have never used a machine for drying, probably never will.

 

[gentlegreen]

I know I'm going to be sorry I asked, but you change your pants twice a day, but your socks only once a week? (I'm not even going to go there with the towels )

I find that if I wear two pairs of pants, I don't need to wear kinky cycling shorts for my commutes.

Socks - a recent discovery - I simply don't have sweaty feet.

Towels, well, you've generally washed when you use them.

 

[moose]

but you do wear something over the 2 pairs of pants, yes?

 

[zenie]

Combination....use the dryers at the launderette/spin dry at home then hang in airing cupboard or on radiators.

I had a tumble dryer at home, used it for everything and I'd happily buy one again, they're a god send IMO

 

[gentlegreen]

but you do wear something over the 2 pairs of pants, yes?

yes - in the winter a rather fetching pair of La Redoute combats, summer to autumn, heavyweight cotton shorts.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

I know I'm going to be sorry I asked, but you change your pants twice a day, but your socks only once a week? (I'm not even going to go there with the towels )

I have seen socks knitted from natural wool which was full of lanolin - they were advertised as "1 to wear - 1 to air" as supposedly they were self-cleaning and would never need washing, if worn on alternate days .

 

[gentlegreen]

I wear mine as slippers around the house - throw far too many holey ones away - I simply haven't found the right footwear yet - having size 13 feet doesn't help.

People don't believe me. but I'm very fastidious, and because I detest perfumes (apart from a hint of fruit from 5 different Bodyshop shower gels), there's no margin for error. I work in the sort of environment where smelly people are very noticeable - and there are a few.

I'm probably just lucky with my body chemistry and sweating effusively twice a day when I get off the bike seems to keep my pores open.
It was very noticeable a few years back when I had a kidney infection which upset my endocrine system for 12 months.

/derail

 

[Greebo]

I do all my drying indoors on airers & radiators (no space outside for it, at all), and even without the water coming off that, water has come through one outside wall ever since moving here (the wall has been sealed on the inside, and repainted, but there's still some seepeage because there's a sloping roof running along that wall). At it's worst, there was water running down the wall and pooling on the floor, in spite of airing the flat, while heating it, squeegeeing windows every morning as far as I could reach etc.

So, for those wondering about dehumidifiers...

They don't run for free, but they don't cost a fortune because it means your home warms up much faster (saving on heating bills), you get unwrapped food keeping better (saving on wasted food), and you don't need a tumble dryer to get stuff dry on the same day you wash it. It's also slightly better for anyone whose condition is made worse by damp. And you get free distilled water from the tank.

So far, each dehumidifier here has lasted 2-3 years before needing replacement, that's the size for up to a 2 bedroom flat, and you don't have to have them running constantly - you can set them to make the air a certain level of dryness and then switch off. If you have windows open, it's switched off or it tries to dry all the air coming in & out as well (so it's left off most of the summer).

 

[butterfly child]

We have always had a tumble dryer - we never used a washing line because we lived under the flight path, so you just didn't.

Then we moved, and still continued to use a tumble dryer, until we decided we needed to cut down.

So I bought an airer, which is used all the time.

Sometimes we use the dryer - for drying sheets as we don't have many sheets. And sometimes my husband will shove things in when he shouldn't.

But I am the one who puts everything on the airer because I (his words) "am so much better at it"

Which is true, tbf.. when he does it, everything of mine ends up needing ironing, when I do it, they don't.

 

[Geri]

But I am the one who puts everything on the airer because I (his words) "am so much better at it"

K will hang stuff on it, but when I get home I end up rearranging it!

 

[donkey]

we have about 3 of those

These work well
especially in front of a radiator

 

[pinkmonkey]

I never had a tumble drier until we got the boat, now its a necessity, because washing doesn't dry very well in such a confined space, all it does is cause damp. Even in summer, it can take about five days to dry if there's lots of it! I dry my knickers on the radiator, plus a few things that can't be tumbled dried, but that's it. I do try to hang it outside in the summer, but it was so wet last summer, I maybe did that only three times!

 

[butterfly child]

K will hang stuff on it, but when I get home I end up rearranging it!

Yeah... our problem is that I smooth the creases out before I hang them. He just shoves them on.

I ought to teach him, but it suits him to do it so badly

 

[Cloo]

Our bedroom is just constantly filled with drying in winter Well, some days I dry our daughter's stuff in her room. We haven't anywhere for a dryer, and gsv objects to them anyway on environmental grounds.

I could go to the laundrette for it, but have never bothered. I might if I had people coming over and needed to do some laundry!

Just looking forward to summer so we can get the fucking drying out of our room.

 

[Iguana]

In our old house the back bedroom had a big south facing bay window so it was great for drying clothes. I just had to put everything on a clothes horse in the window and they'd dry quickly. And the landing was quite big and it had a long horizontal banister which was perfect for sheets and towels. And as the garden was south-facing it was easier to dry stuff on dry winter days as they got some sun.

This house is much smaller, so drying clothes is more of an ordeal. And the garden is north-facing so in the winter it gets nearly no natural light. And the south-facing bedroom is our bedroom, so I don't like drying clothes in there in case we all get chest infections.

Our washing machine died last week, just after I came back from a week at home. So I've an enormous backlog at the moment. I've spent most of this weekend getting clothes dried on tiny rads. And the whole house smells of Daz.I really want to get some sheets done soon, but it's so hard in this weather

 

[Cloo]

Mind you, at least stuff does dry in our bedroom. When we rented down in Wimbledon, the flat had damp, and it took about a week for anything to dry.

 

[Kanda]

I put mine in the laundrette once a week. Costs me a tenner and everything comes back folded I simply throw all my dirty clothes into the wheely suitcase and take it down each week.

We have a washing machine but the guys I live with always leave their clothes in it or have stuff drying on all the radiators... it's just easier

 

[madzone]

In the summer it goes outside (except pants and socks, I'm not pegging out pants and socks for anyone)

When it's not summer I'm ashamed to say that everything that can be gets tumble dried and the stuff that can't be gets put in the cupboard where the hot water tank is. I don't have the heating on so there's no point putting it on the radiators.

 

[zenie]

I put mine in the laundrette once a week. Costs me a tenner and everything comes back folded I simply throw all my dirty clothes into the wheely suitcase and take it down each week.

We have a washing machine but the guys I live with always leave their clothes in it or have stuff drying on all the radiators... it's just easier

I'd do service washes but I don't like the thought of other people touching my smalls!

Don't they ever shrink it either?

 

[Kanda]

Don't they ever shrink it either?

No, not at all. My smalls aren't that small but I just throw anything in there, including the g/f's underwear if it's in my room.. I think I've ruined quite a lot of hers, she shouldn't leave it on my floor

 

[pinkmonkey]

Mind you, at least stuff does dry in our bedroom. When we rented down in Wimbledon, the flat had damp, and it took about a week for anything to dry.

We had a memorable weekend away a couple of years ago - friends over from Aus, it was August but freezing cold, the tumble dryer was bust and El Jugador fell in the river fully clothed in his thickest cotton jersey hoody.

We went to Uxbridge and back surrounded by wet washing - it took almost a week to dry, it was a bit grim waking up every morning with dozens of pairs of damp knickers above my head.