Tumble drier v Washing Line

Fidget

beanieandme wrote:

We have no heating, our boiler's packed up, recently havng moved in. I've got the clothes airer in the lounge where I spend most of my day. I use a fan heater to keep warm when I need to, depends how cold it gets. I have been really good not having it running when it doesn't need to be. I'm wrapped up warm and am ok at the mo. It's the only way I can get things dried properly by having the clothes in the lounge, making the most of the heat while it's on.

Goodness and just think you will soon have even more washing to do! Poor you it does sound a pain. Although I'd go through all that too if I could just afford to be able to move me and little one out of my mum's, so I envy you slightly nonetheless. Having a free babysitter and just paying rent and no bills is all well and good but would happily give that up to bring my child up without interference, upsetting someone if I leave a dish in the sink and having to explain myself every time I leave the house:( .

beanieandme

Fidget wrote:

Goodness and just think you will soon have even more washing to do! Poor you it does sound a pain. Although I'd go through all that too if I could just afford to be able to move me and little one out of my mum's, so I envy you slightly nonetheless. Having a free babysitter and just paying rent and no bills is all well and good but would happily give that up to bring my child up without interference, upsetting someone if I leave a dish in the sink and having to explain myself every time I leave the house:( .

Awe, yeah I know that it could be a lot worse for us, and it has been, well for me, had a bad experience with the ex, had to move back in with the parents after 4 years of having my own place, went through a breakdown, lost my job, so I am grateful to have a nice new place now regardless of the heating situation which is fixable, and to have a lovely supportive fiance. I just can't wait for my new lil baby!

PM me if you wanna keep in touch

angela110660

gromituk wrote:

I hope everyone is washing at 30 degrees, especially if washing every day.

I thought that people with allergy probs had to wash bedding at 60 degrees - which I do for my son who suffers.
Bedding is another problem at this time of year anyway. I love line drying when I can and maybe a quick turn in the TD to finish off but how do others cope with duvet covers, pillow cases etc. every week when you can't get them on the line cos it's raining? At the moment, my kingsize duvet is draped over two airers in the garage!

gromituk

angela110660 wrote:

I thought that people with allergy probs had to wash bedding at 60 degrees - which I do for my son who suffers.

Possibly, but it obviously depends on what someone is allergic to.

People generally wash things too hot by default, thereby using a lot of energy unnecessarily: the heater is the biggest consumer of power in a washing machine.

MatthewN

gromituk wrote:

I hope everyone is washing at 30 degrees, especially if washing every day.

We are washing by hand at the moment The washing machine broke down / died last month and hopefully we get a new one tonight or tomorrow.

Contains_Mild_Peril

My washing machine doesn't even have a 30 degree setting!
If you use biological washing powder (or liquid) then clothes can actually come out cleaner at 40 degrees than in a hot wash, because hotter temperatures destroy the active enzymes. Hotter water can kill bacteria and other organisms which 40 degree washing might not, though.
I've been using my tumble drier a lot lately and my electricity bill is horrendous, so I'm going to try to cut down, and maybe get one of those pulley airers.
I'm lucky enough to have a balcony for outdoor drying, so my clothes are pretty safe even though I live in a fairly rough area, but we haven't had drying weather lately. The bad news is there are plans to demolish the flats where I live, and we might not get a balcony when we get moved.
I wouldn't leave the tumble drier on and unattended for long periods, because the last time I did that, it overheated even though it was at the low setting, and shrunk some of my clothes.

gromituk

We can be too obsessed about bacteria if we're not careful - when have bacteria in clothes killed anyone? All this antibacterial everything merely serves to stunt the development of the immune system and reduce the effectiveness of antibacterial agents by overexposure to them.

beanieandme

:rotfl:

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

My washing machine doesn't even have a 30 degree setting!
If you use biological washing powder (or liquid) then clothes can actually come out cleaner at 40 degrees than in a hot wash, because hotter temperatures destroy the active enzymes. Hotter water can kill bacteria and other organisms which 40 degree washing might not, though.
I've been using my tumble drier a lot lately and my electricity bill is horrendous, so I'm going to try to cut down, and maybe get one of those pulley airers.
I'm lucky enough to have a balcony for outdoor drying, so my clothes are pretty safe even though I live in a fairly rough area, but we haven't had drying weather lately. The bad news is there are plans to demolish the flats where I live, and we might not get a balcony when we get moved.
I wouldn't leave the tumble drier on and unattended for long periods, because the last time I did that, it overheated even though it was at the low setting, and shrunk some of my clothes.

I use biological powder, but I'll have to use non bio for the baby. You're lucky you can use your balcony like that. At a private flat we once rented along an Esplanade, we got a letter through from the Lease Management company even though just come back off holiday and had loads of clothes to dry (not bikinis or anything like that) that were up for 2 days. We'd only hung them on the inside of the balcony patio door on the curtain rail. Fussy or what? It was ok to hang an England flag on the outside of the balcony rail during the world cup though

Contains_Mild_Peril

:shocked: What did the letter say??
I never cease to be horrified when I see tower blocks with no outside drying green (our tenement flats have a communal drying green, but it's seldom used because it's not a safe place to leave your washing and rope) and no balconies! What sort of numpty would design high-rise flats with nowhere to dry your washing outside?

beanieandme

It said something along the lines of if you don't take your washing down, then they will have to raise the leasehold fees etc. Everyone got a letter in our block (place), but we're pretty sure it was us that triggered it. lol. It's coz they were 3 story private flats along an esplanade with snobby people about that owned them, not just tennants. The management company were like hawks, and got together with governers every month like a small council.