Drying clothes outside for dummies

biscan25

In summer, you can get away with leaving your washing out overnight. Even if it heavily rains, it'll still dry out eventually.
In autumn the same largely applies, except if you leave it overnight it'll go damp, so you need to take it in before it goes dark or leave it out for a few hours the next morning if the weather is good.
In winter, temperature, humidity and wind are a factor. A damp, cold, still day and it won't really dry at all. At this point I tend to put it on airers in my ensuite with the dehumidifier on max. Not sure how the energy crisis will affect the cost of this, but still much cheaper than using a tumble drier.

twopenny

One of my biggest joys in life is getting into a bed that smells of air dried sheets.
It makes the whole bedroom smell nice.

Ironing is easier if clothes are touch dry.
Take out of machine as soon as cycle finished and fold. Get out as soon as poss aand it should save on ironing.

I have a garden table near the line to put the basket on, saves bending.
Old fashioned peg bag?
I loved the pretty colour of plastic pegs but they snap. Wooden ones last generations

Chloe_G

Why can't you buy mangles anymore?!  I vaguely remember my grandmother had a mangle and now I think it would be very useful.  Spinning never seems to remove as much water as I'd like.

Martin_the_Unjust

Chloe_G said:

Why can't you buy mangles anymore?!  I vaguely remember my grandmother had a mangle and now I think it would be very useful.  Spinning never seems to remove as much water as I'd like.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Northwood-Calliger-Clothes-Patented-Clamping/dp/B01M26UCLW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=clothes+mangle&qid=1662444827&sr=8-1

Not cheap though

biscan25

Chloe_G said:

Why can't you buy mangles anymore?!  I vaguely remember my grandmother had a mangle and now I think it would be very useful.  Spinning never seems to remove as much water as I'd like.

Are you using the correct setting on your washing machine? I wouldn't expect a mangle to get any more water out after my clothes have been spun.

'Easy care' or similar leaves clothes quite wet, but cottons setting will spin them hard.

Apodemus

Chloe_G said:

Why can't you buy mangles anymore?!  I vaguely remember my grandmother had a mangle and now I think it would be very useful.  Spinning never seems to remove as much water as I'd like.

Available as low as £40 on ebay! Probably not a great way to dry your delicates, though!

You could also bring back the old twin-tub, which allowed you to save water by doing several sets of washing in the one fill of water & detergent!

Bigphil1474

In winter we use the clothes horse and put it in the bathroom, and some radiators if necessary. We always leave the bathroom window open when drying clothes. For stuff that isn't too wet, we put on hangers and hang in doorways on the landing. In summer, the clothes line avoiding the rain when we can. We've never had a tumble dryer.
There's only 2 of us and drying on the clothes horse can take a couple of days, but we have plenty of clothes.

Bendy_House

Bigphil1474 said:

In winter we use the clothes horse and put it in the bathroom, and some radiators if necessary. We always leave the bathroom window open when drying clothes. For stuff that isn't too wet, we put on hangers and hang in doorways on the landing. In summer, the clothes line avoiding the rain when we can. We've never had a tumble dryer.
There's only 2 of us and drying on the clothes horse can take a couple of days, but we have plenty of clothes.

Having a radiator on for the purpose of drying clothes surely cannot be cost-effective. Especially if the window in that heated room is also opened - which it would have to be to prevent mould and damp.

If you can get a spare UNHEATED room or covered outside space THOROUGHLY ventilated with ideally a cross-flow, then that should do 90+% of the drying with no effort, leaving only 'airing' required to finish off.

Anyone with a hot storage cylinder would do well to rack it out above with timber slats - that should finish it all off nicely. Else, a 'horse in a normal living area for a few hours.

pendragon_arther

When I lived in the UK in winter we'd dry the clothes on radiators.

Where I live in Europe I've just hung out a big wash and it'll be dry in a couple of hours.

shiraz99

Chloe_G said:

Why can't you buy mangles anymore?!  I vaguely remember my grandmother had a mangle and now I think it would be very useful.  Spinning never seems to remove as much water as I'd like.

Because washing machines with spin functions replaced them 😉

Seriously, a mangle is not going to remove more water than a good spin.