Drying washing outside

bellaquidsin

Check the ground. My mother used to say, 'If the ground is damp, the washing will not dry'.

We are low lying so get little breeze and hardly any sun on the garden at this time of the year so I use the ground as a barometer and it has always proved true for me.

I long for 'dry ground' and air dried washing as I love the smell. There is no cost involved for me in drying indoors as I wash every day and put it over the bath on an airer but I still say 'Roll on spring'.

Bella

Lizzieanne

Badger_Lady wrote: »

I do at my parents' house... they live in a very traditional Southern French village, and there is a communal hanging area beside the stream. When your laundry's done, you pop it in a basked and then walk through the village saying "bonjour" to everyone and then listen to the frogs and the burbling water while you hang your clothes......

Is it just me, of does that sound fantastic?!

Like tanith, I love hanging washing out. If Mr L ever volunteers, I usually knock him over in the race to get to the line first.

I think I might need to get out more! :rofl:

csarina

As we live in an apartment with a laundry we no long have the facility to dry washing outside. However even in the winter I used to put the clothes out on the line unless it was actually raining......ok I maybe had to finish them off on the airer, but you can't beat the smell of clothes that have been out on the line, even for a short while. Its the thing I most miss about us living here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Primrose

I like to save energy and dry my washing outside where possible, even during the winter, but there's nothing more annoying than putting it out to dry and then having unexpected showers soak it again. I was wondering whether Hills Hoist-type washing lines have a polythene "umbrella" you could put over them to protect your washing? I've never seen any. If not, any ideas how you could make a suitable protective covering?

Penelope_Penguin

Hi there! We have this thread - drying washing outside (I'll add this thread to that one later ) with lots of suggestions about drying laundry in the winter.

IMHO, you'll struggle to get washing dried outside in the cooler months, as the air tends to be damper.

Penny. x

Primrose

I try to dry outside in the winter, even when it's cold. As long as there's a breeze some of the moisture will disappear which helps prevent condensation indoors. But I do cheat slightly and put the pegs on all my laundry indoors so that the outdoor part of the process gets finished more quickly when it's cold. And I never leave my pegs on the line either, which is a recipe for attracting dirt in the atmosphere and transferring it to your clothes.

nesssie1702

I love getting my washing dry outside - managed to get jeans and heavy jumpers done on Saturday

I go on the strength of the wind and even if it gets rid of some moisture, its better than having all the wet stuff hanging around in the house. Luckily our back porch will take two cloths airers and it's close to the oil boiler which kicks of some heat, so the clothes dry pretty quickly there. I also have a window slightly open so that condensation doesn't become too much of a problem.

Can't beat the smell of line dried washing......

LJM

as long as its not raining my washing goes outside,when i get it in in the eves i will finish drying on airer,as long as theres a breeze/wind its doing some drying

Kaz2904

I love line dried washing. We have a td but I find the amount of ironing it creates is phenomenal. There's so much less ironing when it comes off the line and I can sort it into peoples individual piles when I'm hanging it out so there's less fuss and bother. The socks get sorted onto the line too and I don't end up with a huge pile. Bedding will dry hung over the bannisters though if it's too wet outside.
Can't wait until we have finished decorating the house so that I can hang stuff indors on wet days. It just gets too dirty ATM!

looktothefuture

Hi all.

Over the last 6 years during winter I hang my washing inside on a few clothes horses - but it takes days to dry so I land up using the tumble.

I know you can hang washing out to dry in winter but does it actually dry? I can imagine taking my trousers off the line and they are as stiff as a board - would find myself :rotfl: with laughter if that happened!

This year I'd really like to give it a go - bearing in mind I leave for work by 7am and only get back at 7pm or so and can't get back in the middle of the day to save any clothes that might get wet from rain/sleet or snow...

Any tips?