Drying Clothes in Winter
By hvedra
@hvedra (1619)
December 9, 2011 4:11am CST
I am lucky enough to have a garden to hang clothes in during the summer, but in the winter the weather can be too damp to get things dry out there so I'm using an indoor drying rack. I'm lucky enough to have space to put one up but because my usual wash programme has a lower spin speed (800), I've found it really pays to put the clothes through a separate high spin speed (1400) which removes a lot of moisture.
If I keep up doing the washing as soon as I have enough for a load I don't seem to be struggling without a dryer but there are only two of us so it might be harder for a bigger household.
I've also seen a cover that fits over a rotary airer which I'm considering, it protects the washing if it does rain - here the weather can change from fair to foul quite quickly so I've often been caught out by leaving washing on the line when we go shopping. When we come back it's wetter than when I hung it out to dry!
Do you have frugal strategies for drying in winter without using a heated dryer?
3 people like this
10 responses
@airkulet (2700)
• Philippines
10 Dec 11
We have no winter here in my country but there is only 2 seasons: rainy or summer. So we encounter a problem drying clothes during the rainy season. Indoor is also an option for us to dry clothes, but my father built a roof covering on the backyard where we sometimes chillax, eat and do barbecue there, but serves also a drying zone during rainy season. I suggest that you also used fan to fasten the drying of it.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215029)
• Chile
19 Dec 11
I have a shower curtain in the bath with a shower rod. I use hangers and hang each garment in a separate one. I "iron" them with my hands so many clothes will not need to be ironed. I wash at night because electricity is less expensive after a certain hour where I live. Most of the clothes are dry or almost the next day with just the house heat even if I don´´t have central heating..
1 person likes this
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
13 Dec 11
During the summer months, I usually hang my clothes outside too. In the winter, I use my dryer. I don't have a vent that goes to the outside, so it helps to heat the house as well.
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
9 Dec 11
I am a spoiled rotten brat. I love my dryer and only in the summer time have I dried my clothes outside of one. Sounds like you have adjusted to doing it anyway. I think if I had to I would string lines down my basement. I wouldn't have room to put up a rack.
1 person likes this
@Anne18 (11029)
•
13 Dec 11
Dadly I do use a dryer to dry my clothes in the winter, but thought that I would still answer your discussion as I actually do recyle the heat from the tumble dryer ... have a lovely discusion running about it.
My house is an old house and nearly always cold, the tumble dryer is in the dining room and I always try to do a load of washing last thing at night ready to og into the tumler when I get up at 5.56am, I then put the tumble on and the clothes get dreid, the dining room gets nice and warm without putting the main heating on and goes through ot the kitchen and the family sitting area. I don't like waste.
My discussion about my tumlbe is titled "I so got told off my my children this morning" Happy reading
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (158485)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Dec 11
We used to use a wooden contraption made for hanging wash on. I don't recall what it is called. With clear days I bet hanging clothes out and the wind will dry them very quickly. If you are able to wring them pretty dry then you won't need to hang them for long. And it is surprising the places you can find to hang things to dry around the house.
1 person likes this
@derek_a (10874)
•
9 Dec 11
Like you, we are fortunate because there is only two of us. We have a drier, but it is expensive to run on top of everything else in winter time, so we have racks that we set up around radaitors that work very well. Our rotary drier has been taken down until the good weather starts again. It is very damp down here in Wales near the costline and where our house is situated, we get a lot of mists too. 
_Derek
_Derek1 person likes this
@Fortunata (1135)
• United States
9 Dec 11
Do you 'peg' your line outside? That is, raise it up with a stick? When I went to visit my husband's family for the first time in Great Britain, that's what his Mother did. I helped her pin the laundry on the line, and when we were through, she said, "One more thing, got to peg the line." I didn't know what she meant and when she got a stick that was leaning against the wall of the house, she caught the line and raised it up high, explaining it helps when the weather is bad outside.
1 person likes this
@nonersays (3329)
• United States
9 Dec 11
We usually use the dryer.
But, I'm lucky enough to live in a place that stays fairly warm all year long. It might take things longer to dry outside in the winter, but they do still dry pretty quickly.
@WakeUpKitty (8694)
• Netherlands
9 Dec 11
My washing machine has about 1600 spins.. not great because it damages the laundry if I use that. My house is humid so during winter time it can take 3 days till it's dry (yes even with that spinning).
I seldom dry my laundry outside. It's mostly rain over here or strong wind and although it's possible during winter (freezin) it's too much trouble for me.
So I do the laundry in the morning and hope it's dry next morning.
In Hungary I don't have a washing machine. Do it by hand and have a separate spinner about 1000 spins. Laundry is over there easily dry, mostly within 2 hours or so.
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