* Heavy jumpers and jeans can be hung on coat hangers then hung on the shower door rail If you have a ducted heating vent in there, close the door to keep the heat in.
* Ducted heating vents in the floor are wonderful for drying the washing fairly quickly. Try to hang the washing on the clothes horse so that there aren't too many gaps on the outside wrungs. Lay a tea towel or hand towel over the top to create a hot house. Place the washing directly over the ducted heating vent. Another alternative is to wrap an old flannelette sheet around the outside of the clothes horse.
* Ducted heating vents in bathrooms are very effective. The bathroom is small compared to the other rooms in a home and the temperature can be higher there. Make the most of the heat and place a loaded clothes horse in the bath ( out of the way ) or over the ducted heating vent. I've had towels dry within two hours by placing them over the vent.
* Frequent washing throughout the week makes it easy to keep on top of the never ending clothes pile. If you have a family to wash for, try doing one load a day. Dealing with one load is better than dealing with three at a time. This will drastically deduce the urge to throw everything in the dryer.
* When all else fails and you are desperate for space to hang the washing, use door frames to hang coat hangers.
* The obvious way to dry washing is to place a loaded clothes horse in front of a wall heater. Please be cautious and leave a safe distance.
I have three options: the ordinary outdoors in the weather and sun parallel washing line, the under-the-eaves and away from the rain washing line outside, and the metal rack inside in the laundry. These three options should keep us with enough space to almost dry everything -so that the dryer just is used to bring them to the final stage.
ReplyDeleteI have two undercover lines and an area to hang clothing on hangers. I use these all year round. When the weather is damp and cold I bring the washing in around 4 pm and finish it in the dryer. We don't have heating so the heat from the drying clothes helps warm the house.
ReplyDeleteI am very pleased because yesterday we had our power bill. It is a few dollars in credit. Our hot water bill for the last three months has been under $20 and the total was less than $200. I feel that is great for two adults.
We have a mini hills hoist camping clothes line. It fits a lot on and I can lift it and bring it inside. I also use my 8 dinning room chairs to hang shirts on hangers. I can also drape sheets over them if I'm desperate. I try and do one or two loads during the week to minimise volume. This little bit of effort saves big on dryer usage.
ReplyDeletewe have a tumble dryer that I use for towels and such year round.
ReplyDeleteBut all clothes get hung on hangers and airdried in the house. I hang most of them on around the top bunk in the bedroom we have set up for when grand children sleep over.
I also have a wood drying rack for small things.
If it is especially humid when I do laundry, I turn on the ceiling fan over the drying laundry to help it dry faster.
I have a big veranda and a camping clothes line that looks like a mini hills hoist. I place bricks on the legs so that it doesn't blow over. This lives on the veranda when it is wet so that clothes can get dry. If I need something to dry overnight I place the clothes line under a ceiling fan on high. This works a treat. In the winter the sun never reaches my outside line on the back of the house. I move the camping line out into the sun and a full load of denims and trackies gets dry in a day.
ReplyDeleteWe have had such a mild winter so far (Wollongong) that I think I’ve used my dryer once or twice to just finish clothes off, on days when the sun was especially weak.
ReplyDeleteI watch the weather at the moment and will often hang most washing out in the afternoon then they get blown around overnight & have the sun on them through the day. I don’t hang clothes on the open line if it’s going to rain. This system has worked really well this winter, because it’s been so dry.
I have an undercover area where I can set up airers if necessary. I also have a over the door airer that I can hang about 15 coat hangers on. I use this for mainly woollen jumpers when it’s raining or school clothes.
I also hang clothes over dining room chairs to allow them to finish drying.
We are currently building an extension & are planning on adding a wood fire in summer (when the cost is lower) so that will give us more options next winter.
I think this is my first time commenting but I have been reading for many years. I have found many new ideas here.
Melissa
Many years ago, I asked hubby to string a clothes line about 12" from the ceiling in the spare room. He used a quality coated line and strung a double line using tension clamps. I can hang a king size sheet and pillowcase on one. I use it year round rather than also having a line in our small yard out back. I LOVE IT!!!!!! Especially when I can open windows and get that fresh air on laundry as well ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have an old fashioned clothes airing rack mounted on the ceiling of the garage, so when I come home in the car the warm engine dries the clothes.
ReplyDeleteI take my clothes to the laundromat and use their machine during winter but I only do it once the basket is full and some machines have coin slots
ReplyDelete