Tumble Dryers: Aye or Nay?

[Scheherazade]

I am quite torn where tumble dryers are concerned. I wish we did not have to use them at all because they feel like an absolute waste of energy but I am not sure how one can survive in the UK without one.

What are your thoughts on this?

[zoolane]

I have one, trying used on cotton items. The things do not want neighbour and world see. Mostly put thingd on the rad to dry or few hours outside then quickly in dryer.

[Abookinthebath]

Yup, try living in Scotland and not using one! Avoid it whenever possible, but a necessary evil for me....

[papayahed]

What do you use in place of a tumble dryer?

[Helga]

I have a pretty big laundry room so I hang everything up, don't have a tumble dryer. I have heard though that it's good when you have a dog cause it removes all the hair, but I haven't tried so I don't know. so nay for me

[Buh4Bee]

I have a dirty beagle and the hair is awful. The drier is very helpful in keeping black clothes clean.

[OrphanPip]

Aye, there simply isn't room enough in the winter to do without.

[Calidore]

There's absolutely nothing like dryer-warm sheets and blanket in the winter.

[Delta40]

They're great when you wash a tissue that was secretly hidden in a pocket. I use mine all the time and consider it one of my few luxuries in life.

[Themis]

Generally nay, but right now it's a definite aye! This apartment would be permanently subtropical, if we didn't have a tumble dryer - at least, I think that's what we've got. None too sure about this strange English equipment. ;-)

[MystyrMystyry]

Bunch of dratted button munchers and lint spreaders if you ask me. There are stand up dryers that make more sense (because they work better - because they work) are a lot 'neater' tech than tumblers. When I was forced to use one I'd but off the non-essential washing until it was an absolutely perfect day to dry them.

[Lokasenna]

I only use the tumble dryer for bedding - something that absolutely has to be dry and ready for the evening. Everything else, I prefer to let dry naturally - makes for easier ironing that way too...

[Delta40]

I like the old wooden clothes horse too but I'm done with washing lines - except for towels and jeans.

[Annamariah]

I don't have a dryer, just a washing machine. Whenever I wash laundry, I just set up a laundry rack and hang the clothes to dry. It does take up some space, but so would a dryer... And a laundry rack is only there in your way for one day at a time, not always.

My mother has a dryer, and especially towels feel much better after they've been in a dryer. If you let them dry naturally, they feel awfully rough at first. Dryer also removes some lint, which is good.

As long as I live alone, I probably won't ever purchase a dryer. If I'm ever going to have children, it would probably come in handy, though, when there would be much more laundry to do.

[Paulclem]

Aye - need 'em wth a family and the wetness of the UK. We can wax lyrically about the merits of breeze dried garments and wind soothed bedding, but, without a tumbler, it won't happen here in winter. I've brought in towels off the line in winter when they've been hung out and they're just frozen.

[JuniperWoolf]

Aye, there simply isn't room enough in the winter to do without.

Exactly, for seven months of the year everything we put on a line becomes a popsicle. Popsicle sheets, popsicle sweaters, popsicle underwear...

[Buh4Bee]

I never get why people do it. Why hang the stuff out when it is so close to freezing? It's not going to dry even if the sun is out.

[cafolini]

What do you use in place of a tumble dryer?

Rapidly twisting arms.

[stlukesguild]

I only use the tumble dryer for bedding - something that absolutely has to be dry and ready for the evening. Everything else, I prefer to let dry naturally - makes for easier ironing that way too...

Who actually irons anymore?:confused:

There's absolutely nothing like dryer-warm sheets and blanket in the winter.

Try an electric blanket. Once I got one, I never wanted to get out of bed in the winter.

[qimissung]

I use a dryer for most things. I hang my clothes on a rack-it's not torture for them. I'd love to hang sheets outside to dry in the summer (they smell heavenly after a day outside), but I don't really have a place to do that.

[LadyLuck]

We need them here. 15 degrees in the middle of winter doesn't facilitate drying clothes :)

I actually love mine, but then again I use it as an iron in a pinch as well.

[kevinthediltz]

I hang my clothes outside in the summer when it isn't raining. Unfortunately, winter at 9000 feet makes line drying a bit difficult. But, as a few have said, dryers do help with doggie hair. :)

[TurquoiseSunset]

I need a dryer in the winter...even if I hang the close outside under the back porch the moisture level in the air is just too high for clothes to dry. Or it's just too cold. Unmentionables and knitwear go on a clothes horse next to a heater though.

It is unfortunate that most of the winter clothes I own are not allowed to go in a dryer. Why???? Why make clothes for the winter if they can't go in the dryer?

[Scheherazade]

What do you use in place of a tumble dryer?Radiators. I have rails that hook on the radiators so most dries there but I have to admit that I love how soft especially the towels come out of the dryer. Find myself more and more often opting for the dryer, about which I am not happy.

During a recent visit to the Science Museum, I got some dryer balls you pop into your machine... They are supposed to decrease the drying time but I am not sure they actually work.

http://www.leafliving.com/filestore/images/store/product/471x286px/dryer-balls-leaf-living-copy.jpg




Who actually irons anymore?:confused:I do! Spend about two hours every week ironing.

[mona amon]

I voted nay, even though it's the rainy season out here, and I have clothes drying on the chairs, the exercise equipment, everywhere, and I'd really love to have a dryer at this moment. :D

The rest of the year it's no problem. We just hang it out to dry on lines on the balconies, and save a lot of money on electricity.