Laundry tips to survive wet weather days?

Home & Living
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With cooler days and wet weather episodes for many of us at this time of year, we’ve put together some easy tips to help with drying laundry on wet weather days including not overloading your washer or dryer, taking advantage of high speed spin cycles and maximising airflow when hanging clothes. You can read more via the link below.

What are your tips for drying clothes in wet weather? Leave a comment below if you’d like to share them with the Community.

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We hang them in the shed which has 1/2 polycarbonate sheeting. We installed about 40m of stainless steel cable as a cloths line and generally cloths dry after few days. Fortunately being in Tassie, the clothes don’t start to smell as can happen in warmer climates.

If after 3-4 days they aren’t completely dry (when next load needs hanging), we might finish them off in the drier, which usually takes about 1/4 or less in time (and electricity usage) if they were just out of the washing machine. This is a relatively irregular event, but can occur if it rains for the whole time clothes are on the line.

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Everyone needs a clothes horse… or whatever they are called these days. When I was a kid, we had a wooden one, it was built a bit like a 3 part room divider except with rails. Solid as a rock, I don’t know if it was a commercial product or not. After leaving home I tried to find one like it but nope, wasnt available. These days I just have a Bunnings special. Hasnt got heaps of room but enough for tshirts and jeans, as well as undies. Towels in the drier, whatever the weather. Sheets can wait for a sunny day.

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Great article and tips, covers most ‘How to’.
Love the emphasis on air circulation because what really dries clothes properly is the ‘Wind’.

My two cents:

  1. First common sense tip: high spinning cycle (highest according to the material type, of course) to remove as much moisture as possible.
  2. There’s a classic saying about Melbourne weather: ‘Don’t like the weather in Melbourne? Wait 5 minutes, it’ll change…’ if possible I wait for the weather to improve before doing any heavy laundry washing. Even in winter a very windy day often follows rainy ones, and wind is what dries best.
  3. For must-wash-lighter-items: I place a clothes airer on my balcony, it’s sheltered above by the upstairs balcony.
  4. On a cold, damp, windless day, nothing will dry outside anyway, and so I stand the clothes airer in the bathtub at first (out of the way) and then move it nearest to the aircon.
  5. For items that are not soiled but need a refresh, like a pair of jeans, I place them in a plastic bag in the freezer overnight. Warm iron next day.
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Since the solar FiT went to effectively zero we use the dryer regularly - when the solar system is producing energy we would not otherwise use.

Today is a typical semi-overcast Melbourne day but the cost of running the (condenser) dryer is a few cents net.

Re the 1400 spin - we use it most of the time but we have some clothes that come out terminally wrinkled using it. Our solutions are to either iron or put those clothes in the dryer for 15 minutes timed on warm, by themselves and let the heat smooth the fabric. Not sure which is more electric-effective, the dryer or ironing but the dryer is less work, and the solar…

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