This was a question that I asked myself a few years ago when I realised that my faithful old tumble drier was one of those of a certain brand that was at risk of catching fire.
We have so much washing in this house, I could sometimes cry at the constantly filled washing basket. There are five of us. The three males in the house all wear a shirt a day. Then there is rugby training and matches for two boys three times a week. My daughter adds quite a lot of her own to the mix as she often wears something for half an hour, gets changed and puts the original outfit in the wash.
Things have been slightly better during lockdown but it is amazing how much washing we still create without school uniforms and sports kit.
And then there are the towels. Towels are the bane of my life. All three of the males only use a towel once before putting it into the wash basket. I realise that that is really hygienic but with one who often showers three times a day and the other two who shower once or twice a day, I am constantly washing towels. The washing isn’t so much of an issue but the drying is, especially during the winter months.
Our garden is a bit like a bog during the winter months, so hanging out the washing is pretty much limited from March to October. For the rest of the time, when we had one, my tumble drier was on almost as much as my washing machine.
When I received the devastating news about my tumble drier, I was offered the chance to buy a new one from the same brand for £99. I tried to manage without one for a while as, to be honest, I had lost my faith in the machines a bit. It was horrendous. So I ordered a new machine for £99.
This machine came with a year warranty and within three months, it had broken down. The engineer who came to repair it told me it was a rubbish machine but he fixed it and off we went again. Another three months later, the machine broke down again from the same issue as before. Once again, we got it fixed. About a week before the warranty was up, it broke again. I had to wrangle to get the engineer out again without taking out a longer warranty but I was really fed up about the whole thing. The final engineer told me again that it was a rubbish machine and that if it broke again, give up and get a better make.
I think it lasted a further three weeks and I gave up.
In between the tumble drier saga, my mum bought me a heated airer. It was a revelation. If you ask any of the mums at school, they will tell you that I often can be heard going on about how much I love my heated airer. Ours is from Lakeland but I know there are quite a few available from different shops. It only costs a few pence an hour to run and I found that I could dry most things overnight, sometimes in a few hours if there wasn’t too much on there. I put the smaller things on the airer and then drape bigger things like towels and bedding over the top.
On days where there is a lot of washing, it can take a while to get it all dry but for the last two winters I manages to survive with just the heated airer and we got through. The added bonus of the heated airer is that as it is always on in the winter, it helps to keep the kitchen warm too.
The autumn of 2019 was a wet and windy one with few opportunities to get washing out on the line and I was starting to drown in a sea rugby kit, towels and uniform. We discussed the possibility of buying another tumble drier. I was unsure as I have been put off them a lot and I was also using the space left by our old one for something else and didn’t really want to move everything around again.
My daughter and I were wandering around a Lakeland store and we spied a Heat Pod. I was quite curious. It is like a frame which allows you to hang upto 12 coat hanger on. The frame is covered by a cover and you turn it on and it blows hot air up into the cover which hold the heat inside and this dries the washing. It seemed like the perfect addition to my drying collection! At just under £60, it seemed worth every penny.
It does take up a sizeable amount of space but it was easy to set up and within a few hours of getting it, it was on and drying.It has a timer, so you can set it to last for a certain length of time. Most things dry quite quickly inside the pod and the biggest joy is that because the clothes are dried hanging, they are much easier to iron afterwards and some things don’t need ironing at all.
Right now we are in the middle of another cold and soggy winter and I am still surviving for the third year without a tumble drier. There have been moments this winter when I have been tempted, I must admit. The weekends when I have a huge amount of bedding and those endless towels to dry, it can seem like an uphill battle but I am determined to get through another winter without having one. Having had three winters now without a tumble drier, I have been super impressed with the heated airer and this is something that I would keep without question. Mine was around £130 which is a sizeable investment but after three years of pretty much constant use, it is still going strong and I wouldn’t be without it. You can also buy accessories for these airers such as covers to help keep the heat in and dry more effectively and hangers to help maximise your drying space.
The Heat Pod doesn’t get used as much. It takes up quite a lot of space and as it can only dry up to twelve items, it does have limits, but I do use it on a fairly regular basis when the wet washing is piling up and stressing me out. It is a good price for what it is but you do need somewhere to be able to store it when you aren’t using it.
So there you have it. It is possible to manage family washing without a tumble drier and although my drying appliances take up space in my kitchen, I wouldn’t be without them.
These are products that I have paid for.
