Farewell, My Tumble Dryer

Farewell Dryer!

The new, leaner, greener me has been toying with the idea of dispatching with our tumble dryer for a few months now. 

Over the past couple of years I have tried to not use the dryer, as it is A. very expensive to run and B. really energy intensive, making it an environmentally bad-boy.

In the main, I manage quite happily not using the dryer, and then I go through month-long spells where I can't be bothered hanging things up and start to use it again.  In other words, I get really lazy, as hanging stuff up takes a max of a couple of minutes!  So, I took the decision on Monday to sell the dryer and therefore get rid of the temptation altogether!

In preparation for not using the tumble dryer, I had already set up a drying area, with clothes horse and a retractable washing line, next to a heated towel rail (which is on a timer and switch).  I had also fished out some (v. ugly) plastic hangers from the back of the wardrobe, to maximise drying area on the line.  And about a year ago I made a knicker and sock hanger, from a couple of wire coat-hangers, some ribbon and some wooden pegs.

My Clothes Horse

I am also lucky, in that I have an outside washing line.  But that said, I do live in Edinburgh, one of the rainiest places on earth, (well it feels like it most summers anyway!)

I do quite a bit of washing, averaging eight loads a week.  So, by not using the tumble dryer (ever) I will be saving a lot of electric. 

Ideally, I would also like to cut down on the amount of washing I do.  But this will be tricky as at least three loads a week are made up of my Guinea Pigs' bed blankets.  But, I have a few ideas to try, which I will share with you in later posts.

My Knicker and Sock Hanger

In the meantime, I am £50 quid up, having sold my tumble dryer within a couple of hours of posting my ad on Gumtree, to a guy who was going to buy a new one otherwise. 


And now I finally have somewhere to put our wellies, which I am constantly tripping over at the back door!  I will get round to putting in a cupboard in the hole that the dryer has left, it may take me a wee while to get that organised though.  Where on earth do you buy a single cupboard from anyway?

A new cupboard in waiting!