Washing Clothes - Advice

Yes.  I think so.  I seem not to be stressed out about any other part of the move.  I think I have fixated on this as my stress target, so that I can relax about everything else.  But, boy am I stressed about the laundry!!     My BF thinks I am being ridiculous.   

That is exactly how I was.  I think I drove Frank mad after a while.  (Ok, so I drove him completely mad which is why he's been MIA working lol)

 I really wouldn't worry too much about what type of washing machine you have, especially as a renter.  I was more fixated on finding a place that was close to transport, affordable, safe and comfortable for me to live in.  I got very lucky and found a place that had been gutted right before I moved in.  I have all new appliances and furniture in my flat.  If worse comes to worst, you might have to use a launderette but that's not the end of the world either. 

Air drying clothes can also be affected by the type of place you live in. Our last flat in Exmouth had double glazed windows that didn't breathe at all. It also had a really crap airing cupboard and no radiators. When I started air drying the clothes in the house on racks when it was rainy, we ended up with a bad condensation problem (mold on the walls). We immediately bought a used dryer!

My neighbors on either side both work during the day, and I've often seen their clothes hanging on the line while they've gone to work.  When it rains they simply get wet again,  and they may stay out there for days until we hit enough sun for them to dry.

I prefer to have mine dry on the horse when the weather is bad, and thankfully I've never been forced to wash more at one time than the horse/ radiators will hold.

My friend in Sweden puts her horse in the shower so that they aren't tripping over it all day.  She's also got something that pulls out from the wall, but folds flat when not in use.

I have just a washer & dry my clothing on drying racks.  I use Fariy detergent & Lenor liquid softener...and my clothing is fantastically soft compared to other brands I've used.  If you need to get things very, very white, then use Persil...the stuff will be whiter than when you purchased it...but not as soft.  I haven't had a problem with using the drying racks...it takes a while to dry but works well.

I had a separate Zanussi washer and dryer.  I found that the condensor dryer just couldn't get things dry, so I'd throw them in the dryer for 1/2 hour and then hang everything up.  Otherwise, everything shrank.  Our flat didn't have radiators, so I bought a cheap drying rack from Argos and stood it in front of the vents.

Waitrose makes dryer sheets that I really liked, and weren't too terribly expensive.  They had a buy 1 get 1 free sale at one point so I stocked up!  I used both Persil and Ariel detergent and liked them both.  One thing I found was that it was important to buy the different detergents for colored and whites.  Detergent in the UK has optical brighteners for detergents for whites which tends to fade colored clothing.  There's a separate formulation for "colors" which protects them and keeps them from fading.

I'm over in the US and my English hubby convinced me to get a 'European style' front loader.  Which I must say I love.  And we never got a dryer, so everything is on those wooden drying racks.  But the question I have is, none of my stuff drips everywhere.  Even my short delicate cold water setting has a bit of a spin cycle on it.  Do the washers over there not spin, or just don't spin very much? Or is it just an expression that went way over my head.   

My washer spins and spins and spins.. that seems to take the longest!  I don't know about other people's machines but mine gets clothes pretty wrung out.

Oh and Becca?  Your dog looks just like mine!  He's still in the States and I miss him terribly!     Having a picture of him on the mantel isn't the same. 

I was a bit intriged when I saw the topic

I'm not in the Uk, but in Portugal right now .. and from my USA experience .. well, a washer is as good as the money you want to spend on it, I've seen the same type of whasher/dryers here than I see in the states .. the big difference is they seem to love the front loading ones, vs the top loading.

cheers.

I love our front loader, it's a Servis I think... the only thing is half the time I'm likely to start it, then find that one last item you meant to put in that load.

I think on average the appliances are better in the UK than in the US. Mainly because of the voltage...you can get so much more power out of things. More suction in the vac, more spin to the cycle.

As far as being fearful, well, I'm all for focusing all fears on something that's gonna be such a snap. That way when you find out just how easy peasy it is, everything else will just fall into place. If there's any sort of consolation, American-style appliances are available here, too. As NullMind suggests, it depends on how much you want to spend.

The only thing that I don't like about the front-loading washer is not being able to throw something in after the cycle has started. (But I know I shouldn't do it anyway.)

When we were looking for machines, I looked through "Which?" recommendations...it's a UK consumer's group, like "Consumer Reports". Both are magazines that are supposed to be absolutely and totally unbiased (they don't take adverts). We looked six years ago, and I know the "best" machines are now different, so it doesn't really matter now which machines we got. Not that it's a secret, but I was told recently by a repairman that when we bought these they were the best, but now newer versions of them are not. That repairman came to remove and underwire from a bra. Aside from things like that (self-causing) happening, we've ever had a stitch of trouble from either machine. Yes, in six years.

After having such good results from choosing what "Which?" recommends, we've done the same with every major appliance purchase, and have been very very happy with all the decisions. But our philosophy is to 'buy good, buy once'.

Their website is at:
http://www.which.co.uk/

My own personal choice is a front-loading washer and a condensing dryer. The condensing dryer doesn't need an outlet hose to get rid of condensation; it collects its own wet in a plastic tub that you empty each time. I like it because we don't have to make a hole in the wall and the machine can sit any place in the house...you're not limited to it being next to an outside wall.

And yes, although the combo units are small and compact, avoid them if you want to wash more than one load a day. I can't help but think that the cost savings for buying this all gets eaten up in the electricity that's spent running it.

My solution to UK clothes washing?  Just have my hubby do it all.  Works beautifully! 

We have a washer/drier combo and get by alright.  Of course, it's just the two of us so I don't know how it would cope with a larger family.  We also don't have radiators in our house, so everthing gets hung on racks.  Sometimes we will pop things in the drier for 30 - 40 minutes either before or after hanging them just to fluff them up and get the drying process speeded up, but for the most part, hanging them up overnight or while we're at work during the day seems to work just fine.

The only complaint I do have is with wrinkles.  Clothes seem to wrinkle and require a lot more ironing here.  I used to just pop things into my giant tumble drier back home and violia! Wrinkle free shirts for work!  Doesn't work here...not with my drier anyway.

You will shall survive though!  Most people do end up adapting to these new challenges in time. 

Just a word about condenising dryers. I noticed a few people mentioned they dont care for them. I love mine not only for the reason Lisa mentioned but since you dont have to have an outlet hose you can put them anywhere. My friend has hers up in her attic along with her ironing board. Also you have to be careful when using them. If you open the dryer to check the clothes and they still feel steamy then take something out and give it a shake. Chances are the clothes are dry but just a bit steamy. My husband shrunk so many of my things waiting for the clothes to feel bone dry in the machine.
Pebbles

We moved in with the MIL and when we first got here I washed the clothes in the washer and then hung them outside to dry on the folding clothes line. I could deal with my clothes being rough and stiff but dealing with a babies clothes like that became a pain in the butt...putting clothes on a baby and taking them off and on all day to change diapers the out fit gets stretched out and when you wash and hang them out to dry they dont get their shape back so I convinced MIL to get a dryer for that purpose (so much better having a dryer to put baby clothes back into shape) and now MIL loves it as much she uses it as much as I do.

I used to just pop things into my giant tumble drier back home and violia! Wrinkle free shirts for work!  Doesn't work here...not with my drier anyway.

Oh, Wishstar, that used to be my favourite trick.  Rarely ironed any clothes back home, but to be fair I rarely iron clothes here either.

I never put shirts or trousers in the dryer.  They always get hung up on clothes hangers to dry.  Granted there are a few items that will need ironing, but for the most part it's not needed.

Well I noticed that my husband, in-laws and all my British friends iron everything. My SIL even irons towels. My husband is famous for his ironed jeans. I always feel like a total slob just taking my stuff out of the dryer and slapping it on. My husband is always insisting on ironing my clothes. I am also just as bad with my sons school clothes. The look fine to go to school but all my friends kids all have nice creased pants and shirts. Im such a lazy American mom.