Hanging laundry In a small apartment! Help!

amother

Cerulean

Sun, Nov 06 2022, 12:23 pm

I live very tight too. I do laundry 3x a wk . I have 2 motos
1. Clothing is here to serve me . not for me to slave away for them.
2. I need to outlive my clothing
That said I dry almost Everything and yes my clothes last for more then one season. Only thing I don’t dry are uniform skirts and jumpers. Shabbos dresses. Baby shabbos knits. My better sweaters/tops .
Everything else goes into dryer! Yes . We all look good clothes look nice and clean and as I said they last me for more than a season. No I do not buy expensive stuff more like tottinti and the like. I have found that expensive clothes do not last longer. And this way when I don’t spend so much if something does pimple fade etc I don’t feel so bad . I can’t live with clothes all over we need place for our kids ! Lol

dessara

Sun, Nov 06 2022, 11:29 pm

I lived an a two bedroom apartment with three little kids and I also hung dry most things. For bigger items like shirts and pants I used something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Home-In.....psc=1

It actually holds a huge amount of clothes and folds completely flat. I had two of them. The link that I found is very overpriced. Mine cost around $20 from a local super deal store that sells miscellaneous items. Recently someone told me they bought the same type of rack in Bingo.

I also used something like this for smaller items, like socks, and hung it on my shower rod. I also had two of these.

https://www.amazon.com/HAPY-SH.....psc=1

amother

Midnight

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 3:13 am

I purchased this:
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/.....592ee

It is literally a G-d send. In the winter Months I attach it to my bedroom closet door or the children's. In the warmer weather I attach it to my porch door. I have two of them.
I use this for hanging items that don't go in the dryer.
You can hang it over a room door too.
This is a fabulous item especially if you live in a small apartment.

amother

Cantaloupe

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 3:39 am

Not the prettiest, but I admit that we at one point had clotheslines strung across the living room to deal with all the uniform skirts, etc that weren't supposed to go in the dryer. They were hung high up, near the ceiling, so they weren't in the kids way.

We didn't hang up everything, and nowadays I can manage with a drying rack, but at the time it was a huge help.

amother

Fern

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 4:59 am

I try to do laundry more often and alternate dryer loads and hang. So kids every 2/3 days. On alternating day I’ll do the darks load and the other my husbands shirts. I have the sunbeam wide hanging thing out in my kids room and hang my things or shirts on hangers on a pressure mounted shower hook.

I’m always doing lanudrt because I don’t use the dryer.

amother

Yellow

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 5:15 am

We have a washer dryer in the bathroom, so I have the racks n the wall there, high up so it doesn't get in the way

In good weather the majority dries outside, I have lines

I find the rainy winter days the hardest (takes longer) so I try to shop for more dryer friendly winter clothing

amother

Calendula

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 7:49 am

I feel you op I lived in a small apt with four kids including teens until last year. Laundry was all over our living space. I hated it! But I really didn’t see another option

Bh now I’m in my miracle house. (A small house that I never thought I would be able to buy)

The laundry is hung in my small laundry room. I feel truly blessed.

Until you get to that point just know many of us live like that with laundry everywhere and that’s just the way it is and hopefully one day you will be able to have a laundry room to hang it in

amother

Mimosa

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 8:04 am

Most of the things ppl hang can be dried. I always wondered what the obsession was with not drying stuff. Most things are just fine after the dryer and I think it’s important to prioritize and help laundry be a quicker more efficient chore.
Who needs clothing to be perfect condition when they grow so quickly and don’t even stay clean after a few hours! Out time is very valuable and lives are hectic so we need to be more efficient

amother

Calendula

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 8:19 am

amother Mimosa wrote:

I have had many things shrink even when dried on a gentle cycle

amother

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 9:18 am

amother Mimosa wrote:

Thank you everyone for your input!

Im not debating drying clothing items I need to last Smile

I get a lot of hand me downs.
The difference in quality of the items from Family A who dries everything (lots of items are faded and/or the size does not match the size on the tag.
Family B everything is in pristine condition.

Family B hangs everything.

Same quality merchandise, same ages and sizes.

I keep things from one child to the next and need these items to last.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good suction shower rod? I think that's what I should try next. I can't do anything permanent so most of the ideas, although very good ones, don't work. However, any time I try to hang anything on the shower rod, it falls. So maybe I should just get a new one

amother

Daylily

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 10:57 am

Put a mini dehumidifier next to the wet laundry to help it dry faster.

I think any suction rod will fall down if you put too much weight on it. They aren’t designed for that. Wet laundry is heavy.

Btw I dry all pjs for this reason. I personally am fine with faded pjs and the kids don’t know the difference. I still pass them down. And if it doesn’t last new pjs are quite cheap.

I also dry socks and underwear. But not tights.

ra_mom

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 11:00 am

amother OP wrote:

Thank you everyone for your input!

Im not debating drying clothing items I need to last Smile

The suction shower rods fall down when you put a lot of clothes to hang. If you're ok with that, I can send you a link of one that I used for a while.

Otherwise, would you want to use an over the door rod that isn't permanent, or a foldable rack that folds flat?

amother

Copper

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 11:26 am

Like others said, learn to dry most things. I leaned this from a mom of many whose kids always look so neat. With time I learned that quality things do just fine being dried, & cheap things last the season & you won't want to reuse years later anyways.

Don't be a slave to your clothing!!

Happy247

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 11:42 am

ra_mom wrote:

Instead of changing to a new suction you can change to a screwed in one. That’s what I did. Also with a landlord that does not allow to screw in anything. I don’t think that’s included.
You can do the suction rod as an additional as others mentioned.

amother

Copper

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 11:48 am

Also wash twice a week & have less stuff!! You'll have more space & more air to breath, seriously.
I can't imagine a once weekly laundry day in a small apartment with a family of kids, of course you're drowning in clothes.

amother

Geranium

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 12:25 pm

This is what I do.
Family of 4.
I wash once a week. If (when) baby leaks I wash just those items.
I hang a lot too, but I dry pjs (except mine).
I start with a dark load Motzei shab, then (thru Sunday) wash whites, towels, shirts etc, and finish with another dark load.
Shirts dry quickly, I hang them Sunday on door knobs (same issue as OP with shower rod).
By the time I do the last dark/med load the first has some items that are dry and can be removed from rack. If I am very low one week I dry flat some items on my bed till evening.

When I wash linen, usually on another day, those go over the door knobs.

I push myself to fold laundry from dryer by Sunday night and hanging by Monday nite. Finish. Clean till next week.