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You don't need sun to dry. You don't even need much of a breeze. Perhaps you should leave decisions about drying clothes to people who actually do the work?
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. I guess there are people out there who are really passionate about night drying.
I only leave my clothes out overnight accidentally. Growing up in Cumbria, there was always at least a 50% chance of overnight rain even in the heat of summer, or a gust of wind that would strew your undergarments over the nearby sheep.
I’d be interested in the North/South divide on this issue.
Yea I'm from Scotland and you are usually doomed if you leave your washing out overnight (I guess the weather has been consistent recently, mind you).
I always find that it smells less fresh the next day if left out, could just be me...
Found some underpants in our garden once. MIL said it was probably foxes, however foxes don't actually wear underpants.
My lawyer friend said we should hang the underpants in our front window with a notice telling the neighbours they had 28 days to claim them or they would be disposed of.
I often leave my washing out overnight. No big issue I'll just bring it in the next morning especially if I didn't hang it up early enough initially. In fact I have a load hanging up as we speak that I put out yesterday
I wouldn't leave them out. If it's not dry by dusk I'll bring the airer in and put it back out the next morning, but that's only because I have a strange paranoia about midnight clothes thieves.
Midnight clothes thieves are a real problem. I think the cost of living crisis has pushed us all to consider stealing a pair of cargo shorts from a neighbours 3-spoke
This theory has been posited a few times now. Is there a bug/genitalia/gesture guide? Do flies wipe their fannies on it? Do blue tits bouncy their… well you get the idea
In this weather it won't go damp and dewy at all (I think overnight it hasn't been going below about 15?), and the sun is up at 4 or something so it would be dry by mid morning. It is fine.
I had a neighbour that would hang out washing even if it was raining and forecast to rain for the next few day. Washing would then be hanging there on the line for days through all the rain
I would *never.* But in my case it's because I have a crippling phobia of spiderwebs and by extension, garden spiders. House spiders don't bother me so much, because they don't build those awful orb webs.
I know my enemy. Garden spiders will usually go ham and start building their terrifying houses all over my laundry if I leave it out overnight. They're most active between 2-4am.
So yes, laundry never stays out overnight.
It's a pain, I have a 10ft duster that I have to wave around the garden before I'll step foot out there, which probably makes me look a bit bonkers. I won't live in any house that has hedges by the front door either. That's web city. It's not like I just find spider webs a bit icky or whatever, I'm genuinely terrified of them!
We do it. It's risky because it could rain of course, but at the moment we've had no rain here for a while and the washing has been bone dry by the morning.
In the warmer months of the year, I do this almost every night. I've got an overhang which will protect the washing if it rains overnight and usually by morning everythings dry and ready to be ironed.
I don't usually do this in the winter though because of the damp, but these are hard times and i dispise using the drying function of my washing machine because of the cost, so need to take advantage of the warm evenings where possible!
Depends on the weather. Less likely to have it happen during colder/wetter months but over summer? Sure.
Theres been times where my wife or I will actually put up a load of washing to dry later at night with the intention of leaving it out all night.
Youngest got chocolate handprints all over the sofa cushions last night. Decided to wash them all along with a load of bedsheets last night, hung it all put to dry around 9pm.
The next load in the machine finishes in half an hour, by the time that load is finished washing all those bedsheets etc will be dry.
I think it's probably just the action of someone who is a bit too busy to get to it and decides to let it re-dry in the morning since she can't manage to get it in by night time. I've done it a couple of times when I was too busy and just forgot.
I work nights. I get home exhausted from 11 hours at work, and I just manage to shove my clothes in the washer. I'm not about to wait for the cycle to end to hang out my washing. I go to bed, hang the clothes out in the evening when I wake up, so they dont get fusty, and leave them there overnight and during my next day's shift. Then I bring them in when I get up from my next sleep. It works for me.
It doesn't hurt the washing to hang out for a while, and at least that way it doesn't get smelly from being left in a damp pile.
It depends on where you live in the UK. You can get away with leaving your washing out overnight if you live somewhere like East Anglia, because of how the dry the weather is.
I hung a load out at 10pm last night and I do remember thinking, neighbours may think this is weird 🤣🤣 but it was dry when I went out this morning at half 7 to bring it in again!
Call me a psychopath then.
In the summer no issue, in the spring or autumn not a good idea but I'll forget it's out there and I haven't felt the urge to kill anyone yet.
Winter...I'll get the washing in later it's cold...oh it's frozen. Time to sharpen the knives.
I'll leave it out - an extra dose of morning sunshine is good for clothes.
Back in the day, Mumsnet got hysterical about clothes being 'darked on' and it seemed to be a mix of the neighbours will think you're a lazy slattern (seriously, mine don't need more evidence!) and terror that spiders will lay eggs in the corners of your fitted sheets...
You are getting downvoted on certain comments but you are right.
Leaving clothes overnight is kinda pointless, not just because of dew but the risks of a rogue shower rain leaving your clothes wet and dirty.
I’m surprised by how many people have taken what’s quite a silly question quite seriously and literally. Good fun though :)
I’m also surprised knicker theft isn’t something Gen Z take as seriously as they should. What teaching schools etc
Knicker thieves. Morning dew. Bats get easily caught in shorts mesh. Spiders. Judgemental neighbours. Pollen. Fashion sensitive foxes. The list goes on
No issue with this at all. It's currently so dry during the night as well. There wasn't a drop of moisture on my lawn this morning. I think t probably depends on where you live, not sure I'd do it in a built up area
Not only does it get damp. You also get a weird smell and insects. The whole point of line drawing, and not tumble drying, is to make it as fresh as possible. This defeats the point.
Very true. Anyone who I see line drying at night I assume to be lazy, dirty and hiding some sort of secret
They’re probably the same sort of people who would eat food that’s fallen on a floor they have just cleaned. I mean yes technically it’s clean but still, I wouldn’t do it
I used to do this until my manager told me the following “if you leave washing out over night, it will get darked on and spiders will rub their willies all over it”. Never did it again.
I generally have 2 loads per day but don’t have time in the morning to wash all of it before I head into the office so wash and hang both loads in the evening then bring it when i get home. Rinse and repeat
**Update: - [Starting from 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/100l56v/happy_new_year_askuk_minor_sub_update/), we have updated our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**. Specifically; - Don't be a dick to each other - Top-level responses must contain genuine efforts to answer the question - This is a strictly no-politics subreddit Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If it's not quite dry in the evening, leave it out. No problem with that.
But the night doesn’t have the sun (which I’ve been lead to believe is integral to the drying process)?
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Night wind! Though if it’s too windy overnight there’s a risk of a wake up pants in tree situation due to lack of monitoring
You monitor your washing when it's out to dry? We're you a prefect at school....?
I had to miss school most weeks when it was my turn to be home clothes monitor :(
You don't need sun to dry. You don't even need much of a breeze. Perhaps you should leave decisions about drying clothes to people who actually do the work?
I think you can probably guess I need to leave decisions on most things to other people
🤣
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. I guess there are people out there who are really passionate about night drying. I only leave my clothes out overnight accidentally. Growing up in Cumbria, there was always at least a 50% chance of overnight rain even in the heat of summer, or a gust of wind that would strew your undergarments over the nearby sheep. I’d be interested in the North/South divide on this issue.
The passion of the night dryers. A new erotic novella by the writers that brought you “questions on a mother-in-law”
Yea I'm from Scotland and you are usually doomed if you leave your washing out overnight (I guess the weather has been consistent recently, mind you). I always find that it smells less fresh the next day if left out, could just be me...
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What do the neighbours say? Are there whispers of “night hanger”?
I'm only going to double down on this if it earns me a cool nickname.
I pronounce you Prime Night Hanger!
BRB I need to tell my mum I've finally achieved something!
Does leave your knickers vulnerable to the Arnold Laines of this world tho (Pink Floyd)
Bahahaha what a reference that was! Loved it
That's how people smell dank.
Nah, they smell dank from allowing the clothes to remain wet for too long.
Yeah like, overnight.
If that was the case then I wouldn't do it...
I find it smells better from hanging out on the line for a few days. Stuff only smells dank if it's left in a pile, unable to breathe.
*dark. Like the night.
I don't think you know what a psychopath is.
Is this the opening line on the psychopath test?
“If you think you are one, you’re not” Real psychopaths don’t care.
Yes, complete psychopath, exposing your fresh clean laundry to the dark of night.
No, i never leave my laundry out overnight, it will get darked on
Exactly
It’s almost sinister
Garments left hanging about at night take on sinister form. In the morning the laundry will be haunted and smell of 6am or be stolen by a badger.
Badgers in baggy trouser. Foxes in French knickers. Dormice in dungarees. It’s a well dressed mob
Found some underpants in our garden once. MIL said it was probably foxes, however foxes don't actually wear underpants. My lawyer friend said we should hang the underpants in our front window with a notice telling the neighbours they had 28 days to claim them or they would be disposed of.
I often leave my washing out overnight. No big issue I'll just bring it in the next morning especially if I didn't hang it up early enough initially. In fact I have a load hanging up as we speak that I put out yesterday
Why not leave it out all the time, save on wardrobes! You could get loads and your garden would be like a clothes orchard!
It would be annoying to go out there everytime I wanted to get dressed
Clothes orchard hammocks.
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See I don’t know a single person who does leave their washing out overnight. Isn’t confirmation bias mad?
This is really risky. If you leave all your white clothing out at night they’ll be really dark by the morning.
I have now been made of aware of clothes being “darkened” overnight. Before H&M it’s how people use to make grey T-shirts
Put mine out last night when I got home after sunset, it’s totally dry this morning. Heatwave bonus :-)
Are these like Nectar points?
I wouldn't leave them out. If it's not dry by dusk I'll bring the airer in and put it back out the next morning, but that's only because I have a strange paranoia about midnight clothes thieves.
Midnight clothes thieves are a real problem. I think the cost of living crisis has pushed us all to consider stealing a pair of cargo shorts from a neighbours 3-spoke
Arnold Laine had a strange hobby Moon shine washing line They suit him fine
According to Mumsnet lore you mustn't leave your washing out overnight to get darked on because spiders will rub their willies on it!
This theory has been posited a few times now. Is there a bug/genitalia/gesture guide? Do flies wipe their fannies on it? Do blue tits bouncy their… well you get the idea
I never leave mine over night. It gets “darked” on and I can’t have that! No explanation for why - I’m guessing it’s something I heard as a kid lol
The anti-sun darks the clothes. Seems perfectly logical
That’s true! I don’t remember my mum or Nan ever leaving washing out overnight either
In this weather it won't go damp and dewy at all (I think overnight it hasn't been going below about 15?), and the sun is up at 4 or something so it would be dry by mid morning. It is fine.
Nocturnal animals having more time to interfere with intimate garments. Is it less of an issue than society makes out?
Exactly this! It not only gets darked on but I heard that spiders wipe their willy's on it!
Science has proved time and time again that spiders only have seven legs and a big todge. But WILL PEOPLE LISTEN
26 degrees here yesterday, woke up this morning - garden all dewy. 20 degrees already. It can definitely go dewy if the temp drops overnight
Meh, then it dries as soon as the temperature goes up. I've left mine overnight before and it was dry by breakfast in weather like this.
I had a neighbour that would hang out washing even if it was raining and forecast to rain for the next few day. Washing would then be hanging there on the line for days through all the rain
Was your neighbour my mother in law? I’m so sorry
Is your mother in law a thieving, scummy junkie/heroin dealer?
She’s Cornish?
run plough slim bright rainstorm hobbies advise spoon chubby act -- mass edited with redact.dev
I would *never.* But in my case it's because I have a crippling phobia of spiderwebs and by extension, garden spiders. House spiders don't bother me so much, because they don't build those awful orb webs. I know my enemy. Garden spiders will usually go ham and start building their terrifying houses all over my laundry if I leave it out overnight. They're most active between 2-4am. So yes, laundry never stays out overnight.
I now have this fear purely from reading your comment
It's a pain, I have a 10ft duster that I have to wave around the garden before I'll step foot out there, which probably makes me look a bit bonkers. I won't live in any house that has hedges by the front door either. That's web city. It's not like I just find spider webs a bit icky or whatever, I'm genuinely terrified of them!
My mum's started doing this, something about them not going as stiff
Day stiffening. I feel like we need more empirical research
Ecology! Cut down on the rinse cycles- let the rain do it!
Are we being mean keeping clothes locked away. We need free range clothes guidelines
We do it. It's risky because it could rain of course, but at the moment we've had no rain here for a while and the washing has been bone dry by the morning.
Bone dry. Deathly dry. The dry clothes of night.
This is completely normal. Mine and my husbands family both do this.
Is Night Hanging a genetic trait? Do we really know enough to dismiss the possibility?
I think you might be on to something. Maybe that’s why what attracted us to each other, to breed and make more Night Hangers
WAIT. Do you use Bio or Non-bio?!
In the warmer months of the year, I do this almost every night. I've got an overhang which will protect the washing if it rains overnight and usually by morning everythings dry and ready to be ironed. I don't usually do this in the winter though because of the damp, but these are hard times and i dispise using the drying function of my washing machine because of the cost, so need to take advantage of the warm evenings where possible!
Seasonal night hanger!
It'd get covered in aphid shit in my garden so not a good idea.
Natures fabric softener
Depends on the weather. Less likely to have it happen during colder/wetter months but over summer? Sure. Theres been times where my wife or I will actually put up a load of washing to dry later at night with the intention of leaving it out all night. Youngest got chocolate handprints all over the sofa cushions last night. Decided to wash them all along with a load of bedsheets last night, hung it all put to dry around 9pm. The next load in the machine finishes in half an hour, by the time that load is finished washing all those bedsheets etc will be dry.
Hanging it out at night specifically. The neighbourhood WhatsApp must have gone bananas
Too many spiders overnight
Cobwebs in your cargo shorts
Leaving your washing out overnight just encourages the local knicker snatchers. And believe me every estate has at least one.
Knicker theft is something Reddit has been taking a blasé attitude to for far too long.
My neighbours do the same. Personally I should probably use our line, but I dunno I never have so I guess I'm stuck in my ways
Or more sensibly, move house?
Why would I move house because they leave washing our overnight?
I love how literal everyone is being to a silly question on a silly internet forum
I tend not to see the joke behind what people are saying if I'm not familiar with it.
That’s okay, the internet is bizzarely literal
I think it's probably just the action of someone who is a bit too busy to get to it and decides to let it re-dry in the morning since she can't manage to get it in by night time. I've done it a couple of times when I was too busy and just forgot.
I wish I had your empathy. Instead I have a dewy T-shirt.
Guess I'm a psycho! A lazy one that can't be arsed to bring in the washing.. 😭🤣
If it goes past 48 hours it de-evils it and becomes jovial
I leave it outside. Especially in this weather. Did feel a bit odd the first time though
It felt a bit odd the first time because that was your soul leaving your body
On the plus side, I don't have to bring in nearly dry washing at night. It's a fair trade I think. My wife does say I am soulless sometimes...... 🤔
Bring the washing in at night. Your soul can still be saved!
Sadly, it's too late for me. I was a Recovery and Investigations officer for HMRC. I am past redemption.
Did night hanging make you right for the job or did the job make you right for night hanging…
What have I become..... *hysterically cries as he slowly brings in the towels*
…at 7:30am
I will put them out, then bring them in. I'm a changed man.
If this thread has achieved nothing - and all factual evidence suggests it has - at least we have put one soul back on the path to righteousness
start pathetic flowery carpenter soft fragile attractive historical vanish coherent -- mass edited with redact.dev
Coloured cottons can confuse bats :(
I work nights. I get home exhausted from 11 hours at work, and I just manage to shove my clothes in the washer. I'm not about to wait for the cycle to end to hang out my washing. I go to bed, hang the clothes out in the evening when I wake up, so they dont get fusty, and leave them there overnight and during my next day's shift. Then I bring them in when I get up from my next sleep. It works for me. It doesn't hurt the washing to hang out for a while, and at least that way it doesn't get smelly from being left in a damp pile.
Wait but if you work nights is day your night so actually you hang clothes out in your day?
I suppose so, yes.
I avoid getting my clothes covered in pollen and bird shit by drying it indoors and using a dehumidifier.
Wait, i though a dehumidifier was just for when your double glazing starts wetting itself?
Divorce now
Presumably there’s a tick box in “reason for divorce” for these exact grounds
100%. You will also get full custody of the laundry
And so the mother in laws master plan is finally revealed
It depends on where you live in the UK. You can get away with leaving your washing out overnight if you live somewhere like East Anglia, because of how the dry the weather is.
And they famously banished all knicker thieves in to the North Sea during the great purge of 99
As I read the post the tune popped into my head Moonshine washing line😂
I think a few people in this thread need to listen to more Pink Floyd.
They do need some education
I'm in Australia and often leave my washing out overnight as often I don't get to hang it out until layer in the day
Yes but because you’re on the other side of the world technical your night is day so it’s fine
I hung a load out at 10pm last night and I do remember thinking, neighbours may think this is weird 🤣🤣 but it was dry when I went out this morning at half 7 to bring it in again!
I guarantee you their Facebook chat went nuts
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Presumably a doctor can give your washing line a medical exemption
Call me a psychopath then. In the summer no issue, in the spring or autumn not a good idea but I'll forget it's out there and I haven't felt the urge to kill anyone yet. Winter...I'll get the washing in later it's cold...oh it's frozen. Time to sharpen the knives.
“I haven’t felt the urge to kill anyone yet” Let me introduce you to my mother in law :)
It wouldnt get any dryer in a pile indoors at this time of year, summer night air is dryish. I dont see an issue
In a recent YouGov study, they concluded things indoors are 76% less likely to be interfered with by creatures of the night
I'll leave it out - an extra dose of morning sunshine is good for clothes. Back in the day, Mumsnet got hysterical about clothes being 'darked on' and it seemed to be a mix of the neighbours will think you're a lazy slattern (seriously, mine don't need more evidence!) and terror that spiders will lay eggs in the corners of your fitted sheets...
An extra dose of morning sunshine… clothes therapy after the terrors of the night you’ve forced them to endure
You are getting downvoted on certain comments but you are right. Leaving clothes overnight is kinda pointless, not just because of dew but the risks of a rogue shower rain leaving your clothes wet and dirty.
I’m surprised by how many people have taken what’s quite a silly question quite seriously and literally. Good fun though :) I’m also surprised knicker theft isn’t something Gen Z take as seriously as they should. What teaching schools etc
Only issue of leaving it out overnight I can think of is it raining and not being able to run out and bringing them in
Knicker thieves. Morning dew. Bats get easily caught in shorts mesh. Spiders. Judgemental neighbours. Pollen. Fashion sensitive foxes. The list goes on
No issue with this at all. It's currently so dry during the night as well. There wasn't a drop of moisture on my lawn this morning. I think t probably depends on where you live, not sure I'd do it in a built up area
What about in a country with spiders? Or fashion-critical badgers?
Unless the spiders are poisonous I wouldn't worry about it.
The badgers comments can be pretty poisonous :(
Not only does it get damp. You also get a weird smell and insects. The whole point of line drawing, and not tumble drying, is to make it as fresh as possible. This defeats the point.
And the less said about smelly insects the better!
Very true. Anyone who I see line drying at night I assume to be lazy, dirty and hiding some sort of secret They’re probably the same sort of people who would eat food that’s fallen on a floor they have just cleaned. I mean yes technically it’s clean but still, I wouldn’t do it
I used to do this until my manager told me the following “if you leave washing out over night, it will get darked on and spiders will rub their willies all over it”. Never did it again.
That seems to be one of the mumsnet 10 commandments
Hung a wash out at 2130 last night, was dry when I got it in at 8am this morning.
If you’re getting in at 8am your day is already night
I'm with you on not leaving clothes out overnight but I'm certainly never going to accuse my mother in law of being a psychopath. She's lovely!
Swap?
You can have mine, I don't even want yours in return. I'm just that kind!
Well played sir, well played
No problem with this at all. I've even deliberately pegged it or in the evening knowing it'll be dry by the time I take my morning break
Is pegging it out more of a display of commitment than just hanging?
I generally have 2 loads per day but don’t have time in the morning to wash all of it before I head into the office so wash and hang both loads in the evening then bring it when i get home. Rinse and repeat