This handy hack could get your clothes dry in just a few hours.
We all know the struggle of trying to dry clothes during the winter months. Hanging them outside is not an option due to the rain, and using a tumble dryer can be costly – if you even have one in your property.
For many, the only solution is to load up a clothes airer with laundry and hope it doesn’t take a week to dry. However, these devices come with their own problems, as they not only take a long time to dry clothes, but the slow evaporation of water can increase mould risk in your home and cause your laundry to smell musty.
But there’s a way to make your clothes airers more effective at drying clothes, requiring only one small electrical appliance that you might not think to use in the middle of winter.
The tip was shared on TikTok by Ann Russell, who responded to another woman lamenting that “most rental flats don’t come with a tumble dryer”, often resulting in clothes that “smell like mould” when they finally dry.
Ann suggested that clothes airers – or airing racks – are the key to drying clothes without a tumble dryer, but there’s a specific way to arrange your laundry to ensure it dries quickly without an unpleasant odour. There’s also another item you should be using alongside your airer – a fan.
She explained: “If you have all your washing on an airing rack and there’s no room for air to circulate, it will take a week to dry and it will reek. You want a fan. Not a fan heater, you want a fan. Just one that blows air. All you’re doing is making wind happen inside your house.”
Ann was adamant about the necessity of spacing out damp clothing when airing them to dry. She suggested utilizing every inch of available space by draping shirts on coat hangers and positioning them around door frames and windowsills. Clothes should be distributed with ample gaps on the drying rack, followed by setting up a fan nearby to enable a gentle airstream to weave through them.
She also mentioned: “Plonk a fan down so that the wind happily blows at [your clothes]. Leave a window cracked unless you’ve got a dehumidifier so that the damp air can escape, and you’ll find that it dries really quite quickly.”
According to Ann, this strategy, complemented by a strategically-placed fan and well-spaced garments, can notably hasten the drying process, often achieving dry laundry “overnight”, although she noted bulkier items such as hoodies may require a bit more time.
Fans of Ann’s technique were quick to commend her on social media, with some offering additional advice, such as using a dehumidifier to extract moisture or investing in a heated clothes airer.
One individual suggested: “Put the clothes rack in your bathroom and run the dehumidifier with the door closed. Clothes dry within two hours.” Another added: “I have a heated drying rack with a cover, and it’s a game changer! Especially on the west coast of Scotland where it’s SO humid. Only way I keep up with school uniform drying.”