Washing and drying clothes is one of those mundane and seemingly never-ending household tasks that everyone has to do, but the job is made even more laborious at this time of the year.
Autumn may be known as the cosy season when we retreat indoors, but when it comes to getting your laundry done the cold temperatures are less than welcome. The frustrating part is getting your clothes dry, which is made increasingly difficult thanks to the chilly and often wet weather which typically kicks in from October. It means clothes wind up being hung up to dry indoors and if you aren’t lucky enough to own a tumble dryer or a heated airer, you can find yourself sat surrounded by damp clothes for days on end.
Using a clothes airer is the best option for drying clothes indoors as they’re cheap to buy, energy-saving and can be folded away after use, but the downside is it can also take a long time for clothes to dry – especially if you haven’t turned on your heating yet to help the process along. But experts say there’s a nifty way to speed up drying that won’t cost you a penny extra on your energy bills.
According to laundry experts, you should wrap your wet clothing inside a dry towel to help soak up some of the excess water before hanging it up, as this will help to get your clothes dry much faster.
Lifestyle Clotheslines explained: “If you want to quickly dry your clothes without a dryer, try the towel roll method. This technique involves wrapping wet clothing in one or multiple dry towels to absorb water then adding paper towels on top for extra moisture extraction. Doing this technique can help speed up the drying process significantly while saving time and effort along the way.
“Start by taking each piece of clothing from its damp state and rolling it tightly inside one single dry towel, when using multiple garments at once make sure to separate clean linens if possible.
“Once that’s done, twist both ends of the towel – ensuring that it’s tightly twisted to guarantee that it successfully squeezes excess water. Insert some sheets of paper towels into the creases that were created during folding-in so any additional drops get soaked away too.
“Finally, inspect how effective this has been. If not, you may have squeezed too many items at once. Remove some items then repeat the steps until you achieve the desired results.”
Martin Seeley, sleep expert and CEO of MattressNextDay, says this technique is also effective for drying bed sheets, particularly if you can’t use your washing line due to the cold or wet autumnal weather.
He said: “I always recommend drying your bedding indoors or using a tumble dryer to keep it pollen-free. If you’re worried about your bed sheets taking a while to dry, I’d recommend washing them first thing in the morning so you can take advantage of warmer temperatures and natural airflow throughout the day.
“Before hanging them up, give your sheets a really good shake helps separate the fibres and speeds up drying. Another trick I use is the towel technique: lay your damp sheet flat on a dry towel, roll them up tightly together, and press down to absorb excess moisture before hanging the sheet to finish drying.”
“These simple hacks can dramatically reduce drying times indoors, making it much easier to keep your bedding fresh.”
