It’s been a particularly chilly start to the new year, with much of the UK being hit with snow, ice, frost and freezing temperatures over the past week, but the cold season isn’t over yet. The winter months can feel long and dark, and while the chilly weather can make staying in feel extra cosy, it doesn’t exactly create the ideal conditions for getting your washing dry. The damp and often wet weather that blights the winter months means hanging washing outside is pretty much out of the question, and without the help of the sunshine and a gentle breeze, drying laundry at this time of the year can be a royal pain. While it’s still possible to catch a few rays during optimal hours of the day, even then, there’s always the likely chance you’ll be rained off, forcing you to bring the load back indoors.
If you aren’t lucky enough to have a tumble dryer or heated airer at home then handing your laundry on a clothes airer is your best bet for getting things dry indoors. They’re cheap to buy, energy-saving and can be folded away after use, but clothes can still take a long time to dry – especially if you don’t want to blast the heating to help the process along. But according to laundry experts, there’s a very easy (and cheap) way to speed the process up that won’t add to your energy bills– and all you need is a towel.
According to 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.”