Bed sheets can be a nightmare to wash and dry, especially during the colder months as you don’t have the chance of drying outdoors.
If not dried properly, bedding can easily cause mould to grow in your home and lead to unpleasant odours.
Now, drying your bed sheets indoors is by no means something that should be avoided at all costs, but it does mean that your bedding is going to take a lot longer to dry than if it were hung outside on the line.
To help speed up the process, James Higgins, an eucalyptus bedding expert and CEO of Ethical Bedding, has shared three laundry methods for drying bed sheets.
None of the methods mentioned below require the use of a tumble dryer, dehumidifier or central heating.
1. Wash bed sheets early
Firstly, he recommends households washing their bed sheets at the start of the day. James explained: “Naturally the inside of the home will heat up over the day and will give you better chances of air drying faster.”
He also advises against drying your sheets overnight as temperatures in the home drop considerably.
2. Dry bed sheet in the kitchen
Secondly, James recommends leaving your bed sheets to dry in the kitchen. This can be a “two-in-one hack” as the kitchen tends to be the “warmest part of the house” due to the oven and frequent foot traffic.
James added: “If you cook with the oven often you can use the excess heat to dry your sheets in the room at the same time.”
However, he warned that if you’re cooking smellier food, this might not be the best option as the scent could “cling to the sheets”.
The expert suggested a nifty trick for speeding up laundry drying: “Putting your drying rack next to the oven door will allow the excess heat to speed up the drying process.”
3. Hang bed sheets over the airing cupboard
When it comes to hanging bed sheets, using the airing cupboard can be a game-changer.
James claimed that it emits a substantial amount of warmth throughout the day, aiding in a “quicker drying time for laundry”. He added: “This ensures you aren’t using any electricity in the process.”
For households where the central heating is already active, it’s also effective to place sheets on an airer near, but not on, a radiator to dry them.