With household and energy costs continuing to rise, we wanted to share some tips on drying your washing inside the home, to minimise costs in your energy bills and help save money.
Use a dehumidifier
Dehumidifiers draw excess moisture from the air, helping to prevent condensation and damp problems.
When there is too much water in the air, your clothes will not dry properly even if they are spread out on an airer, so they may smell musty, which is never good.
The Heinner DUM10 is suitable for households with up to three bedrooms. It is available from Appliances Direct and you can pay in interest-free instalments. With a power rating of 340W, this will cost approximately 12p per hour to run (based on the Energy Price Guarantee of 34p/kWh)
https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/dum10/heinner-dum10-dehumidifier-dehumidifier
Put your washing on an additional spin cycle
Once your washing machine cycle has finished, you can put your machine on another spin cycle to get rid of any excess moisture. Your clothes will come out much drier.
You may want to use a lower spin setting – faster is more suitable for towels or heavy material like denim.
Use a heated clothes airer
These can cost anything between £50 and £100 but at about 10p an hour, they use a lot less energy than a tumble dryer, which can cost £1.27 a cycle.
Argos has the Minky Wing 12m available for £55. With a power rating of 246W, this product would cost just 8p an hour to run.
Add a dry towel to your wet clothes
This is something I have been doing for a while – it was a tip my mother gave me. If you put a dry towel in the tumble dryer with your wet clothes, it will reduce the drying time by absorbing some of the excess moisture. This can help save you money by reducing the drying time.
Use clothes hangers on airers or clothes rails to increase airflow
For those without a heated airer, instead of laying clothes on the airer, try hanging them. This will allow you to fit more washing on the airer and create good ventilation between the clothes. You can do the same with clothes rails too, just leave a gap between each hanger to ensure good airflow.
Towel dry your clothes
It may sound bizarre, but wrapping your clothes in a towel is an effective way of removing excess moisture and reduces drying time. What’s more, it does not cost anything! Fold your towel lengthways and place your clothes along the top edge, then roll the towel up tightly into a sausage shape. The clothes will be noticeably drier at the end of your washing machine cycle, so will take less time to dry when hanging up.
Use a pull-out washing line
Not every household has the space for a clothes airer, so why not try using a pull-out washing line?
Bathrooms are designed to deal with condensation so are best equipped, as you often do not have to worry about excess moisture or damp conditions, because most are fitted with an extractor fan.
There are different options available on Amazon, including:
Stay Warm Save Money is a UK-based company providing high quality heated clothing products to anyone in the UK who is looking to reduce consumer costs and their energy bills. Products that warm the person, not the environment help you save money by not heating the whole room, office, house or warehouse.
