How to dry your clothes at home: beat the damp and save money

Getting clothes dried at home without running up the power bill is a problem people will be facing every day until spring. Tumble dryers are one of the most expensive home appliances to run – but not drying your clothes properly can leave you with unhealthy, damp air in your home and smelly, mildewy garments.

We’ve rounded up the best tips on minimising damp in your home, and found cheaper alternatives to using a tumble dryer.

Try these tips to stop damp

A well-insulated home that’s warm inside is the best way to prevent damp, but if you’re trying to keep your electricity use down, there are ways to combat damp without spending any money at all. Use your central heating when you can and get into these good habits. Your aim is to keep your home ventilated, minimise the release of moisture into the air and get rid of it as soon as you can.

• If you can bear it – and before the weather gets too cold – open your windows every day for ten minutes when it’s sunny or during the warmest part of the day.
• Whenever you finish a load in your washing machine, spin it again to get rid of as much moisture as possible before you take it out.
• Time your washing to be ready at the same time your heating comes on, and set up an airer near the radiator.
• If you have space in the cupboard where your boiler or hot water cylinder lives, hang wet clothes there.
• Dry your clothes outside whenever you can – wind is your friend.
• Clean your extractor fan in the kitchen and vacuum your bathroom fan (if you have one) to make sure both are working efficiently.
• Leave the lids on pots when cooking and always use your extractor fan. If you use a slow cooker or rice cooker, stand it under the extractor fan and switch it on during use.
• Use your microwave to heat up food rather than using the hob.
• Before you bathe or shower, turn on your bathroom fan and close the door. When you’ve finished, keep the door closed and open the window a crack until the steam disperses.
• Regularly wipe away condensation on the inside of your windows and on any walls as soon as it appears.

Get the most from your tumble dryer

However thrifty you’re trying to be this winter, you’ll probably need to use your tumble dryer sometimes. If you have children or a baby, you’ll definitely need it to stop laundry from piling up and things getting unmanageable.

Tumble dryers are expensive to run but there are a lot of scare stories going around that exaggerate how much they cost. Plus, remember that while alternative options might be cheaper to run, you still have to factor in the cost of buying those gadgets, and not simply look at how much they cost to use per hour.

According to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, which has a calculator on its website, with my electricity unit rate of just under 36p per kWh (which is just above average), an ordinary tumble dryer could cost me around 90p per hour to run.

But your tumble dryer may cost more or less depending upon how much power it uses. If you want to find out what it costs to run, there are two options. The first is to check your manual. It’ll contain information about your dryer programme’s wattage and electricity use.

If you can’t find your manual, look up the make and model of your tumble dryer online. Once you have this information, and your electricity unit rate charge, you can use an online calculator, like the one from Sust-It, to work out the cost.

The second and more precise way is to check using a power meter. You can buy a power meter for around $15 in the US/ £20 in the UK. We’ve got advice on how to use one.

Essentially, though, you plug in your power meter into a socket and plug your tumble dryer into that. Then you run the drying programme and you’ll see how much electricity it uses. Once you find out what a load costs to dry, you can budget for its use and won’t have to worry when you need to run it.

But in between running your tumble dryer, there are other options.

What are some cheaper alternatives to using a tumble dryer?

1. A heated clothes airer

A popular option this year is to invest in a heated clothes dryer. This is essentially a heated rack, like a clothes horse. Hang your clothes on it and plug it in and it’ll warm up. However, like everything else, it has its pluses and minuses.

Pros:

• They’re cheap to run. If you’re in the UK, one could cost you around 8p per hour.
• They’re easy to use: just set it up and hang up your clothes.
• Depending on the type you buy, they may come with a cover to speed up drying.

Cons:

• You can’t just hang clothes and forget about them. You’ll need to keep turning them and moving them to ensure that they dry all over.
• You might end up with more ironing to do as creases from hanging are dried into garments.
• They can be cheaply made and flimsy. You probably won’t be buying one for life.

If you’re in the UK, Argos sells the 11.5m heated electric indoor clothes airer for £55. It’s a 230 watt appliance, which at my electricity unit rate of 36p per kWh would cost 8p per hour to run.

Even better, if you can get out to Lidl before stock runs out, you can get a near identical airer for £44.99. Note: this goes on sale on Sunday 23 October.

And if you’re in the US, you can buy a very similar model from Amazon for $108.39. It’s also aluminium and measures 147 x 94 x 54cm.

2. A dehumidifier

Rather than heating your clothes, your other option is to pull the excess moisture from the air. A dehumidifier will stop damp and help your clothes dry more quickly.

Pros:

• They’re very cheap to run. In the UK, it could cost just 6p an hour.
• You can run it to combat any damp problems you may have anywhere in your home.
• A decent one will last you for years to come.
• A dehumidifier may also act as an air purifier.

Cons:

• They are more expensive to buy than a heated clothes airer.

If you’re in the UK, we’ve tested and would recommend the Meaco Arete One. We tested the pricier 25L model, but for home use, the 12L model will work well. It’s available from Argos for £180.

It’s a 165 watt appliance, which on my tariff (slightly above average at 36p per kWh) would cost me 6p per hour to run. It’s specifically designed for use in the UK, is simple to set up and use – even if you’ve never had one before – and has wheels on so you can easily move it to where you need it.

If you’re in the US, you can get the HomeLabs 1,500 sqft dehumidifier from Amazon for $159.97, and there are larger room options on the same page.

For more help saving on bills this winter, you can find out what your appliances cost to run and find out why longer cycles are key to saving money on your dishwasher and washing machine.