Move This Household Staple Into Your Laundry Room To Quickly Dry Hanging Clothes

Nobody likes waiting for their clothes to dry. If left for too long, damp clothes begin to develop an unpleasant smell. Plus, wet clothes hanging around for too long can cause more damp in your home due to the moisture they produce. Hanging clothes outside is the best method for drying clothes because it's both free and eco-friendly, but in colder weather, this isn't always possible. Don't despair though. There is something that can make your clothes dry faster — and that's a dehumidifier.

Dehumidifiers work by taking the humidity out of the air, resulting in an area with less moisture. This benefits your clothes by drawing the moisture out of them at a faster rate, cutting down on drying time. This is ideal if you live in a home or an apartment where there's lots of humidity. Alongside this, dehumidifiers offer various other benefits such as reducing the risk of damp and mold. However, dehumidifiers come in a range of sizes and prices. Here's all you need to know before you take the plunge and buy one.

When it comes to investing in a dehumidifier, the ones at the higher end of the price scale do tend to perform better than cheaper models. A cheaper dehumidifier won't be able to draw out as much moisture, meaning your clothes won't dry as fast. If you do have the budget to go for a more expensive dehumidifier, you absolutely should. Not only will it help dry your clothes in an economical way, but it will also help with damp.

Speaking to Woman & Home, dehumidifier expert Chloe King stated, "Using a dehumidifier is an excellent tool to help dry clothes. Because a dehumidifier extracts moisture from the air, and as the air becomes less humid this will speed up the evaporation process on your damp clothing." As mentioned, if you struggle with damp levels in your home or are constantly battling mold, a dehumidifier will help you stay on top of the problem by getting rid of a good amount humidity in your home (note: it won't get rid of existing mold).

As well as removing moisture from the air, one of the biggest draws of a dehumidifier is how much it costs to run. Though it may be pricey upfront, a dehumidifier costs less to run than an electric dryer, which is used often during colder weather when you're less likely to hang laundry outdoors. As air purification expert Chris Michael shared with Woman & Home, "Perhaps the most obvious benefit of using a dehumidifier over a tumble dryer is the reduced cost ... A dehumidifier can cost as little as 4p [$.05 USD] an hour to run. This means that with every load you choose to air dry instead of putting in the tumble dryer, you're saving." Generally, dehumidifiers are affordable to run no matter where you're based.

When using a dehumidifier, the following tips will help you to get the most out of it. Position it no further than six feet away from the clothes you're drying, but also don't put it too close so that the air can circulate well. Check if the model you're using has something called "laundry mode," which will more efficiently dry garments. Finally, when hanging clothes to dry, don't crowd them together. A bit of distance will once again help with air circulation.