The Clothes Drying Hack That Has TikTok Divided

In a bid to expedite the process of doing household chores, many of us turn to social media to garner information on the latest hacks. While we can all agree that some of them are surprisingly helpful, others leave us furrowing our brows. One trick that has TikTok majorly divided involves drying clothes on a rack. According to content creator Beatriz (@makelifesimpler_), you can make more space on your clothes drying rack by pinning the clothes perpendicular to the lines instead of parallel the way you normally would. 

She also spreads them out by pinning them to the first line and the last line, condemning the ones in between. While this strange style technically does create space for more clothes, it has viewers in disagreement with the implications of such an arrangement. The purpose of the lines on your rack is to give you a place to dry your items and have them as spaced out as possible while still considering airflow. Spreading the clothes 90 degrees in the other direction confines the wet clothes into a smaller space with zero breathing room. 

This would make them take even longer to dry, as other users rightfully pointed out in the comments section. By the time they do dry off, the effect of being cramped up will also leave them with a damp smell. Fortunately, there are plenty of better ways to dry your clothes with a rack that won't also leave you stinking like 20-year-old mildew.

With a drying rack, most of the work has already been done for you; just spread out your clothes, pin them, and that's all it takes. However, if you're looking for extra room for more clothing on a smaller rack, or with limited space in an apartment, for instance, you can gather all the spare hangers from your wardrobe and bring them down to the laundry room. Hang your clothes from the rack and you'll get better spacing and more air passage between the clothes. Just ensure that you pin the tops of the hangers onto the line so they don't move.

Sometimes, your clothes don't dry evenly on a rack because the upside is facing more ventilation while the downside isn't, or the lines leave a patch of dampness along them. Either way, for a more even drying process, you can simply flip them after a period. And, if you want an especially simple hack to get them to dry even faster, take it outside. 

If you have a porch, balcony, or even a small yard, transport the rack outside and let the sun do its work — as long as it's not too bright and you have dark clothes. But you should think twice about hang-drying your clothes in the laundry room because it could affect the air quality there and make it more humid. Moving them outside is an all-around win.