Tips for drying washing in rainy weather without a tumble dryer

With an unprecedented amount of rain currently pelting the east coast of the country and the winter chill on the way, many of us are having to rejig our daily routines to bring typically 'outside' chores inside out of the wild weather.

One of those 'outside' chores is drying laundry. Tumble dryers are certainly one way to quickly and thoroughly dry clothes on rainy days — but what about those who don't have one?

Drying clothes on rainy days

If you find yourself in the 'no dryer' camp and are struggling with racks of damp, musty clothes that never seem to dry completely, don't worry as you're not alone.

Others facing the same laundry dilemma have taken to social media to ask for advice on drying clothes inside, sans dryer, when it's wet and rainy.

On Facebook, the one tip that kept popping up in people's responses was relatively simple, cheap and effective: hang wet clothes on a rack or airer then pop it near or under a fan. Leave overnight then voila, dry laundry.

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There were so many variants on the clothes airer/fan hack in the comments that we've included just a handful below:

"We use a clothes airer and have it under the ceiling fan at medium to high speed until dry"

"Hung on an air dryer with a fan pointed at them. Only put [wet laundry] on every second rung."

"Hang in garage and let heat off car dry clothes."

"Hang on the airer before I go to bed then if I have to I’ll pop the heater on to finish them in the morning when it’s cold. They get close to drying overnight anyway."

Even some tumble dryer owners opted for the airer/fan method:

"I put most stuff in the dryer but for the clothes I won’t use the dryer, I use a clothes airer and have a cheap pedestal fan on them next to a window.

"Without the fan it was taking days to dry and they would start smelling like they’d been left in the washing machine too long so I had to wash them all again. The fan was the winner."

Other Facebook users shared some different methods and gadgets they use for drying:

"I used to use a small dehumidifier (Australian brand - Ausclimate) to get the moisture out of a room when it used to rain endlessly and realised it was perfect to put the clothes rack in bathtub and ran the machine with the door closed. So it was more purposefully used and worked great!"

"I use a portable clothes rack and put most things on hangers and have the window or door open and if I run out of room I hang in the shower over glass door frame. They usually dry overnight."

"I use coat hangers and hang things off the door jams, try and do little loads so I can get more air through them. I have also gone to the laundry mat to catch up as sometimes I have got so far behind."

"Don’t have everything so close together when hanging up on the airer. Get a Mrs Peggs clothes airer."

Despite the support for the clothes airer and fan combo, some tumble dryer advocates remained steadfast such as this one who wrote, "Can’t live without my dryer."

Shop it

Below, we've found a few products that might help to get your next load of washing dryer, faster.

Heller 40cm Pedestal Fan with Remote, $37.04 from Amazon

Ausclimate NWT Medium 20L Dehumidifier, $399 from Amazon

Kmart 3 Tier Mobile Clothes Airer, $29

Kmart Over the Door 2 Tier Airer, $15

Mrs Peggs Classic 10 Handy Line, $279

Some of the links in this article may return revenue to Yahoo Lifestyle Australia.

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