Your clothes are wet and you want to dry them quickly. The goal is to get the water out of your clothes as quickly as possible and in any way, for example with heat, by spinning, by letting them air dry or by applying pressure. Try putting a clean, dry towel in the dryer to dry your clothes faster. Or try ironing or blow-drying each item of clothing to steam out the water using heat. Before drying your clothes, spin them on a high speed in the washing machine and wring them out to remove the excess water and make them dry faster.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Wring out the excess water
Step 1. Centrifuge the clothes on a high speed
If you use a washing machine, you can set it so that your clothes dry faster. Set your washing machine so that the laundry is spun at a high speed, so that as much water as possible is removed before you take the clothes out of the washing machine. Spinning at a higher speed costs more energy, but this is still a lot less than a normal drying program in the dryer uses. It is best not to use the maximum speed. The ball bearings of your washing machine will last much longer.
Step 2. Wring out your clothes so they dry faster
Hold a garment firmly with both hands. Squeeze, twist and knead the fabric to wring as much water out of the garment as possible. Be careful not to pull too hard on the garment as this can stretch the fabric. Indoors, you can wring out your clothes over a sink or bathtub. Outdoors, you can just let the water flow on the ground.
Wring out your clothes before drying, whether you put them in the dryer or hang them on the clothesline. The more water you can wring out of the fabric before the drying cycle, the faster a garment will dry
Step 3. Roll the clothes in a towel to absorb the water
Lay out a large, soft towel and place the wet garment on it. Roll up the towel tightly with the garment inside. Rotate the bundle. Start at one end and roll up the bundle evenly. Work toward the other end until the entire towel is taut. This squeezes the excess water from your clothes into your towel.
If this trick fails to remove all the water the first time, grab a dry towel and repeat the process
Step 4. Try drying your clothes in a salad spinner
Put your wet clothes in a salad spinner, if you have one. This allows you to quickly spin all the excess water out of your clothes. The advantage is that you do not use electricity like the dryer. You will still have to dry your clothes afterwards, but putting your clothes in a salad spinner first will dry them a lot faster because they are less wet.
Method 2 of 3: Drying without a tumble dryer
Step 1. Use a hair dryer
If you have a hair dryer, you can use it to dry your clothes quickly and intensively. Wring out the wet garment first and lay it down on a clean, dry surface. Set the hair dryer to a warm or high setting. The airflow is more important than the heat. Hold the hair dryer close to the garment and dry a section with short bursts of warm air at a time. Slowly treat the entire surface of the garment. Dry the front, back, inside and outside until all fabric is dry.
- Turn the garment regularly to dry pockets, sleeves and collars. Dry them inside and out to do a thorough job.
- Be careful not to direct the hair dryer at one spot for too long. Some garments and surfaces can catch fire if they get too hot.
Step 2. Use a clothesline or drying rack
Hang your clothes on the clothesline if possible or use a drying rack. A clothesline is usually the fastest way to dry your clothes, but is not always practical. Make sure to hang each item of clothing separately so that it has room to dry quickly and for air to circulate properly. Turn and turn the garments occasionally so that they are evenly dried throughout.
- Try hanging or placing the clothesline or drying rack near a heat source. Hang your clothes a few meters away from a fireplace, radiator or stove. Be careful when hanging flammable materials near a heat source. You can get a fire if your clothes get too hot or if you put your clothes over a heat source. Do not put your clothes on a heat source.
- Try to hang your clothes in a place with a strong airflow, i.e. in a place where the air is ventilated. Hang your clothes near a window (or outside) when it's windy, or turn on a fan so there's good airflow indoors.
- If you are using a drying rack with several bars, hang clothes that need to dry quickly over two bars instead of one. Garments will dry faster if a larger surface area is exposed to the airflow.
Step 3. Use an iron and a towel
Place the wet garment on an ironing board as if you were going to dry it. Place a thin towel over the garment. Iron the towel firmly and thoroughly on a high setting. Make sure to turn the garment over so that you treat both sides. The combination of the iron and the towel will make the garment warm. The towel will absorb some of the moisture.
Do not press the hot iron on a wet garment. This can cause the fabric to stretch and become damaged, rendering the garment unwearable. When ironing your wet clothes, always use a towel to protect your clothes
Method 3 of 3: Tumble dry with towels
Step 1. Dry the garment with some clean, dry towels
The towels will absorb some of the moisture from the wet clothes, which may cause the entire load of laundry to dry faster. You can use just one towel or five. In general, the more towels you use, the faster the clothes will dry. Remember, this trick works best when you only want to dry one or two items of clothing. The more clothes you put in the dryer, the less well the towels will work and the longer it will take for your clothes to dry.
Step 2. Put the garment in the dryer together with the towels
Do not add any other clothes. Put a maximum of two or three wet garments in the dryer, and do not try this with very heavy fabrics. Know that towels often lose a lot of fluff and so there is a chance that you will get fluff on your clothes.
If you're concerned about lint, you can use cotton T-shirts instead of towels. However, t-shirts do not absorb as much moisture as towels. Using dryer sheets reduces the chance that the fluff from the towels will end up on your clothes
Step 3. Clean the lint filter
When the lint filter is full, the air can't flow properly through your dryer, forcing your dryer to work harder and use more energy to dry clothes. Depending on the layout of your dryer, the lint filter will be located somewhere at the top of the dryer or on the inside of the door. Locate the filter and pull it out of the housing. If there is a layer of fluff on it, the filter is already partly clogged. Pull off the fluff or scrape it off the filter with your fingers.
- Consider using a vacuum cleaner to remove the fluff quickly and effectively. You can do this to remove any lint left behind after you have pulled the lint off the filter. The filter does not have to be completely clean. If the filter is mostly clean, the dryer will work as efficiently as possible.
- When you've cleaned the fluff filter, slide it back into place. Make sure the filter fits properly. You are now ready to dry the clothes.
Step 4. Dry the clothes
Put the wet clothes and dry towels in the dryer, but don't overload the dryer. Set the tumble dryer to the highest possible setting at which the clothes can be dried safely. This varies by dryer, but in general you should use a lower setting for delicate and thin fabrics. Set up the dryer and do all the other things that need to be done.
Step 5. Wait 15 minutes, or as long as you can
Open the dryer door and take out your clothes. The garments should be almost completely dry. If not, put them back in and let the dryer do its job for a few more minutes. Have patience. Depending on your dryer, your clothes may need an additional five minutes to dry.
Make sure to take out the dry towels (they probably aren't that dry now) if the drying takes 20 minutes or more. After 20 minutes, the damp towels can make it take longer for your clothes to dry
Warnings
- Make sure the fluff filter is empty. Since most of the laundry is dry, the fluff is likely to catch fire due to the static electricity.
- Use towels that you don't need immediately. Depending on the type of clothes and the dryer, you may need to wash the towels after drying.
- This consumes a lot of energy. So instead, try to prepare better and dry your clothes sooner.