One household item can dry clothes faster indoors in autumn — no tumble dryer needed

Doing the washing can be a tedious and seemingly never-ending chore, particularly when the weather turns colder.

While the actual washing part isn't too bad - simply chuck your dirty clothes in the washing machine, add some washing powder and let it do its thing - the frustrating bit is when it comes to drying, especially during autumn and winter.

As temperatures start to drop in autumn, it means clothes often have to be hung up to dry indoors and if you don't have a tumble dryer or heated airer, you can end up withdamp clothes cluttering up your home for days on end as you wait for them to dry.

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Using a clothes airer is your best bet for drying clothes indoors as they're cheap to buy, energy-saving and can be tucked away after use. The only downside is it can also take an age for clothes to dry - especially if you don't want to crank up your heating yet to help speed things along.

But experts reckon there's a clever way to speed up drying that won't cost you an extra penny on your energy bills.

According to laundry experts, you should wrap your wet clothing inside a dry towel to help absorb some of the excess water before hanging it up, as this will help to get your clothes dry much quicker, reports the Express.

Lifestyle Clotheslines said: "If you want to quickly dry your clothes without a dryer, try the towel roll method. This technique involves wrapping wet clothing in one or multiple dry towels to absorb water then adding paper towels on top for extra moisture extraction. Doing this technique can help speed up the drying process significantly while saving time and effort along the way.

"Start by taking each piece of clothing from its damp state and rolling it tightly inside one single dry towel, when using multiple garments at once make sure to separate clean linens if possible.

"Once that's done, twist both ends of the towel - ensuring that it's tightly twisted to guarantee that it successfully squeezes excess water. Insert some sheets of paper towels into the creases that were created during folding-in so any additional drops get soaked away too.

"Finally, inspect how effective this has been. If not, you may have squeezed too many items at once. Remove some items then repeat the steps until you achieve the desired results."

Martin Seeley, sleep specialist and chief executive of MattressNextDay, confirms this method works brilliantly for drying bed linen too, especially when you're unable to hang washing outside during chilly or damp autumn conditions. He advised: "I always recommend drying your bedding indoors or using a tumble dryer to keep it pollen-free. If you're worried about your bed sheets taking a while to dry, I'd recommend washing them first thing in the morning so you can take advantage of warmer temperatures and natural airflow throughout the day.

"Before hanging them up, give your sheets a really good shake helps separate the fibres and speeds up drying. Another trick I use is the towel technique: lay your damp sheet flat on a dry towel, roll them up tightly together, and press down to absorb excess moisture before hanging the sheet to finish drying.

"These simple hacks can dramatically reduce drying times indoors, making it much easier to keep your bedding fresh."