No Dryer? No Problem! 12 Unique Hacks for Drying Washing Indoors
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Struggling to dry clothes in wet or humid weather? Here are 12 clever hacks for getting washing dry even without a dryer. Save money and keep clothes fresh!
You know you’ve reached adulthood when your first thought on a sunny day is, “I’ll get the washing dry today.”
Sunny days, however, have been few and far between over the last few months, and what is normally a two-day chore has turned into an all-week struggle, thanks to the humidity.
Even when it’s pouring with rain, the high humidity of summer can mean the washing stays damp despite the heat.
And with no dryer, we’ve had to come up with some creative ways to dry the washing.
I’m the first to admit that we have washing hanging around the house. Having airers in the living room isn’t going to get us onto the cover of Vogue Magazine, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
When I was a kid, my mum took in washing to supplement the family income. So not only did we have our washing hanging around, but we also had a football team’s worth of clothes hanging around from the local private boys’ boarding school.
Clothes always had pride of place in front of the gas fireplace.
Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Indoor Drying Hacks
1. Use Airers/Clothes Racks for Flexibility
We use airers/clothes drying racks (Amazon) all the time. On low-humidity days, they are enough to dry clothes. The best part? If the sun peeks out, I can quickly shift the airers outside, and if rain threatens, I can quickly whip them inside again.
2. Position Airers Under Ceiling Fans
When indoors, I place the airers under the ceiling fan for extra air circulation. This little trick helps speed up the drying process.
3. DIY Indoor Wind Tunnel
Maximise airflow by positioning your drying rack between two open windows or near a doorway with a cross-breeze. This creates a natural indoor ‘wind tunnel’. If you can’t create a cross breeze naturally, place a fan at one end—I’ve found using a pedestal fan on the washing to speed up drying, and while not electricity-free, it’s cheaper than using a dryer.
4. Hang Clothes in the Garage Over the Car
DH strung up a clothesline in the garage, positioned above the car bonnet. The residual heat from the engine helps dry clothes faster—perfect for when it’s too wet outside!
5. Hang Clothes on Coat Hangers in the Doorway
Ok, so obvious, but… we use an old curtain rod across a door frame (cross ventilation!), and we use it to hang clothes on coat hangers. It saves space and helps everything dry evenly, and you can take it down when you don’t need it.
6. Make Use of Open Windows and Curtain Rods
Coat hangers work well when hooked onto curtain rods in open windows—just make sure there’s enough airflow to prevent musty smells.
7. Invest in Over-the-Door or Retractable Clothes Racks
There are a bunch of discrete options these days for indoor drying racks that don’t need to take up all of the living space. These include collapsible wall-mounted racks, clip-on hangers, or over-the-door racks. To save space, we also use sock hangers for our smalls and cleaning cloths. While a hanger has an upfront cost, it will well and truly pay for itself compared to using a dryer.
Using Heat to Dry Clothes
8. Lay Clothes on the Car Bonnet
For that fresh, warm-out-of-the-dryer feeling, I lay clothes and towels directly on the bonnet of the car when we get home. Not only does the heat help dry them, but there’s nothing like slipping into toasty pyjamas on a cold night.
9. Leverage Kitchen Heat While Cooking
Placing an airer near the oven while baking means you’re doing double duty—cooking and getting your clothes dry!
10. Use Sun-Heated Surfaces
If it’s sunny, why not just hang the washing outside? Our clothesline is in a shaded, dank courtyard throughout winter. Hanging the washing on the sunny side next to the metal garage door that absorbs and then radiates the sun’s heat helps it dry faster. In front of a sunny window or brick wall are other options—the glass concentrating the heat, and the wall slowly releasing captured heat at night.
Tips for Drying Large or Heavy Items
11. Use Stair Rails in a Two-Storey Home
If you live in a two-storey house, try hanging the washing on the stair rail or at the top of the stairs. Since warm air rises, clothes dry faster in these spots.
12. Towel Absorption Hack
Roll wet clothes in a bath or beach towel and wring or press gently to soak up extra moisture before hanging out. This isn’t a miracle drying hack, but it can cut drying time of items like jeans without using extra electricity. On the downside, you then have a towel to dry, too.
What’s Your Best Drying Hack?
Laundry might not be the most glamorous topic, but we all have our own little tricks to make it easier.
What’s your #1 laundry-drying hack? Do you prefer airers, coat hangers, or something totally unique? Drop your best tip in the comments!
I know it’s using a dryer, which I don’t have, but if I have a lot of towels and sheets that need drying and my house is already full of clothes hanging on airer’s and hangers on a rainy day, I use one of the dryers down at the laundromat, and put one of my DRY towels in with the load. It helps to speed the drying time up. Also the tops of doors are good places to hang towels and even a sheet folded in half.
My cat also loves to pull the towels and sheets down and make a little nest, so over the top of inside doors is my favourite place for towels. which reminds me I better get to that load waiting
I have been known to position our pedestal fans to blow onto the washing. Some of your ones are very creative – I like the car one! The oven is a good idea too.
I am boring and unimaginative, i simply hand it on the line until it,s dry, very occassionaly I might hang something thats badly needed on a coathanger inside overnight,and it,s always dry in the morning.
Off now to do my weekend washing………
Thanks for the tips.
I love the days when I can just hang the washing on the line and it actually dries, especially when I can wash, fold and put away nappies in one day. Doesn’t happen very often, though.
I have a permanent clothes line outside, which I use in the Summer. In the Winter, I have a removable standing rack that fits perfect in our upstairs tub. There’s notihing better in the summer than clothing dried by sunshine!
I have lived in the Netherlands for the last 8 years now and have learned to live without a dryer as many people here don’t use them. We are fortunate enough to have a large attic space where I hang the clothes in the winter. I save space by hanging many of my lighter blouses and things on hangers to dry and I have found that you can hang many more clothes on lines if you hang them between two lines. I have several lines across that attic space running parallel to each other. Instead of hanging the clothes along one line..I hang one edge of the article of clothing on one line and them the other edge on the parallel line directly across. I can get almost 3 times the amount up this way. And using the fans helps a lot.
True, i am dutch and its normal here for people to wind/sun dry outside. We have a seaclimate though so were lucky with our wind.
Last summer i purchased a Crazy Big drying-rack!! It was my dream. A (1,80 meter!! ) high standing rack on 4 poles 2 left and 2 right. Joined together at the top pyramidstyle At 7/8th high of each it has extra horiz. rigging. Very stable. Big pieces can be hung without folding.
A central bar at the top between them. And on each side a bar with the ropes between them. Easily to be removed and lifted.
It is so simple you can biuld it yourself. I put it under the balcony. It stays dry even during heavy rain.
Some days it takes longer to dry but thats natural.
My first thought with sunshine is also, a good day for drying !! ???? when i have no drying to do we use the easy chairs under the rack and have shade from a nice drape on top…???? coool and privacy too..????????????
Hi Debbie,
I am going to have to try hanging the wasing that way. I don’t have a lot of line space.
I strung 5 rows of rope above the bathtub/shower and hang dry there. That way the water from the clothes as they dry out drip down into the bathtub rather than the carpet or linoleum elsewhere and prevents water issues.