By the first week of November the washing line has officially become a decorative feature. Everything that comes out of the machine now has to dry inside, in a house we are also trying to keep warm and sealed shut — and every load carries a startling amount of water with it. That water does not vanish. It evaporates into the rooms you live in, settles on the coldest surface it can find, and eventually shows up as streaming windows, a sour smell in the hall and black speckling in the corner behind the wardrobe.
Take the water out before it gets into the room
The cheapest dehumidifier you own is the spin cycle. Most machines have a faster spin option than the default on your usual programme, and pushing it up — on towels, jeans, bedding, anything robust — removes a meaningful amount of water before the laundry ever leaves the drum. Give each item a sharp shake as it comes out as well; it sounds fussy, but it separates the fibres, speeds drying and means less ironing later.
Resist the urge to cram. A rack with everything overlapping takes two or three days to dry, and anything that takes that long starts to smell. Hang items with air gaps, shirts on hangers rather than flat on bars, socks and smalls on the outer edges where the airflow is best. Half a load dried properly in a day beats a full load dried badly over a weekend.
