WITH the warm days of air-drying your laundry likely over for another year, many of us are on the lookout for cost-effective alternatives to tumble dryer.
Although the latter is a fabulous way to dry your washing, some dryers can cost you as much as £1.76 per use – and this can quickly rack up over time.
There are many ways you can dry your laundry during the colder winter months, such as hanging the wet garments around the house.
But not only will this method take ages, it’s also not recommended by experts due to the potential increase in home moisture – which can lead to both mould and damp issues.
What’s more, it can also cause your garments to have an unpleasant lingering smell.
Luckily, savvy fans of cleaning sensation Mrs Hinch have come to rescue with an easy – and purse-friendly – solution.
Taking to the Facebook page Mrs Hinch Made Me Do It, one social media user shared: “I use a clothes airer with a dehumidifier, it dries faster than my tumble dryer”.
Another agreed: “I swear by my dehumidifier.
Hang the clothes in the utility room, shut the door and a load is dry in four hours.
A third chimed in: “Wouldn’t be without [my dehumidifier]. Scary how much water it takes.
”No damp problems anymore and our clothes are dry overnight.”
Similar to a tumble dryer which extracts moisture from clothes, a dehumidifier will extract moisture from the air by drawing warm, damp air inside and releasing drier air back into room.
At the same time, the condensation is collected in a tank, which you can then empty once it’s full.
The market offers a huge variety of dehumidifiers to suit every budget – however, if you’re on the lookout for a cheaper version, it’s worth checking out the online giant Amazon.
Priced at an affordable £8.49 for a ten-pack, their Interior Dehumidifiers come to just a little over 80p each – and the nifty bargain buy also boasts more than a thousand positive reviews.
As well as helping you dry your washing, the handy device will help prevent damp, mould, mildew and condensation – and remove any nasty smells from your home.
BELOW we reveal how you can calculate your own energy bill.
To calculate how much you pay for your energy bill, you must find out your unit rate for gas and electricity and the standing charge for each fuel type.
The unit rate will usually be shown on your bill in p/kWh.The standing charge is a daily charge that is paid 365 days of the year – irrespective of whether or not you use any gas or electricity.
You will then need to note down your own annual energy usage from a previous bill.
Once you have these details, you can work out your gas and electricity costs separately.
Multiply your usage in kWh by the unit rate cost in p/kWh for the corresponding fuel type – this will give you your usage costs.
You’ll then need to multiply each standing charge by 365 and add this figure to the totals for your usage – this will then give you your annual costs.
Divide this figure by 12, and you’ll be able to determine how much you should expect to pay each month from April 1.
According to the retailer, shoppers can use this dehumidifier practically anywhere – whether that’s your wardrobe, caravan, cupboards and even boats.
Gleaming in an impressive 4.3-star rating, it’s easy to see why Amazon customers have been loving the cheap find, especially as winter lurks around the corner.
One happy shopper said: ”Normally buy these from Poundstretcher but great value for this product seem to absorb well, would buy more.”
A second chimed in: ”These are really good dehumidifiers. I was amazed. Definitely recommend these and will buy again.”
Someone else wrote: ”I couldn’t believe the size of the dehumidifier crystal packs and 10 of them.
”Such amazing quality and very cheap thanks.”
Although the reviews were mainly positive, there was also some criticism by shoppers who were disappointed by the size of the product.
”When purchasing these moisture traps I didn’t realise how small they were, although they were effective they didn’t last long before I had to order the larger ones,” one critic said.
Another warned :”These have really poor absorbency, barely collect any water and windows left very wet every morning. Never had any so bad.”
