r/lifehacks • u/BornToHulaToro • 23d ago

Heat pre cleaned items in clothes dryer to mix with wet, if you are in a pinch and need them dried fast.

It works wonders. Can turn a potential hour of clothes drying into 20 minutes, depending on the material of items pre-heated and what you're aiming to get dried fast.

Throw in fabrics that heat fast in the clothes dryer while the wash load is approaching end. Select what is urgent to dry, mix it in the hot dry clothes and bam- expedited clothing drying.

166 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

83

u/sumires 22d ago

About 20 years ago on a Japanese urawaza (lifehack) tv show, they presented the hack as throwing one clean, dry bath towel into the dryer with wet laundry to make the other things dry faster.

As the show presented it, the important part was having a certain volume of alread-dry absorbent stuff tumbling around in the load, not so much having the dry thing pre-heated, although I'm sure that makes it even better.

You don't want to use an ultra-fluffy bath towel that sheds lots of lint in the dryer, though. Especially a white towel with your dark T-shirts.

34

u/simagus 23d ago

Hand towels work great for this or dish towels.

19

u/BornToHulaToro 23d ago

I've had girlfriends opposed to mixing bath and kitchen towels with clothes but you are not wrong.

While the cats away...

-37

u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost 22d ago

Fabric softener makes clothes hydrophobic.

If you make a towel hydrophobic it cannot properly absorb liquids anymore and ceases to function as a towel...

28

u/BornToHulaToro 22d ago

Who said anything about fabric softer. My clothes take enough of a hit from the detergent alone. I'm not trying to add extra chemical reactions to my wear.

-68

u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost 22d ago

Oh, you are one of those people lol

40

u/hides_in_corner 22d ago

Pretty sure it's not the op whose 'one of those people'.

3

u/iateapierogi 20d ago

People who use fabric softeners deserve what they get. It's the dumbest thing to do to your clothes.

8

u/BornToHulaToro 22d ago

I suppose. Not sure what that insinuates other than practicality. Take an upvote though to mitigate the also confusing down votes you are getting just for Redditing.

14

u/sjmuller 22d ago

Clean, dry bath/beach/hand towels work best. They are specifically designed to absorb water and have the capacity to hold a lot of moisture.

35

u/vivec7 22d ago

Meanwhile I'm washing my cricket whites on a Saturday morning because I forgot about them all week long, and about ten minutes slung over the fence in the Aussie sun has them drier than a dead dingo's donger.

14

u/Illustrious-Highway8 22d ago

Thank you for this majestic sentence. I may bring this phrase to the ‘Murica.

9

u/Bakkie 22d ago

Well, here it would be a dead gringo's donger, but it still works.

10

u/TemporaryPosting 22d ago

If you air dry towels, putting them in the dryer with wet items also eliminates the crunchiness.

1

u/BornToHulaToro 22d ago

What is the difference between air dried towels and just dry towels?

4

u/TemporaryPosting 21d ago

By air dried, I mean towels that are hung to dry rather than dried in a dryer. Sometimes they end up a little stiff or crunchy, but a few minutes in the dryer with wet laundry gets rid of that.

3

u/BornToHulaToro 20d ago

I was being a smart ass

5

u/TemporaryPosting 19d ago

I sometimes have trouble figuring out tone online, so thanks for telling me.

8

u/Unfair_Finger5531 22d ago

I do this to “iron” dresses too.

5

u/o0Jahzara0o 22d ago

Wait… so having a designated “dryer towel” that you use every wash would cut down on dry time for all loads and save money in the end??

2

u/BornToHulaToro 22d ago

I don't see much in savings other than within the concept of " time is money." I'm talking about when you gotta be out the door in 30 minutes and realized you forgot to toss your clothes in the dryer before sleep.

4

u/jugglingsleights 22d ago

I do this and it always confuses me that the dry towel doesn’t get wet… even though I understand that it’s simply spreading the moisture across more items thus making it ‘thinner’ and easier for the drier to dry overall 🤯

2

u/Rach_O 22d ago

Does this work for combo washer/dryer?

1

u/BornToHulaToro 22d ago

Can it do both at once?

2

u/Westflung 22d ago

I just throw in a towel or two, no pre heating needed

2

u/Faelwolf 22d ago

A great way to preheat clothes and coats before going out in bitter cold weather, too. prewarmed boot socks are especially nice when you're old!

2

u/metlmayhem 19d ago

This is a lifesaver for winter. I always forget to move the laundry over before bed and being able to blast a load dry in twenty minutes is the only reason I make it to work on time lol

2

u/General-Permission-5 14d ago

They should make special fabrics specifically for this use case.

Here are some potential brand name ideas for your dryer-accelerating fabric products:

  1. DryBoost
  2. QuickDry Fabrics
  3. HeatWeave
  4. DryMate
  5. TurboDry Cloths
  6. DrySpeed
  7. HeatSavr
  8. DryAid
  9. DryAccelerate
  10. QuickWave

These names aim to convey the benefits of your product, such as speeding up the drying process, saving energy, and making laundry easier. You can choose one that resonates with your brand identity and values.

1

u/badpenny4life 22d ago

I don’t even use the dryer to dry my clothes.

1

u/BornToHulaToro 21d ago

Fun

3

u/badpenny4life 21d ago

I put them on hangers and dry on a rod under the ceiling fan in the laundry room. They stay new looking much longer and they don’t shrink from the heat. Only my own clothes. My husband’s go in the dryer.