Saving Money with a Clothes Airer

Now that the energy prices have gone up in the UK the best thing you can do is start cutting your energy consumption.

Usually it will be little things (which have a tendency of adding up) but there is also one “big thing” that is still owned by many British households – it’s a tumble dryer – one of the biggest offenders to the environment and altogether a rather useless piece of equipment.

A tumble dryer consumes anywhere between 2 to 4kWh of electricity. A normal high-speed spin cycle of a washing machine consumes less than 0.4kWh.

There are many eco-friendly laundry airing alternatives one of which costs just a couple of quid – airing line. Simple and flexible, all you need is two nails, hooks or posts.

If a trivial line is too uncool for you (you know they come in a variety of colours, right?) There are racks of various shapes and sizes both for indoors and outdoors use.

The simplest of them all is an overbath airer (aka over bath airer). You simply hook it onto the bath and lean the other end towards the wall (challenging if your posh bath is in the middle of the bathroom).

Another popular type is the X-frame clothes airer and its simplified derivative – the A-frame clothes airer. Both can be placed wherever space allows.

Airer prices start from as low as £3 and they will save you hundreds of quid over the lifetime.

During the cold season you can dry your clothes on a radiator, although some sensitive types of fabric like silk or viscose won’t appreciate the direct heat, so take it easy.

Don’t stick it on Gumtree and don’t offer it via Freegle – thus you’ll just pass the electricity bill onto someone else. Take it to your local recycling centre – tumble dryer consumes too much energy and it’s not really an essential piece of equipment.