Hanging wet laundry on a drying rack was ruining my clothes for years

I finally figured out last month that I was stuffing too many shirts and jeans onto my wooden drying rack, packing them in tight like sardines. They would take two days to dry and smell musty, plus the fabric felt stiff and scratchy. My neighbor Margaret saw my laundry pile on the porch and laughed, told me to leave at least 2 inches between each item for air flow. I tried it with just 8 pieces instead of cramming 15 on there, and everything dried in 6 hours flat with no smell at all. The clothes came out soft too, like from a dryer but without the heat damage. Who knew the whole time I was just being lazy and overcrowding? Has anyone else had a basic laundry trick totally fix their setup without buying anything new?

2 comments

2 Comments

michael8957d ago

Oh man, this reminds me of when I realized I was ruining my towels by using fabric softener. My grandmother stayed over one Christmas and saw me pouring that blue stuff in, grabbed my arm and said "you're sealing the fibers, they'll never dry right." She was absolutely right. Towels went from taking two cycles to dry to actually working. I still don't use fabric softener on anything absorbent, it's a total scam.

the_robin7d ago

Not overloading the rack is a game changer for sure. I had the same problem until I flipped my shirts inside out and stopped hanging them by the shoulders. Hanging wet cotton by the shoulder seams stretches them out and leaves those weird bumps. Now I fold shirts over the bar so the weight hangs evenly, and like you said leaving space between everything makes them dry way faster with no stiffness.