Cheapest / best way to dry clothes

[confusedandemployed]

Following on from the success of my dishwasher thread (thank you all, DP is converted I think :-)), I have more questions about washer/driers and the like.

I'm heartily sick of my clothes taking ages to dry, and then having to wash some again because of the nasty fowsty smell they get from standing damp for ages. I'm quite taken with the Lakeland heated airer and will be requesting Lakeland vouchers for Christmas from all and sundry, but am also wondering about a washer-drier. Are they hideously expensive on electricity? It'd be so lovely not to live in a Chinese laundry for once.

I'd be really grateful if you could share your experiences / tips on clothes drying during damp, wet, dingy autumns and winters.

you can dry outside throughout the winter if it is breezy and not raining.

Thanks all. We don't have a huge amount of washing - about 2 loads per week - so any drier won't be on that often
Had already planned to only use it for small stuff and sheets, towels. Our house doesn't see a lot of direct sunlight so we can't dry much in the windows.
I will definitely do an extra spin from now on and I think I will get the Lakeland thing. I like the idea of putting it on at night and waking up to dry clothes.
Having done research on washer driers I still tempted. However, our washing machine hasn't packed up yet so replacement may not happen for a while.

Do you have any outside space?
We regularly have stuff on the line (last night for example). An hour outside if it isn't raining, and especially if it is breezy, is amazing for speeding up drying. Then on hangers overnight.
An extra spin after the wash has finished also helps.

Off to look at dishwasher threads in your name :)

Drying washing in winter
Flats and small homes are much more likely to suffer from damp, mould and condensation problems than large houses during the winter. One of the reasons for this is that washing is often dried either on a clothes rack or on radiators, rather than with a tumble dryer, so moisture gets trapped in the home.
If condensation starts to form on windows in the morning and mould starts to grow, and if laundry is taking longer to dry, then these can be signs that there is a damp problem. Clothes only dry by releasing moisture when the air around them is dry, so if the home is damp, the clothes stay damp.
A dehumidifier will allow you to dry clothes a lot faster, as well as solve condensation and damp problems, and some can even put warmth back into a room.
Use a dehumidifier for drying washing fast:
• Take the clothes and hang them up or put them onto a clothes horse making sure that the clothes are not lying on top of each other.
• Place the rack into the smallest room you have.
• Put the dehumidifier next to rack so that the dry air from the dehumidifier blows over the clothes.
• Don’t let any water drip over the dehumidifier.
• Close any windows and close the door as well.
• Rotate the rack after an hour or so to dry all clothes evenly
• Use a fan that you might have spare from the summer to dry the dry air over the clothes faster
These two dehumidifiers are perfect for drying your washing, quickly and economically:
Meaco 25L Ultra Low Energy Dehumidifier
Meaco DD8L Zambezi