How on earth are you drying bath towels if heating not on much??

[GlomOfNit]

Just that, really. Our heating used to be on, but low, all day (I KNOW), on the basis that it was more economical to keep things at a baseline ok temp than have to reheat a cold house twice a day. So we were pretty cosy. Those days are gone now obviously and we currently have thermostat set to come on at 17 or so, twice a day. We have a horrible cold bathroom anyway (ground floor, built in what was once the house tool cupboard apparently, 1920's ex-council house dating from the days when you'd have a bath in front of kitchen range). We used to sling towels over radiator after baths to dry off. But now radiators aren't on, or not on for long enough. I sling them over bannisters to air (none of this is helping the damp in the house either ) but they don't fully dry like that.

Obviously in good weather we put them outside but it's getting cold enough that they don't really dry. They start stinking pretty quickly if they don't dry properly.

Are there any clever tips I'm missing? (no, we don't have a functioning tumbledrier any longer and I'm not looking to buy one at the moment, for obvious reasons. We do have a heated Lakeland airer thing but it's really awkward to have out all the time. I also have a decent dehumidifier.)

Fundays12, me too! My laundry is all done around the south coast weather eg it’s very windy but dry today so towels and bedding out and blowing dry. Then in the airing cupboard to finish off.
I realise that’s only easy to
manage if you aren’t out all day/ have children producing loads of washing though.
Not sure I’d have managed with 5 lots of sports gear/school uniform/work clothes without a tumble dryer as a back up. 20 + pairs of socks, 3 pe kits, 5 work shirts, 3 xtwice weekly football kits and assorted dirty towels etc etc, maybe you could get a tumble drier and just use it a couple of months a year when it’s not “ a good drying day?”

I hang my over the bannister. Works well.

I think there does have to be a teeny tiny bit of balance

a hot shower or bath is… delicious and good for the soul
to know that what lies ahead of you on a dark Jan bottle cold morning is to get out and dry yourself with a flannel is…. Not sensible in my opinion

Why not go full eco friendly and just air dry? 🙄😆😳

I run my hands across my body and sort of swoop a lot of the water off while I’m stood in the bath. I moved to microfibres towels a few years ago as I’ve got wavy hair and they help reduce the fuzz, they dry quickly.

Mine dry hanging up on the towel rack (not heated, no windows). It's not that cold yet so heating isn't switched on

We do exactly the same, the heat rises so the upstairs is always warm enough to dry stuff! Also put wet clothes straight on hangers and hang them from the bannister too... It looks like a launderette most of the time, but clothes dry in no time, just a shame I have a new load of washing everyday so it's constant!

I can’t bare anything hanging over my bannisters. Hence splurging on a kick ass dehumidifer

You don't get out of the nice warm steamy shower cubicle to dry yourself with a flannel. You take a flannel — it may be the one you've just used with soap and water to wash yourself — and you use it to absorb the droplets of water clinging to your skin while still standing in the steamy shower cubicle. You squeeze it out a couple of times a couple of times if necessary: that'll give you an idea of how much water you're saving your towel from. You then get out of the shower cubicle or bath and towel off the rest quickly.

That is not what the PP said, which is what I was referring to

I presume she thought it would be obvious.

I presume you didn’t read it

I also have a dual therm radiator in my bathroom. When I finally put the heating on it will warm up with the rest of the radiators. But it can also warm up with electricity. I actually keep it on low all year as the ensuite has no windows and it gets damp easily.

I had the traditional radiator in the downstairs loo (where the washing machine lives) changed to dual therm towel rail, got a really tall one so I can fit most of a load on it. I turn it on and use it when it's horrible weather and I have stuff that can't go in the tumble dryer. It comes on the the heating as normal as well as with electric if I want it too.

I have never had more than an hour a day of heating and never had wet towels. Your issue is that your towels are too nice... 😆.

This made me laugh

I guess like everything it is what we feel comfortable with or choosing the ‘least worst’ option.
and let’s face it most of us (well me certainly) would love a clean bathsheet every day freshly laundered. However my concern for my energy bills and waste of resources (hot water, electricity and washing powder) - means I don’t do that, some of you still might choose to.

I don’t use the flannel strategy myself but I shared it and some might choose it, indeed some have grown up using it.

if one was used to it, and had a warm shower cubicle/bathroom, then it might well be worth it and save lots of wet towels hanging about.

Well, first of all I'm really glad I'm not the only one with damp towels flopped over the bannisters.

And I'm going to try the flannel thing too. I already do the squeedgee/scything water off myself with the flat of my hand (I learnt that one on a MN camping thread, before using the aforementioned camping towels which are a bit sub-optimal at drying) but I'm going to see if flanneling and then using a bath towel that stays dry is any better. Can't see it catching on with the rest of the household though! And I dug out our one and only hammam towel.

Going through the airing cupboard (which is about as small as it's possible for one of those to be) I see we have HUNDREDS OF TOWELS and certainly don't use them all, so I think a bit of a cull is in order, then there might be room in there to dry the odd thing that needs it.

Ok I’ve just tried the flannel thing and I’m converted!
I kept the shower door shut.
Drying myself off was ok, a nice little exfoliation, and I rung out the flannel about 3 times in the process.
There was no cold shock getting out of the shower (no heating on) because my body was almost dry.
Definitely worth trying!

Hang mine in the airing cupboard.

This is a great tip thank you

I know it’s not the most pleasant but what dries you quite effectively is a large ish muslin like the ones you get for babies. It’s then soaked so single use but dries in no time after washing. You can get larger ones designed to be muslin swaddles and there are some really pretty ones.