The Epic Heated Drying Rack
In the summer one of my favourite household chores is the laundry. Nothing beats hanging the washing up on the line then going to get it a couple of hours later, all freshly washed and smelling delicious.
I get my kicks where I can, OK?
But in the winter the washing becomes a massive ballache. It’s a relentless task now there’s four of us and the laundry basket seems to regenerate itself to bursting every single day. Not to mention various vomity sofa cushions, bedsheets and trainers that are battered through various all-night warehouse parties. It’s basically never-ending and I find draping socks and babygros over various radiators in the house until they go all crispy pretty soul-destroying (middle class nightmares, I know). Plus our ancient tumble dryer costs a fortune to run and I don’t like the way it makes our clothes seem a little musty.
So when my mother-in-law offered to buy me a Lakeland heated drying rack for my washing I was all, yeah, that sounds cool. I didn’t realise just how cool it would be.
I got the drying rack out in my hallway and excitedly hung a load of washing on it – and in about five hours it had dried. Just like that. No draping over radiators, no spending days waiting for my boring old un-heated airer to do its work. Just like that – I had dry clothes.
The next day I moved the drying rack to behind the door in my lounge (feeling very wistful for the days when I had a dedicated laundry room) and that’s where it’s sat ever since. I tend to get it out every evening, hang my washing on it and then come the morning it’s bone dry ready to be put away. And the best thing about it? It costs about 3p an hour to run. WAY less than cranking the heating up or putting clothes in the musty old tumble dryer.
When I’m not using it it folds up nicely and sits behind the door: you wouldn’t even know it was there.
The only bad thing about this product is the stupidly short power cable… make sure you have an extension lead if you want to use it in an area that doesn’t have a plug.
You can buy the two tier version I have here
This post is not sponsored.
I just bloody love laundry.
Perfect post. I’m just waiting until pay day and then this airer will be mine.
It’s really great for teeny tiny baby clothes!!
and I’m using cloth nappies too, so it will really speed up the laundry process.
It’s a bit ridiculous that I’m excited about this but this is exactly what I need! We don’t have a tumble dryer so I get the hatred of leaving clothes to dry for days. I just wish it wasn’t £70, how sad would it be to ask for one for Christmas do you think?
Hmm, about as sad as it was that I got a Vax hand-held vaccum for my birthday this year?!
I think it is pretty expensive. I hang mine on a clothes airer on an evening and they are mostly dry in the morning anyway!
I’m jealous! It takes about three days to dry on my airer, by which point I have gotten annoyed, taken them off and hung them on the radiators!
Perfect. Winter clothes-drying stresses me out and I hate draping things over radiators. Sold, thanks.
(I also got a vacuum cleaner for my birthday. It’s the best damn vacuum cleaner in the world I think)
What vacuum cleaner did you get? I have a much-loved Dyson but have heard good things about Mieles recently.
I got a Miele Cat&Dog. Black dogs and tortoise shell cats and pale carpets do not mix. Or they do and they make dark carpets!
Would highly recommend it. It’s quiet and very powerful. The only thing I don’t like is it has a bag, but only requires emptying once in a while (yep, I’m a cheapskate. I reuse!).
I love my heated airer – a total lifesaver last winter when we were living in the barn and had no heating and dryer and even now just tuck it into the hallway and it just potters along keeping things dry and the Aga clothing free
Best thing though is mine broke and the lovely people at Lakeland sorted us out with a replacement with no trouble at all
Ahh Lakeland (and John Lewis, actually) are always fantastic for that sort of thing. Love them both for their great customer service.
We are lucky enough to have a warm air heating system (which I love, but many are not sure about)… I was tempted to get one of these, but if we stick the washing in front of a vent it dries in no time :)
I do a ridiculous amount of washing too and put the heating on all the time to dry things quickly which obvs is expensive. So I might have to check this bad boy out, cheers.
We may have just commented on each other’s blogs at exactly the same time! Spooooky…
Oh that is spooky! Ha.
I want one!
HIghly recommended ;)
I think you just saved my life! I’ve spent a FORTUNE on heating since I’ve had a baby… A trip to my much loved Lakeland is in order, thank you!!! (Oh we are a sad lot!)
I won’t tell you how thrilled I am that they’re opening a new store in my nearest city in a couple of months (VERY thrilled!)
I always thought blogging was such a great, free hobby. And now I find, I’ve just clicked through and bought one of these! Not so free. My house is very drafty and washing takes days to dry – so I’m hoping this is going to solve all my problems :0)
Mine’s the same: three days for a load to dry on a normal airer! It’s a lifesaver that will (hopefully) change your life!
I’ve been looking at these airers for a while now as like you it takes days for our clothes to dry on a normal airer in our house and with a baby on the way we need to do something. I was unsure between the two sizes. Are you finding you can fit a full load on the two tier one? I’m sure if you can manage with the two tier with 2 little ones it will be big enough for us.
I’ve just seen this comment – sorry! I can just about fit a full load on the two tier one, though I do hang up my chunkier items (like jumpers) x
I found this post very exciting. I’m going to have a good think about buying one of these. My other half thinks I’m mad about washing but I hate having drying hanging around everywhere… This is the answer to my prayers. Sadly. Love that you did a blog post about this!
Cxx
I hate that too – even when you have a tidy house (rare these days) it makes everything look so messy x
I think you may have just solved all my winter washing nightmares. We have no drier and live in a tiny cottage with no radiators – only storage heaters. This would be ideal. I can’t believe I just got that excited about a bloody drier. I must be getting old…
I had just started typing ‘now I know what i’m asking for from Santa’ when I realised how sad that sounds, don’t you know your a mum when you are thinking about how empty your life is without a heated airer! Jeez, seriously though thanks for sharing this amazing contraption, I never new they existed but now I know I need one (written whilst sat next to day old washing hanging on the airer).
Just wanted to pop on here and say a big “thank you!” as I bought one of these after reading this blog post and I absolutely LOVE it! I have since recommended it to everyone I know and they all love it too, so thanks again.
I am 37 weeks pregnant with baby number 2, and thanks to this post, am expecting another little arrival next week! Ridiculously excited about my new 3 tier-er, courtesy of my amazing mother in law. Thanks for the tip!