Clever ways to dry clothing indoors without a dryer?

You don't need a vent outlet! If you have room for a dyer, you can dry your clothes! The home improvement stores sell a product that allows you to dry indoors. I can't remember the NAME of it, but basically what is, is a bucket with an attachment on the lid that lets you attach you're dryer to it. What you do, is fill it about 1/2 full of water to catch the lint, and voila...Dry clothes, no vent! An added benefit is the dryer will help heat your house in the winter, keep the humidity at a comfortable level for winter, AND if you use the scented fabric softener sheet, it makes your house smell good. I used one in an apt. before we bought our house and loved it! I think it cost us about $25 about 9 years ago.

I agree with everyone else that referenced the retractable clothes lines. One thing that I did when I was in an apartment that did not have a washer/dryer. I had a long wide but not very tall box that I placed over the forced air heat vent. I cut a series of slots in the box and then hung the wet clothes above the box. The next morning the clothes were dry and the box went back into the closet. You use the box to spread the dry heated air up and around the clothes. It did a pretty good job of drying even my wool uniform.

You may want to make sure the room (I did mine in the bathroom) has the door open. You don't want all of that water released in a small room otherwise you'll end up with mold.

You could use a box fan on low to help move some of the air out and round the clothes.

Good luck.

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Do you have a basement? You can put up clothes lines in the basement and hang your clothes like you do out doors.

If you have old fashioned radiators (hot water/steam heat) it is possible to purchase clothes racks that will hang from the radiator. These will hold several items since they have several rods each. Often found in Europe.

Use of the out door clothes line is still possible. This is how my Grandmother dried her clothes and she had 6 children.

Put one of the portable drying racks either wooden or metal or hanging type in the room where your furnace is an it will help speed the drying process. If you have forced hot air heat then close the bathroom door with a rack in there and the clothes will dry more quickly as well

Take your wet clothes to the nearest Laundromat and dry several loads at once. You can take along your hangers and hang things that need to be ironed while still just damp and it may reduce the amount of ironing you need to do.

You don't indicate if you own or rent your place. If you own it you can put a vent in so that you can vent the dryer out. My current dryer is not vented outdoors but then we hardly ever use it except for towels and sheets.

If you have a problem with space then I swear by the older small 120volt OR 220volt Whirlpool apartment size dryers. They are dinky little dryers that literally can hold almost the same amount of cloths as a big dryer! They are extremely easy to repair and the heating element can be purchased still from any appliance store for about $18!!Wow is right, and all you do to install it is turn the dryer around and remove one screw and then the entire boxy looking heating element pulls right out. Putting in the new one is as easy as sliding it in and putting the screw back at the top to hold it in place.

I bought my Whirlpool for about $100 from a used appliance store. I bet you could find one on ebay or craigslist. If you have a 220volt outlet then that is better. Now as far as venting, there are so many easy solutions. I don't recommend an indoor vent because the excessive humidity will collect everywhere and cause mold. Mold is very health hazardous.

I bought my little Whirlpool dryer and threw it on the backseat of my little 81 Honda. I recall not having to even lower the back seat to lay it in the 'way back' of the station wagon, it fit on the rear passenger seat. BTW in case you are too young to remember, economy cars used to be small, really small, as in Suburu, Honda, Toyota, Mazda...a bunch of Japanese econoboxes, well anyway these cars were so small that the two front seats was so narrow that just the emergency brake lever was all that was there. The back seats really was just wide enough for 2 people, and not 3.... to give you an idea of how big the dryer is. It is pretty much square. I believe 20"X20"x20"... maybe 24"??? I can't remember.

Anyway, good luck.

I dry cloths with a big fan sometimes. You can use wire, those plastic clamps from a home improvement store too, but if you have a lot of cloths, just break down and get a dryer. The Maytags are incredibly easy to repair, as is the Whirlpools. You know you can always vent air via a dryer vent hose out any window. Just make a board the same width as the opening and cut a hole for the hose....it's simple creativity that anyone who ever went to school is completely aware of, but you wouldn't believe how many people spend their whole lives 'acting' stupid about mechanical things, until one day they really are. It happens! If you are young break that cycle. You wouldn't believe how excited I get because I love to fix stuff. It wasn't until recently that I realized how much people are literally stifled inside because of that whole,' uh' I can't do it...you do it"

I'm a vacuum cleaner repair man. I meet you people everyday.

If you need a lot of clothing to dry...it's a lot easier in the middle of the winter (NE US) where I live due to the heat making humidity inside the house nonexistent.

If it's the winter and I have a ton of stuff to dry (say, like sweaters, since I have a dryer, but I don't want them to shrink), the "pop and fold" drying racks work great with a dehumidifier in the room (under a day and several sweaters are done, dry!!!)

Budget-conscious?

...well, the dehumidifier is awesome (but can make things easier when the summer arrives and the humidity is up)...

Try the "pop and fold" laundry baskets instead of the drying racks...they're for sale at target, linens and things, etc. get a light color just in case the cheap-tastic-ness of the item is a bright color and is somewhat more likely to bleed onto the clothing you're trying to dry.

I've seen the aforementioned laundry baskets for under five bucks, unlike the ones that are wood, they can be folded and easily stored, and unlike the ones made for drying clothing (usually an elliptical shape that's a bit tippy), the laundry basket version actually works better since they can be a long rectangle-shape, which, when turned on its side has a much better ability to keep your clothing off of the floor.

If you opt for a dryer, you can vent it pretty easily through a window, or by cutting a small (approximately) 4" hole in the side of your house where it won't be noticeable (the dryer's duct is only 4 inches in diameter most of the time and you'll save yourself the hassle of dealing with not only the humidity, but the little bits of lint that fly too!

All these ideas are great, I also, try to save on energy, and do not completely dry the clothes in the Gas Dryer. Still damp I hang them on hangers, and bring them up to the Bathroom where they finish drying, if necessary overnight . The towels I dry completely, Dryers were invented just for that :drying towels until they are fluffy and absorbent.

As I see this, you do need a dryer and a vent for it. That is not a very large expense,use one of the many saving suggestions and surely a man can even be found to install it for you, friend neighbor, brother or is there a mate, you do say "our place" .

Getting some work that would help you meet this expense, may be an answer for you as well. What about "skin flinting" on groceries or something else, many clothes need a dryer.!!!!! You are welcome I hope you get one soon for a Birthday gift!!!!

I hate paying for the dryer at my place so in my bathroom I have two shower rods. The one for my shower and one that hangs higher up on the wall so I can at least walk under it. Both help me to dry clothes. Now it works best if you can hang them apart from each other. My bathroom in the same width throughout so one is at the shower and the other is in the middle of the bathroom. Another thing is, you need to double spin the load at the end of the cycle that way you get out as much water as possible. However the more clothes you hang in the bathroom the longer it would take to dry. Another thing is there should be a good space between the clothes so air can pass between. I do one load at a time. Good Luck.

I use one of those folding wooden drying racks every time I do laundry, since some fabrics last a lot longer if they don't go in the dryer. Where I put it depends on where I have space. Right now, its in one end of my kitchen. In other apartments its been in the bathroom. If you have a walk-in closet it could go there, or in a kid's room while they're at school. They come in different sizes, so look around. My sister has one that stands more than 6 ft tall and accomodates a lot of clothes. (We've used these for years and NEVER had one break) You have to be careful about doing this, but she has pipes running through her basement that are strong enough to hold a lot of clothing on hangers. I also use dining room chairs, towel racks, and the shower curtain bar, but only for things that dry pretty quickly. Having that much hanging for more than a few hours gets really oppressive.

In the cold Months, a vent-less drier sounds like the best idea. A little heat and moisture couldn't hurt. A family of five? I would think that hanging clothes all over the house would get old really fast. Best case scenario- have a big burly guy make a vent for you, and get a regular clothes drier.

There are a lot of really good responses to your question. When you get all of them, you should write a book "How To Dry Your Clothes Indoors Without A Drier Vent". I hope this helped a little.

P.S. To dry socks in a hurry; place one on a hair drier, then turn it inside out and finish drying.

I had a little plastic box like thing that subbed as a vent thing it had an opening on the side that I put the dryer hose in and a vent looking like rake thing on top of it that let the air out I put that in the window and that was how I dryed my clothes but I did not keep it long cause you had to really clean it and at one time I would stick the hose out the open window which I gave that up too cause I was afraid of fire rish with lint catching on fire. I would hire someone to install a dryer vent in the end that is your safest option. Cause hanging up clothes inside you are not going to be satisfied cause you have a large family and that method is good for quick dryring items and not very many of those.