As the cost of living crisis rumbles on, many people are looking at ways they can spend less and save money.
Many households are looking at things they can do differently to slash costly energy bills with some taking to social media to share their best tips and tricks. And now electricity expert Colm Griffin, from purchase.ie, has explained a simple tumble dryer hack that could help with rising bills.
Tumble dryers, though handy to dry clothes in miserable weather, use up a lot of energy. And while a lot of people rely on them to save time and energy, they can cause energy bills to shoot up if they're used frequently. But one simple addition could significantly reduce the drying time, Plymouth Live reports.
Read more: Woman who hasn't had heating on for a year shares eight tips to keep warm and save money
On TikTok, Irish Colm explained: "Tumble dryers typically use about a euro an hour when they're on. But these are dryer balls, and you put them in with your laundry. Instead of the clothes getting stuck together, this helps to separate the clothes and distribute them around the tumble dryer better.
"This means the clothes are able to dry faster. They can reduce drying time by up to 20%. So for every hour you use your tumble dryer, you could be saving up to 20c an hour."
There are a number of benefits to using dryer balls, including:
- reducing drying time
- shortened drying time saves energy, making laundry less costly
- eco-friendly due to lower energy use
- reduced static and lint build up, as well as a reduction in creases and wrinkles
- no more need for artificial chemicals
- re-usable, saving you money on fabric softeners.
Irish site RSVPLive reports that, depending on your tumble dryer, using the balls could take up to 20% off your annual energy costs. You can check out Colm's profile, where he shares more money-saving hacks, here.
Read next:
- Families fear a bleak Christmas after getting no gas bills since January
- Brits shiver until 24 October before turning on heating but how low can you go?
- Nine ways to cut the cost of using your tumble dryer this winter
- Households worry £400 energy vouchers will be delayed due to postal strikes
- Changes to Warm Homes grant mean some miss out this year - list in full of who is eligible
