As an American expat living in the U.K., laundry is the household chore that causes the most culture shock. Unlike in the U.S., tumble dryers aren’t common. A lot of homes have a combination washer and dryer machine—and weirdest of all, it’s often in the kitchen.
While this can vary widely, we’re currently in a house with exactly that. Although the dryer works fine, it’s not great. I hang-dry most of our clothes, but when I use the machine dryer, it takes about ninety minutes to dry anything except towels, which takes two full hours.
Plus, the loads usually come out wrinkled and full of static, especially in winter.
All this to say, I’m always looking for great laundry hacks that mean I can more effectively use the dryer function. Recently, I decided to find out if either dryer balls or laundry sheets would improve my life.
As it turns out, yes—one of these items has officially changed my laundry game.
To Preface, I Don’t Use Fabric Softener
I stopped using fabric softener a long time ago after reading about the downsides of using it with baby and children’s clothes, towels, and athletic wear, which are all items that make up the vast majority of our laundry.
We also have sensitive skin in our family, so when I set out to find a way to reduce wrinkles, static, and softness, I knew I needed something that wasn’t a liquid softener.
Enter: Dryer Balls
If you’re not familiar, dryer balls are exactly that: round balls you toss in on a dry cycle. While there are a few different kinds, the options mostly come down to either wool or plastic.
After reading the pros and cons of dryer balls, I opted to go for a wool version. Mine came as a set of four, and while there were no instructions included, a quick Google search told me I could use three to four depending on the size of my load.
Another thing worth noting is that laundry machines here are also notoriously small, so while I probably could have gotten away with the bare minimum, I tossed in all four.
I set my dryer to ninety minutes, which is fine for a medium-sized load. With the optimism of my new dryer balls, I set my first load to just an hour.
Imagine my surprise when I opened the door to find the dream: a load of perfectly dry, wrinkle-free laundry with no static cling, with a third of my standard drying time chopped off.
So far, dryer balls would be hard to beat.
Take Two: Laundry Sheets
Growing up, dryer sheets were a laundry room staple in my house, but somewhere along the way, I stopped using them. They seemed unnecessary and kind of wasteful, and they aren’t widely available in the U.K.
When I went to buy some, I wanted to opt for something unscented. That proved too difficult, so I chose instead a simple lavender smell.
When I switched to my dry cycle, I tossed in a sheet and realized that, unlike the dryer balls, laundry sheets don’t claim to knock off any dry time. Because of this, I set it to my usual ninety minutes.
When the time went off, all was fine. It was exactly the same as when I don’t use laundry sheets, but with a vague lavender scent. I also didn’t love that at the end, I just had an extra piece of waste from my laundry load that I wouldn’t have otherwise had.
The True Test: Towels
One thing new Americans in the U.K. love to bond over is how horrendous towels feel after drying them in a combo dryer. They don’t get fluffy like they do in the big machines back home. Instead, they get kind of crunchy, and they’re always wrinkled.
But when I realized how soft the dryer balls made a standard load of laundry, I was excited to test them out on a round of towels.
The result? A rousing success. They’re not as lovely and fluffy as when we get to use a tumble dryer back in the States, but they’re most definitely better than a standard dry cycle here, so I’ll take it. Plus, it only took me ninety minutes to dry them instead of two hours—wins all around.
The Verdict: Dryer Balls Forever
In the end, there was a clear winner. Dryer balls have officially changed my laundry routine for the better, and I can’t imagine I’ll ever look back.
While I’ve read that I might have to replace the wool balls eventually, for now, they’re the less wasteful option than dryer sheets, while also being more effective.
And in the meantime? I’ll have to explore other ways to use my leftover dryer sheets.