Clothes drying hack puts an end to folding and ironing but only if you get one thing right

Taking washing off the line is often filled with dread, knowing the steps after it involve folding, putting away and sometimes ironing.

One increasingly popular hack removes the need to fold and iron washing once it's dry because clothes are already on a hanger.

But while it genuinely saves time and helps remove wrinkles, laundry expert Nicole Gibson from Soka Australia warned there are a few things to get right.

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Instead of hanging clothes on the line using pegs, this hack involves putting clothes on a hanger and then putting them on the clothesline.

The idea is hanging the clothes this way leaves them with less wrinkles and means they can be taken straight off the line and hung in the wardrobe.

However, the choice of coat hanger is important to prevent damage to clothes.

"One of the keys [to this hack] is if their clothes are wet you need to use a plastic coat hanger," Gibson tells 9honey Living.

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"The felted (also known as flocked) ones that [most people have], they're bright maroon, and they're black and they're all crazy colours.

"Well, often the colours will bleed [onto the clothes], so if you have a white damp shirt and you put it on a black felty coat hanger the colour will bleed onto the shirt – so that's one watch out for."

Other coat hanger considerations are that metal ones could rust while timber hangers are only OK to use if they have been coated in a lacquer.

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It's not just the material the coat hanger is made from that you want to keep in mind, it's also the shape and size. So a curvier hanger might be better for some garments rather than a very defined triangular one.

"Just remember when something's wet or damp and you're [putting it on a coat hanger] if the coat hanger is too small or you're using a kid's coat hanger, for example, on a large shirt, you're going to stretch it in the wrong area," Gibson says.

There are also some types of clothes than shouldn't be hung when wet, such as knitwear as they too will stretch out of shape. For these items it's best to dry and store them flat.

Once you've got your hangers sorted, there are things to keep in mind when hanging your clothes on the line this way.

Air flow is perhaps the most important thing to consider here, because if you're hanging clothes as close to each other as they are in the wardrobe they will take forever to dry.

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If this hanging hack is being done inside then air flow is just as important a consideration, as is using something to remove the excess moisture from the air such as a dehumidifier to prevent the risk of mould.

Pegging the hangers in place is recommended to help space them out and in case of wind so they don't slide around or fall off.

With avoiding ironing being a key reason to use this hack, Gibson encourages shaking clothes before putting them on the hanger as it releases parts of the fabric that have become bunched up or squished together in the wash. This is good to do even if you hang clothes to dry the traditional way.

"If you give them a bit of a shake first you'll really notice more wrinkle-free items and then they can just go straight in the cupboard," she says.

Overall, Gibson thinks the coat hanger drying method is worth trying if you want to save yourself a few tasks after the washing has dried.

"It takes a little time from the washing machine to putting them on the hanger but it probably takes the same amount of time as pegging it up, so that sort of equals out," she says.

"But then the benefits come from once they're dry – you can just gather, scoop them all up and then put them straight into the cupboard."

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