Anyone else do this?
After showering (or bathing) instead of drying yourself with a large bath towel, first use a flannel to remove as much water as possible, then use a small towel for the final dry. Also helps if you use your hands first to "squeegee" the water off your body.
Doing this has several advantages. The flannel can be wrung out during/after use, which gets the water down the drain instead of in the air, helping with humidity especially in winter. Because your towel won't be as wet it will dry quicker and less likely to go smelly which can be a problem for some with less than ideal drying conditions. You can use a smaller towel for the final dry (I only use a hand towel size) which means you can fit more in the washing machine. Washing flannels is easy because they are also very small and you can change them and your more frequently than you might otherwise be able to depending on your circumstances for washing.
This will be especially useful for those who have shared washing facilities or use a laundrette.
TLDR: Shower, squeegee, flannel, wring it out, use small towel for final dry, saves money.
r/AlanPartridge vibes here
Just remember to use 2 bars of soap first.
Wait, one for your balls and one for your arsecrack - how do you wash your body, face and feet if you don't have five colour coded bars of soap in your shower!?
Interesting idea, I see the logic. My bathroom however is fucking baltic, there's no way I'm pissing about with a flannel instead of quickly wrapping up in a big towel.
I too have a fucking Baltic bathroom. Figured out a few weeks back I can route my fan heater underneath the door and keep the room toasty for when I get out. Gamechanger.
We did that for a few years but when I did the last bit of bathroom work I fitted a wall heater with remote control, so glad I did it.
Try and extension cord and heater in the bathroom, well away from water though!
You do it while you're still in the shower where its still warm. If you're using the big towel to wrap up in (and keep warm), how are you getting dry?
The second I'm not under the water it's cold haha. We've a shower over a bath and not a cubicle that keeps the heat in.
I wrap up and go to another room to towel off and dress. I'm not sure what the problem would be though? Standard body towels you can mostly keep it wrapped around you while drying yourself.
Yeah we have a shower over bath as well, but it's still warmer in there than if I step out into the open room.
That makes sense going in a different room to get dry, I just like to get dry and dressed as quick as possible.
It only take a few seconds with the flannel IME.
If your bathroom is that cold though get yourself a bathroom heater, well worth it IMO.
Not sure buying and running a heater would balance out savings wise vs the occasional extra towel wash though?
The rest of the house is warm so we get dressed in another room. It's the thought of standing in the cold bathroom with the water off that makes me shiver! Okay it's not long but it's not pleasant.
I grew up in an always cold house where we often shared a towel so that probably contributes to my dislike. For me, a big towel is a noticeable luxury for minimal extra cost.
The heater isn't to balance out the towel, it's to make showering more pleasant. A small bathroom heater isn't expensive and quickly warms a small bathroom to make it pleasant to shower.
Surely it's the piping hot water that makes showering so pleasant? 🤔
I find it difficult to dry myself with the hot water still running.
Oh, my apologies.
I misunderstood because you previously said it was for making showering more pleasant, not making towelling more pleasant.
Once out of the shower I don't remain wet for long enough to care.
Ok fair enough, yes I meant the whole experience really. The room is warmer so getting undressed is nicer, the shower itself will be warmer, although you might not notice it as you said, and then afterwards when drying/dressing it will be nice and warm.
In the less cold months I just switch on the heater after I turn off the shower and enjoy the warmth when drying, in the coldest months I run it the whole time.
Why on earth is this being downvoted?
I'll never understand Reddit.
Because you're suggesting something that's more expensive than using a towel.
Where?
Does that say "don't use a towel, get a bathroom heater instead"?
Seriously are you really that dense or are you just looking to pick an argument with someone?
You suggest flannel. Flannel is cold. You suggest heater to make up for flannel being cold.
No need for flannel, towel already exists. No need for flannel, no need for bathroom heater.
You're creating problems then coming up with more expensive solutions.
This person comments stating they aren't using a flannel.
Their bathroom is cold and it would take too long.
This person has a low cost solution.
They use a towel.
This was your reply.
You say a flannel only takes a few seconds.
You suggest buying a bathroom heater.
A bathroom heater costs money.
The person you replied to doesn't need a flannel and bathroom heater.
They already have a towel.
A bathroom heater is more expensive than a towel.
Why would the flannel be cold? I just had a shower, the flannel wasn't cold.
Again, I never suggested using a bathroom heater instead of a flannel or a towel. You seem horribly confused.
I'm confused? You're the one who didn't understand why you were being downvoted.
I was trying to explain to you why you were getting downvoted.
It's not my fault if you can't understand.
Look I get you just want to argue but I've got better things to be doing. Go find someone else to take your anger out on.
I use the squeegee method daily but had never thought of the flannel method and my towel does stay damp as the week goes on, so thanks for this tip, I’ll try it!
This is exactly how I've always done it - originally taught to me on exercise in the forces (a long, long time ago!) where you only have access to a small hand towel.
Squeegee with hands, dry your body by quadrant with the flannel, wringing out between each quadrant, and then out of the shower\bath to do the final dry with a towel.
You must be hairier than me, I only need to wring mine at the end 🤣
I hand-squeegee myself off before drying, no need for a flannel as well.
Now that I read what I typed it sounds filthy.
Your hands must be more effective than mine.
That also sounds filthy.
And I thought I was overly frugal reusing tin foil.
This tip might have gone down better mid-summer, rather than mid-winter!
I use the point of a knife to unlock zip ties for reuse.
I’ve always done this! It makes no sense to me to use massive towels. They take ages to dry, too much space in the washing machine and too much space to store.
Eh?
I hang my towel up after my shower and by the next day it's dry.
I've never had the problem of a towel taking too long to dry, and I count around 10 different properties in that statement, from London to the Highlands, flats to detached houses.
Victor Meldrew, is that you?
Haha I remember Victor explaining this in ‘One Foot in the Grave’ many years ago. Always remembered it.
Yeah me too, it's weird what you remember!
i use toilet paper and leaves
I just perch on the windowsill and let the open window dry me off
A few seconds in the microwave can work too
Absolutely not
Why?
Agreed.
I “squeegee” first and can then pretty much dry with just a flannel, before jumping into a fluffy dressing gown for a little while. Saves on a lot of towel laundry.
I do this because I'm a hairy man and more absorbent than a towel. The flannel saves me from having a damp towel hanging up all day and mould and condensation on the walls.
I have quick drying towels for swimming as I swim most days they are thin but super absorbent and dry very quickly.
I have one of those I use for travel/emergencies. It's a superb towel that as you say dries you really well but also dries itself quickly. I don't like how they feel on your body though, bit weird so I wouldn't like to use one everyday.
Yeah functional over luxury but the op is using a face cloths so thought it might be a better option.
I am the OP lol.
I think frugal doesn't always mean miserable. I like a thick rough towel to dry with after a shower rather than the thin quick dry, so I will use it when circumstances are right, camping for instance, but at home I will have a "proper" towel, just a smaller one for the final dry.
Are they microfiber?
My late mother in law always did this, it made a lot of sense. I do it when I remember. Keeps your large towel cleaner for longer and means it dries quickly.
Never heard of this before, but I’m gonna try it.
Great advice. Yes I learnt this life hack off my dad after he forgot to pack a towel on holiday. It’s brilliant for backpacking too. I wish my coleagues would do this in the communal changing room at work, it’s awash with giant towel sheets draped everywhere. Why dry yourself with such I huge piece of material when a tiny square works, that you can wring out and rinse.
I have a cotton waffle dressing gown, so I get out of the shower and put that on directly. Then I will do whatever make up/hair/pet feeding etc. By the time that's sorted, I am dry enough to get dressed. I like the efficiency especially on commute days when I have to get up much earlier than normal.
(D gown gets hung on the back of the door and will be dry by the next morning, helped by the fact it hangs next to a towel radiator)
I use a hamman/muslin sheet towel. They dry so quickly, I use smaller ones for hand towels as I hate damp towels hanging around the house too
I do the hand squeegee. Then my kids use my towel and I find it in a heap somewhere later in the day.
Alright, Victor Meldrew.
Jfc.... just dance around naked and air dry if you think it will make that much of a difference.
this sounds amazing! thanks
I do the same with the flannel, then I have a towelling bath robe, which I put on, then jump into bed to get warm whilst I dry.
It doesn't make your bed damp?
Just don't bathe with hot water. Make it just warm enough - less cost of heating, no steam - less humidity. Win win
You are welcome to do that, but I like my showers hot thank you 😂
You use a flannel for frugle reasons.
I use a flannel because I can't be arsed running round the house to get a towel. We are not the same. 🤣
Sorry couldn't resist.
You should always know where your towel is.
"Hand squeegee!" - I've been doing this most of my life without a name for it!
Yup, I do this, because I'm already using a flannel to scrub my body rather than a sponge. It's already there, and it quickly removes most of the moisture from my body more efficiently than a towel will. It's great if you're staying in cheap accommodation which makes you pay for towels.
FWIW I wouldn't use the same flannel I am washing with.
Sure. Why not?
While I would hope it's pretty clean, it's almost certainly dirtier than the clean flannel on the rail, probably contains some soap too as it's very difficult to rinse it all out quickly.
Good idea
I use the hand squeegee method and then squeegee the shower down and the condensated window lol. Everything wet gets squeegee’d.
I squeegee the shower too, but not until I am dry.
I like this, going to try it out.
Our house is cold. Often around 10c at this time of year. Towels really struggle to dry. I bought two microfibre towels because i thought they'd dry a lot quicker but they're really poor at drying me especially my hair.
Microfibre towels are great in certain situations but I don't like them for home use. Flannels are very absorbent and you can run them through your hair and wring out several times and remove a lot of water that way.
I'm going to try that, thanks for the tip!
Ain't nobody got time for that.
I shake off in the shower, wring out my hair, get out, put on my big towel, wipe down my body to dry it and put a small towel around my hair. Then I go into my bedroom and chill on my bed, which is my favourite part. I'm not trading the after shower comfort to mess around with soggy flannels.
I'd be interested to see a calculation for how much this allegedly saves per year.
I'm all for being frugal but this seems like one of those things people did without realising it was making little to no difference.
My family do it to keep the water off of the floor. Also flannels are superior for washing to using your bare hands.
I like the puffy type scrubbies rather than a flannel but agreed, anything is better than just hands.
Well if you use a towel half the size then you are doing half the number of loads of washing.
If a cycle costs about 20p and a towel weighs .5kg. (approx 5% of a load) it costs you 1p to wash a towel.
How many times do you wash your towel, once a week?
52 pence per year...
A cycle costs more than 20p in electricity alone.
Even if it costs five times more (£1 per cycle) you're talking about saving on the order of £2.60 per year.
A saving is a saving, this is a frugal sub after all.
If you actually read the OP though you will see that saving money is one small part of the process. I also mention specifically those that might be sharing facilities or using a laundrette where a load of washing can cost up to £10.
No. There's being frugal, but this is borderline pathological behaviour.
That's a hell of a stretch.
You're talking about scraping water off yourself like some sort of Victorian street urchin, just to save a fraction of a penny per day. It's utterly bonkers.
Read the OP.
And the smaller towel and flannel do also need washing so the saving is even less than 52p/year.
Let's say the small towel and flannel combined are half the combined volume - that's about 26p/year.
Ignoring my suggestion that using a towel half the size just means it gets dirtier quicker and would need washing twice as often.
Thanks for the calculation - I was genuinely interested what difference this would make.
My frugal showering tips are more about how long to leave the water on. I have it on briefly to rinse, switch off, lather up and scrub, then on again to rinse. I imagine that saves a lot on water and heating over the course of a year. Using a smaller towel I'm unconvinced of personally.
Read the OP, money saving is only a small part of this, though depending on circumstances the savings could be significant.
I read the OP just fine, thanks. It is an absurd proposition which as we've established leads people either to using dirtier towels for longer or results in no savings. Even if we assumed it saved 100% of the cost of cleaning towels we've established it would save 26p a year.
You didn't read it.
But you're not? If you have a towel twice the size and you use it mostly evenly distributed then it won't need washing as often.
What?
No you can't use a large towel for twice as long, especially if it is getting significantly wetter each time.
It's not getting significantly wetter.
Each square cm of it is in fact getting less used.
It is getting wetter than using my method of removing as much water as possible with your hands and a flannel first. And while the water might be spread over a larger area, it's still spending time damp.
You can remove as much water with your hands whether you use a small towel or a big towel. Remove that from the equation and assume people are either doing it or not regardless of towel size.
You are then left with a body which needs towel drying. If you use a small towel, you just use proportionately more of the towel, and it will therefore need cleaning more often. This is incredibly basic physics.
If you're not washing the smaller towel more frequently, all it means is that you're using a dirtier towel for the second half of its time between washes (assuming it is half the size of a larger towel).
This isn't some clever trick - it's just a way of using dirtier towels.
Why is the towel dirty? You just had a shower.
What?
By that logic why do you ever wash a towel??
A towel used for showering is washed because it starts to smell having been wet/dry/wet/dry/wet/dry.
Even though it is smelly, it shouldn't really be dirty unless you are showering incorrectly, also the flannel will be picking up dirt if any is left first.
No flannel, just squeegee the shower sides and taps and I am drip drying whilst I’m doing that. Then grab my towel and dry myself off in the now dry shower cubicle.
I squeegee after drying myself off, otherwise I get cold.
I know this is a frugal sub Reddit but come on.
Standing and drying yourself with a flannel and wringing it down the drain. Give yourself a break 🤣
It's no hardship and in many ways I find it much more pleasant as my towel stays drier and feels nicer when doing the final rub down.
Is this where we are these days with cossy livs? Trying to save money by not having to wash your towels as often?
You're in a frugal sub.
But that flannel that you wrung dry is still wetter than a normal towel.
Towel over a towel rail or radiator before and after showering.
Actually it isn't because quite a lot of the water is wrung out and goes down the drain, if I used a big towel all that water is stored in the towel.
Hand squeegee of the hair, torso and maybe upper legs. The flannel thing is mental though
Why?
Wtf
Problem with tiny towels?
Can't work out if it's a piss take or not
Why would it be?
Read it back to yourself and see how ridiculous it seems
Read the many many comments that agree with me, and many who already practice a similar technique.