How to Keep Blankets From Balling Up in the Dryer

Opening your dryer and finding that the sheets or blankets that have been tumbling inside are still damp is extremely frustrating. Sheets and blankets often get tangled up in a big, wet knot inside the dryer, which prevents them from drying properly. Luckily, there are some tips and tricks, such as adding dryer balls, that you can use to get your blankets completely dry the first time without having to repeat a cycle.

It might sound counterintuitive, but one method of making sure that your blanket or comforter doesn't ball up is to tie two corners together into a loose knot. What makes this trick work is that with two of the corners knotted together, the sheet has less material to turn upon itself in the machine, so the drying process will be more effective.

This solution can work on sheets as well as blankets. For fitted sheets, it could appear complicated to knot corners together, but take the two elastic edges and tie them into a loose knot before tossing the sheets into the dryer. If you are finding that knotting the corners is a bit too difficult, you can consider clipping them together instead.

Anything that goes into the dryer needs air to circulate around it to dry properly. Adding tennis balls or dryer balls to the machine with your wet sheets and blankets will help keep them from spinning into wet lumps. The balls will tumble around with the bedding, helping air circulate and reaching the areas that may otherwise get balled up and not dry properly.

It's important to keep in mind that a good way to help the air reach all the bedding is to avoid overfilling the dryer. If the clothes do not have any space to tumble, then even adding dryer balls won't help the situation. Always fill your dryer to the property capacity so that it can function properly.

One tried-and-true trick is the pause-and-shake method. Put your sheets or blankets in the dryer for a regular drying cycle but pause it every 30 minutes. Once the first half hour has ended, pause the cycle by either pressing the pause button on your machine or simply opening the door. Remove the blankets or sheets from the dryer and shake them out. It is completely normal if they are still damp because you will be putting them back in the dryer and continuing the cycle for another half hour. Repeat this process until the sheets are dry or the cycle ends.

You should give a good shake to any large items, such as sheets and blankets, before putting them in the dryer regardless of which method you use. Washing machines tend to bunch items together, and simply tossing them into the dryer without shaking is giving the dryer a more difficult job. Smaller items, such as socks and baby clothes, should never be washed and dried with bedding, as they may end up as a wet ball in the middle of a blanket or sheet or inside a pillowcase.