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TIFU trying to be an appliance-efficiency wizard and nearly started a dorm fire with a hair dryer

TIFU, and yes this actually happened this morning.

I'm a 26-year-old engineering student in Texas and I obsess over saving energy. Our apartment is tiny, the AC bill is ridiculous, and the dryer takes forever, so I air-dry a lot of clothes. I washed a load last night, hung some nicer stuff inside, and went to bed hoping the humidity would be kind. It was not.

Bright idea at 7 a.m.: use my hair dryer on the coolest setting to gently speed things up, kind of like pretending I'm running a tiny heat pump. I draped a pair of pants over a chair, pointed the dryer at them, and set it on the floor next to the chair while I did my makeup and packed my bag.

Five minutes later I caught that hot-plastic smell. The dryer's intake had sucked in the edge of a towel I had put down to catch drips, and the towel was plastered to the rear grill. The dryer started sounding horrible and the towel was getting uncomfortably warm. I yanked the plug so fast I almost pulled the outlet out of the wall, then spent several minutes patting the towel and checking for flames while my heart did parkour.

Now I have damp clothes, a hair dryer that smells like toasted lint, and the new realization that my energy-hack hobby can be dangerous.

So, what actually works for drying clothes fast in a small apartment without running a full dryer cycle? I want safe, practical routines or gear recommendations. No suggestions that involve me creating some space-heater trap, please.

TL;DR: Tried to speed-dry clothes with a hair dryer, it sucked in a towel and overheated, and I almost started a fire. Need safe fast-drying tips.

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