I used to just accept condensation as part of everyday life, waking up each day to streaming windows, cold, damp patches around the frames and even mould behind furniture.

Drying clothes indoors only made things worse, especially in colder months when opening windows wasn't an option. Everything changed when I followed advice from Martin Lewis on the best way to tackle condensation without turning on all the radiators. During a BBC Sounds podcast on 5 Live, a listener asked Martin Lewis whether buying a dehumidifier would be cheaper than using heating to tackle damp caused by drying washing indoors.

The MoneySavingExpert explained: "Dehumidifiers take water out of the air rather than use the heating and they're much lower wattage appliances than standard heating. So if the dehumidifier works for you, it will definitely have lower electricity bills."

In an episode of The Martin Lewis Podcast in 2023, he also labelled tumble dryers - which can cost up to £1 per hour to run - a "demon appliance", and suggested using a dehumidifier instead.

"Many dehumidifiers have different wattages - the one I checked out was 200W," he explained. "Once we know it's 200W and we know a kilowatt is 1,000W, which is how electricity tends to be priced, we know this is a fifth of a kilowatt.

"And you pay roughly 34p per kilowatt per hour. A fifth is 7p, so you're going to pay roughly 7p per hour to run a dehumidifier at 200W, assuming it uses full power the whole time," he continued.

The difference on condensation has been immediate and long-lasting(Image: Getty)

I had been holding off buying a dehumidifier but decided to bite the bullet and get one. I chose the Meaco Arete One 10L which costs around 4p an hour to run. Since buying it, the difference has been immediate and long-lasting. We now wake up to completely dry windows every morning, even during cold spells, and the whole house genuinely feels drier and warmer.

What really surprised me was how much water the unit pulls out of the air. Emptying the tank is oddly satisfying - and slightly alarming - because it shows just how much moisture was previously lingering in the room and settling on walls, windows and soft furnishings.

One of the biggest advantages has been during winter, when drying clothes. I often dry washing on a clothes horse indoors, and before, that moisture would hang in the air all day. Now, the excess damp goes straight into the dehumidifier's tank instead of soaking into the walls. It's made a noticeable difference to air quality, and it also means clothes dry faster, so I'm using the tumble dryer less.

The dehumidifier won Which? Best Buy awards and a Quiet Mark award, which makes sense once you've lived with one. It's slightly more expensive at £159.99, but is it worth the price? For me, absolutely.

Following Martin Lewis' advice has led to fewer condensation problems and less reliance on the heating and the tumble dryer. Months on, my windows are still clear, there's no damp smell hanging around, and I feel reassured knowing excess moisture is being dealt with properly.