Should undies and tea cloths be washed together?

[PeridotCricket]

I think not, DH, normally very particular...just chucks them all in together as a whites wash on 40.

People are weird. The only time things get separated from a main wash here is if the colour runs, if it’s delicate, too big to Fi in with everything else or it’s clothes/bedding from someone who’s had norovirus —cos I burn all of that in an inferno at the bottom of the garden—. 😄

Washing something at low temperature that has been on your bum with something that you use to dry your dishes with is a good way to transfer pathogens from your bum to your mouth.

I soak tea towels and kitchen cloths overnight in a drop of bleach and then give them a 75C wash. The bleach and high temperature kills most pathogens.

I wash underwear, towels and sheets in another wash, also at 75 it 60.

To those who have said washing teatowels and underwear together has not affected them. How do you know? You have have avoided some illnesses by not doing this.

Clearly anything with poo or puke on it (from a bug) needs to be washed separately. Then rewashed to ensure totally clean.

I’ve just Googled this, apparently at 30 degrees 99% of bugs and bacteria are eradicated. Anything else I split by colour, not use. Towels and tea towels are washed at 40 or 60 and additionally tumble dried or dried in the sun in the recent very hot weather. Both the steam generated in the tumble dryer and the heat from the sun kill germs. Towels are changed regularly - now that’s a thread in itself everyone, isn’t it?!!

I’m really not concerned about separating underwear. As pps have said we wipe our clean bums on towels but our bodies are always teeming with bacteria even when clean.

I'm in the camp of "we're all covered in dirt and bugs anyway, and an extra bit of dirt is good for our immune systems", so I wash them all together, I don't do multiple washes to avoid mixing germs. I survived the infrequent clothes washing of my student days. How did our ancestors survive before twin tubs were invented? After all, it's drummed into us spare the environment, wash at 30, etc. The planet will (hopefully?) be around much longer than any of us will.

No pun intended with "drummed".

Uh oh, I wash underwear and tea towels together at 30!

Nope!
Tea towels go in with other towels on a 90 with no fabric conditioner.
Clothes get a 30/40 wash with conditioner.

Has anyone ever, EVER got ill from bacteria on laundry that didn’t possibly die during washing?

Not yet, messy bun. I love mumsnet for this stuff.

I am a chuck-em-in-together type.

But I do all towels separately, because I don't put fabric conditioner with them.

Everything washed at 30 here. Everything mixed. Colours and whites towels and knickers. Alllll together

Oh the one thing I do wash sep are dd hosp uniform whites

Why wouldn't they? What happens if they aren't? Is this a joke?

I have plenty of tea towels, so I wash them separately on a very hot wash.

I love these threads. The variety of it is really fascinating. I've never used a cycle warmer than 40 except to dye things following the Dylon instructions.

Sometimes I separate stuff if it's after a holiday so it's too much for one load.

Towels, tea towels and bedding all done on hot washes separately from clothing.

Haha I’m another everything gets washed at 30. The only separating I do is by colour (& this religiously, my whites are beautiful).

We are all irritatingly healthy and have clean clothes.

I’ve never even considered this. My washing machine has a 40-60 mix setting and everything gets put in on that. Most of the time I don’t even separate colours! And I use fabric softener for everything... can’t abide by crusty towels, and they still have full absorbency!

Someone beat me to it re the nappies...if the wash isn't cleaning things enough that it doesn't worry you, they aren't being cleaned properly. Easy as that. And no there is no 'shit soup' - clearly missed the point that nappies are rinsed BEFORE anything else is added. Everybody is still alive funnily enough

Softener in my limited experience depends on whether you’re in a hard water area and whether your tumble drying. Towels with no softener and line dried here come out like planks of wood...

Safefood say that "The most effective way to clean your dishcloth is in a washing machine on a normal 30o or 40o cycle or by boiling for 15 minutes on a rolling boil".

DO you work OP? I found when I was working I didn't have time to worry about germs - I just needed a clean load once or twice a week.

And WTF irons TTowels??

I love these threads!! I never separate anything, even by colour unless it's new jeans or something. Who can be arsed worrying about this stuff?

Also, 'shit soup'??? Are you all shitting your pants?

I also wonder - so you've washed your tea towel, by itself, on 90 degrees (good for the environment). Great. But then presumably it goes in a drawer or some other tea towel storage area, then come out to dry the dishes, which are washed somehow, in a sink with other dishes presumably, which then go in a dish storage area before you eat off them. Surely there will be all sorts of potential bacteria lurking in those places? So the boiling of the tea towel is a bit redundant? Or am I missing something?

Once or twice a week Neshoma? I wish, I'm convinced my neighbours must chuck their washing in my basket the amount I seem to have.

I separate colours and wash at 40, but separate load for tea towels, bedding and towels at 60. Always done it that way, I really don't see why people care how others do their washing tbh.

Hot wash, preferaby line dried in sunshine.

Brilliant! Who has the time for this? And even if you have the time, surely there are more interesting things to think about/do?

Washing something at low temperature that has been on your bum with something that you use to dry your dishes with is a good way to transfer pathogens from your bum to your mouth.

Hahaha hahaha!