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.

These threads always make me laugh, I am just looking at my washing line which has a healthy mix of knickers, clothes, towels and t.towels on it.

I seriously don't care what other people think.

The clothes look, feel and smell clean and we're all healthy so

SoyDora Yes, my logic is flawed. His clothes are just so big and heavy! I feel like they suck up all the water. My clothes never seem as clean when they've been mixed together. He's a giant with giant jeans and giant hoodies and my clothes just don't stand a chance.

How many tea towels do you lot use that you can fill a whole wash with them? We have one tea towel on the go at a time that gets bunged in with the rest of the light coloured stuff. I must be missing out on an entire world of tea towel use. What are they even for, when there are dishwashers and draining racks?

The tea towels are probably the smallest load but we change it daily. We use it to dry the pots and the draining board. It gets hung up to dry over night then popped in the tea towel in the morning. The bag gets emptied when it's full. So once every 10-14 days at a guess. They have to be dry before going in the tea towel bag though as they'd stink otherwise.

Horses for courses.

What are people doing with their tea towels that makes them so dirty that they can't go in the same wash as the rest of their clothes?

Yep. Unless your tea towels, underwear and bath mats etc. are only washed every second month or something, how do they get into such a state that they can't be washed together?

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

Peak MN reached.

There's pants and pants. My ds has decided that loo paper is optional. There's no way I'm washing them with my face cloths or tea towels. No matter how judgey MN gets about me washing them separately I'm sticking with separate hot washes. I sometimes do my tea towels on a very hot wash if they've been in a pile with smelly clothes (ducking)...

I separate them. Teatowels get washed with dishcloths, floor mats, cleaning cloths, napkins etc on a 90 degree wash which also serves as the recommended maintenance hot cycle to prolong the life of the washing machine. This benefits the environment due to the double duty cycle, and the less frequent need to replace the machine.

I don't put anything else in, because it's too hot for regular clothes and it's a full load anyway.

I do have cleaning clothes, which are old clothes beyond repair - this is also environmentally beneficial, as I'm continuing to use clothes which would otherwise be chucked, and it means that I'm not wastefully wrecking wearable clothes with bleach, oven cleaner etc.

I wash everything at 40 sorted into colour categories. I used to do tea towels towels and bedding on 60 but my high thread count beslinen shrunk. So I’m frightened to wash above 40 now, especially as the socks keep shrinking on 40 degrees anyway.

I wash anything together with anything, and all at 40 degrees. The germ-phobes on MN make me laugh! . All the things come out of the washing machine clean - what's the problem?!

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

Yeah I'm always getting ill from bum pathogens.

Being paranoid about germs is a really good way to waste your life worrying tediously.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44401330
Think you've got more chance of catching something from your tea towels than your knickers!

Why on earth not? Fanny germs in your tea?! Not once have I even considered this an issue

I don’t think I’m going to catch anything btw - I just don’t like the thought of drying my face on a towel that’s previously dried my bum.

Oh good question.I tend to wash them separately because I've always thought it seemed a bit unhygienic to do them together,but I have wondered whether I was being a bit fussy,so will be interested to see what everyone else thinks.

So does it stay in the washing machine?
Do I need a separate washing machine for baby's cloth nappies?

I don't want baby poo on my napkins!

Tea towels get washed on their own. I can’t bring myself to wash them with anything else. I wouldn’t dry myself with a tea towel after a shower so wouldn’t wash them with bath towels.

I use that dettol sanitiser stuff. Probably a waste of money but I love the smell😁

No way!

I just chuck all in together on 40.

YABU

I've enjoyed reading how different we all are. It's given me a bit of perspective on how clean/'germified' I am. I remember two work colleagues on separate occasions (one male, one female) horrified that someone dried their hands on a tea towel in the kitchen after washing up. I thought I must be slovenly until I read this thread. 😃

Everything goes in a 40 degree wash together. This has no adverse effects and saves time, money and the environment.

It just doesn't make sense scientifically for healthy people in their own homes to obsessively avoid "germs". In fact there is some evidence that on a large scale this now-popular mentality causes medical harm.

Like it or not our bodies and most of the surfaces we come into contact with are teeming with bacteria, which is a good thing, because we need them to digest our food and keep our skin and mucous membranes healthy. It is only if our natural barriers are impaired (by wounds or burns for example), or if we are exposed to individuals or substances transmitting highly pathogenic organisms that we need to be vigilant about disinfection (eg within a hospital environment, or when handling raw chicken).

Even in these contexts hot water and soap is generally adequate. Handwashing with soap at 40 degrees is an extremely effective means of preventing the spread of pathogenic bacteria amongst highly vulnerable individuals in hospital. So why would you need to separately wash teatowels in 60 degrees at home, to eliminate normal environmental bacteria?

Tea towels either go in with the generic towel wash or with the nappies

Yuck! That is horrible. Not dissimilar to wiping dog poo and shoving that cloth into the wash with the towels.

Normally I don’t worry about how things are cleaned, but that comment makes me wonder.

Just to add, I have never cleaned dog poo with a cloth. Actually it’s been years since I have stood on any.

The only thing I was specifically separately is dog stuff

Same here - and TBH that isn't for hygiene reasons, it's because otherwise everything would be covered with hair.