Help me wash my clothes!!

[WithTheJonses]

I should start of by saying I'm not usually an idiot. I moved out of my parents home about 4 years ago and now have a DP and a toddler

I'm competent in every other household task but clothes washing!!!!

What setting do you use to wash your clothes?

I separate mine in to colours, darks and whites. And then take out anything delicate like wool or cashmere etc

Whites I wash on a 60. Colours on a 40. I usually put my darks on a half hour spin which ive just found out is a quick wash!!!

Problem I have with darks is that the setting I've Been using doesn't remove smells or stains etc but I can't work out what setting I need to use for generic dark clothes like tracksuits T-shirt's leggings undies etc

Please share your wisdom/common sense!

I just do colours and whites, no darks they get lumped in with colours. All clothes done on 40 unless delicate, towels and bed linen on 60.

I don’t separate anything bar delicates. All mine go in on a 40 degree wash, Especially if they contain anything smelly like yoga stuff or clothes the kids have worn to the forest. Or I put clothes in on a 30 degree ‘cotton wash’ if they have only light use / worn once indoors stuff. The freshen up setting I only use If I wash stuff then forget to hang it straight out! I think you are over thinking this laundry business.

I do lights in a 40 degree wash that takes an hour and darks in a 30 degree wash which takes 1 hour 40 mins. Sometimes I do towels or bedding at 60 degrees. Wool I do on the hand wash cycle. They all come out clean and fresh.

It depends what cycles your washing machine has, can you add a picture of your machine? Mine has a daily wash which is what I use for most things, at 30 or 40. I would put bedding and towels on a cotton wash at 60, and delicates on a delicate wash at 30'. My machine has so many other settings but nsver really use them.

What settings does your machine have? Which machine is it? A half hour wash is really just for freshening things up, not a proper clean.

I use the 'easy clean' setting for everything. 40 degrees for 1 hour.

I just wash everything on 30 and rarely bother to separate stuff. I just use colour catchers when I wash new clothes, just in case the colours do run.

I do whites and colours separately but darks go in with colours. Whites go on in bio liquid on 50 or 60 degrees depending on what’s in there. Colours on 40 degrees with colour liquid.

I also wash towels separately at 60/70 degrees with added Zoflora (the only thing I use it for, I’m not obsessed with it like some) to help kill bacteria.

If you add half a cup (one which comes with the box) of non white stain remover to your 40C dark wash it removes all smells.

you don't need to wash all whites on 60C every time, check labels because some of them may be damaged when your wash is too hot.

You need higher temperatures to kill bacteria that cause smells (60 degrees or more). That isn't great for the environment or your clothes. You can use white vinegar or a laundry disinfectant instead to kill bacteria if you are having issues with smelly laundry. Dettol make one or you can just use diluted Dettol or a sports wash. You don't need to use it every time just if the clothes are smelly/sweaty. It's also worth running the occasional 90 degree empty wash to kill any bacteria in the washing machine.

A 40 degree wash shouldn't really make much difference to stain removal over a 60 degree wash, in fact, high temperatures will set some stains and stop enzymes working in bio detergents. Do you use a different detergent for your whites? It could be that that has bleaching agents in it that remove the stains and the colour wash doesn't.

If you have stains, you should treat them before you wash. Different stains require different treatment so google what to do. If you don't some stains will become set in by washing them and be much harder or impossible to remove.

I just do darks (including colours) and whites. Everything goes on the same standard 40 degree wash setting on the machine. Stain remover on the things with stains. I use Ariel liquid gel. Extra Daz powder goes in with whites.

Just use the daily wash setting which is 59 mins automatically on 40 for everything.

Darks, colours and towels go in together, whites and lights go in together.

If you're my husband it all goes in together and we just cross our fingers and toes that it turns out alright, and it usually does when he does it, but if I get lazy and do the same thing it all goes to shit.

Whites 70 degrees.
Colours 30-40
Darks 40.

Biological washing powder and comfort intense conditioner.Washing smells gorgeous.

Darks made from synthetics or mixed fabrics would be washed on a "synthetics" or "easycare" program (which on my new machine they've decided to call "mixed" because obviously we're not confused enough already).
Which is exactly the same program you would use for whites made from synthetic or mixed fabrics - basically anything with a line under the temperature box on the washing label, which can include cotton t-shirts etc (a broken or double line indicates delicates, no line means cotton wash).
40°C should be enough to get rid of smells and modest stains but bear in mind that most machines will take up to an hour to get up to that temperature so a shorter wash might not be enough.
Or you could just buy a machine with a "darks" program ;)

I think your darks program is too short for every day, it’s basically a quick rinse, isn’t it?
I would use a longer program and washing powder rather than liquid. You can also add a bit of white vinegar in the softener compartment or use a special sports wash liquid.

I find my darks sometimes smell a little odd. Whites and colours always smell fine. It's a very distinctive smell too, I changed to powder instead of liquid and it hasn't happened for a while. And I make sure not to overload the machine.

But don't worry I moved out of my mums 26 years ago and I still can't make mashed potato.

I wash everything with bio washing liquid.

Whites - quick wash 1 hour at 40°
Delicates - delicates wash 2 hours at 40°
Towels - cotton wash 2.5 hours at 60°
Bedding - cotton wash 2.5 hours at 40°
Everything else - quick wash 1 hour 30°

For ease, my everything else washes are separated into tumble dryer friendly and non tumble dry piles.

I only use fabric conditioner on the bedding and that's really only to make it smell nice for longer.

Don't buy anything white. Do everything together at 40, towels a bit hotter.

I'd start doing your dark wash on the 40° programme (using either cotton or synthetic cycle depending on what you are washing). Use a biological powder or liquid which is made for colours (the "whites" washing powder contains bleach/colour brighteners, I think).

As for me, this is more or less what I do:

Towels/bedding/tea towels/dishcloths = 60° wash, cottons cycle, biological powder.

Whites = 40° wash, cottons cycle, biological powder for whites

Light colours = 40/30° wash, cottons or synthetic cycle depending on the care labels, biological colour washing powder

Dark/black clothes = 40/30° wash, cottons or synthetic cycle depending on the care labels, biological washing liquid for colours (only just started to use liquid for dark clothes; used to use colour washing powder)

Wool/cashmere = 20/30° wash, wool cycle, washing liquid formulated for woollens.

Mine is also a dryer, so will sometimes do wash & dry programmes.

Very occasionally use the quick wash function for freshening things up.

Every month or so do a 90° wash with soda crystals and vinegar to keep the machine clean.

I separate darks and lights and try to do school shirts etc as a single load of whites if possible.

I use bio powder and a cycle on my machine called "Mixed" which is 40 degrees, 1400 spin and takes 1hr 45 minutes.

Mostly things come out clean and fresh. If I think a stain's going to be difficult then I pre-treat or bung a scoop of Vanish in.

I haven't RTFT

I usually wash everything together, 40° wash, 52 minute. Once that's done, an extra spin (saves drying time) on maximum spin cycle.

I do use the colour catcher sheets (saved my bacon more times than I'll admit) and sometimes bung towels through on a 60° wash without softener (it prevents towels being absorbent).