Can I wash underwear and towels together?

[FlingonTheValiant]

I'm gradually learning that most of the housekeeping practices I learnt from Mum are rather skanky unhygienic, so I'm trying to relearn housekeeping.

Some of them I have never done, because I thought they were disgusting even as I child e.g. using the dishcloth (which always stank) to wipe up something spilt on the floor and then using it on washing up without cleaning it . Or the time she used it to clean up owl poo after one got into the house and we had a standing argument as she put it back in the sink and wasn't going to bin it .

Anyway. Right now I'm on laundry.

Currently I do: darks, lights/whites, baby clothes, towels, bedlinen and nappies (this is already a significant improvement on what DM taught me).

I do everything on 30, and then every now and then wash towels, bedlinen and nappies on 60. It all gets an occasional go in the tumbler.

But I've read that this is no good for underwear. So should I separate that out and do it with the towels?

Do I need to always wash towels, bedlinen and nappies on a higher temp?

Also, what do people do with their teatowels? I put them in with whatever, barring nappies and towels. I realised this morning that that includes underwear, so I want to stop that, but I'm not sure what to wash them with instead.

Thanks very much in advance! :)

I bung most things in together at 40

But I totally, utterly and completely draw the line at rat cloths in with human stuff

Not that we keep rats, but ykwim

For FlingonTheValiant rat in a hammock. Not mine sadly, but then mine are cuter.

Prunnhilda, I kind of get that as you are a non rat owner, but this wash used to contain dirty nappies, can't really see the difference.

ROFL! Ok, that is pretty cute!

I would do nappies on a high heat at least 60. I have found that if DD has a wet bed and I wash the bedding on a 40 it makes the whole wash smell of wee. So sheets, towels, tea towels etc all go on at 90 , but only on a short wash. Everything else 40. 30 is too low for me nothing smells fresh I think.

I bung everything in together, vaguely seperated by colour, at 40 for the lot, life is too short and we're not dead yet

All in together at 40 here - we're all alive and healthy!

I do think about laundry, but until this thread had not had separate underwear on my "to worry about list". Bras I do on the most delicate wash (occasionally handwash) but this is to preserve them for as long as possible.

I do not own any pets but if I did I would launder their items separately.

re floor/bathroom cloths. I put them in a bucket and cover with boiling water out of the kettle. I then rinse and wring out (by hand) and put them in the next wash regardless of what is in it. I am hoping that the boiling water would kill off any germs? (or am I deluding myself)?

Made me laugh to read the OP. My Grandmother used to use her old knickers as a dishcloth! I will never forget the first time I discovered them in her sink with the dishes!

I checked my washing machine manual when I got it and the 30 wash uses more electric than 40 cotton wash.

I never use any other cycle now unless it's wool or DH expensive stuff

Really? I wonder why. I'd better see if I can find mine (doubt it) and check.

..and I got such a hard time on the thread I posted about Ozzies washing everything in cold water!

Used to do towels and tea towels at 60, but when a washing machine failed with limescale, was advised to do at least one wash a week at 90 with a Calgon tablet, and these seem the obvious candidates. Definitely DON'T mix knickers and towels (especially tea-towels) and use a lot of J-cloths, colour-coded to kitchen/utility/bathroom. We all sleep in the buff, so bedding generally gets done once a week at 30, 40 if it goes much longer than a week. Otherwise, sort whites/lights from coloureds and do these separately at 30, especially anything with lycra.

Since reading on another thread about poo bugs from pants getting on the tea towels, I still mix it all up but now add a dose of Napisan for germ-killing purposes.

Bedding always gets washed by itself but only because I think 4 pillowcases, 1 quilt cover & a fitted sheet makes up A Load, no?

I do everything on 40 and use Napisan, but do a bright/dark colour light colour whites/pale colour split. Sometimes I wash towels separately just because of their bulk, but other than that I've never heard (or experienced) it being bad for underwear. If you are worried about underwear being damaged you could put it in a laundry bag in the wash.

OMG this is now a new worry for me - I have never thought about not mixing pants and tea towels in the same wash!

But what about mixing face flannels and pants.

Or boys filthy school uniforms with my knickers.

All my DS's pants and trousers smell of wee when I put them in the wash, but I have always washed them with my clothes!

I wash everything together on a 40 except my nappies, these go in on their own on a 60 and occationally a 70. Id never wash nappies higher that a 70 as it would damage the wraps or pul covers. Sometimes i wash DD1s bedding on a 60 if shes had an accident or DD2s bedding if her nappy leaked (which is hardly ever) But mine and DPs bedding and DSs bedding is done on a 40.

I wash my knickers with other laundry as they are usually pretty clean as i change every day as do the rest of the family. No ones dead yet from washing their knickers with a tshirt lol

You do all realise that just about everything in this world is covered in bacteria? That there are more bacteria IN your vagina already than will ever be put there by a pair of knickers washed at 30C? Have any of you EVER heard of anyone catching something from mixing their knickers with their tea towels in a washing machine???

I wash everything in together (apart from "Dry clean only" which gets shoved in a wool wash) - even coloured and whites - much to the shock and disapproval of my Mum!

It's not about 'catching something' from your teatowels FFS

The point is that all those skin cells/wiped-up food spills and crap on your tea-towels/towels smell RANK if they're not given a hot wash at least once in a while.

Be honest, have you never shied away from wiping your hands on someone's disgusting teatowel or hand towel because it smelt like dead people?

Our grandmas used to boil 'em.

I don't give a toss about the odd bug - people are far too obsessed about such things, and forget about our wonderful immune systems which are designed to cope with far greater risks than laundry.

I sort by colour, then wash everything at 30 (eco friendly, and bio powders work better at low temperatures).

Anything muddy, pooey, yucky or otherwise gets a pre-wash in the sink before going in with everything else.

I'm with cointreau - there's nothing that you do that is unhygenic in such a way that could cause illness. Owl poo aside (!) I am pretty much of the opinion that exposure to general dirt and grime is good for kidsand we get far too hung up on unnatural levels of hygiene.

In hospitals, this is desirable. In homes, it is not so much.

My tea towels do not smell of dead people, they smell of Bold.

Ah I think you have hit the nail on the head there sausagerolemodel. I used to be a medical student, but I have OCD and became so obsessed with the germs etc that I had to stop. The idea of them was making me very ill (and occasionally actually the germs).

Before I went into hospitals I didn't have much of an issue with cleaning (apart from the occasional freak-out at my mum's), but I think it has now spilled over from hospital into home life.

I keep it pretty well under control, and I'm in fact a slattern in some areas, but once I've decided that something is a problem I really worry.

The number of people telling me it's nonsense have really helped, but so have those who separate and wash high.

I think I will do as Maryz suggests and change teatowels daily. And the carry on basically as before with occasional 60 washes if I'm worrying about it. And I might do undies with towels :o

Thanks everyone!

out of interest...would a biological detergent kill bacteria?

Would a non-bio?

Hmmmmmm...maybe all this worry for nowt?

Surely teatowels only smell rank if they have been used too often without being washed? And totally agree with ginmakesitallok about bacteria being everywhere! I wash most stuff on 30 with bio washing powder, nappies at 40 with a bit of eco-friendly Napisan equivalent, and a good rinse beforehand.