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 visited a friend recently who is an ardnet 30 degree washer. Now she is not the most pristine/fussy person I've ever met (ahem) however I'm used to that.

What I wasn't expecting was to open her front loader to be met by a black gunky smear of yuk all around the clear front of the machine and inside the rubber gobbins too. I very nearly couked. The machine was bogging. My clothes would have come out dirtier than when they went in. I do wish she would read Mumsnet.

Hatti - no, detergents (bio or non-bio) generally do not specifically kill bacteria; bio powders contain enzymes which digest biological dirt, such as sweat and food (and enzymes work better at lower temperatures).

But the act of removing dirt removes a lot of bacteria too (just as soap and water cleans your hands).

You can buy detergents with an antibacterial action (i.e. for nappies), but for regular laundry it's overkill in my opinion, unless you run a hospital laundry.

I bung in everything together at 40C. The only reason for doing bedding separately is that it is big enough for its own load. I only separate colours if I have something new and bold.

The one thing i don't do is use the quick wash. It bungs up the machine and doesn't get the clothes clean. British detergents are designed to work with cycles that incorporate a long soak time. A quick wash simply flushes unused detergent down the drain.

I used to separate by colour but these days everything I own seems to be black, navy blue or dark green so it seems a little pointless. Teatowels go in with the normal towels and facecloths at 60, bedding goes separate at 40 (used to do 60 but after an incident where a set I rather liked shrank so much it stopped fitting the duvent I daren't), and everything else is just 'general clothing' which goes at 40 also. Underwear goes in with either clothing or towels depending on what I'm doing. Finally once a week I run rat hammocks (yes, here also!) but they go separate because a. they get really manky, b. most of them have clips and such that would snag clothes, and c. I use a different, less-scented detergent so as not to bother the rats with the perfume.

I wash everything on 30. Even towels! I suppose I've had the eco thing drummed in! The wash takes over an hour so seems long enough!

Apparently bugs don’t get killed under 60 degrees. Was informed that is why there has been a rise in bed bugs as people wash in low temperatures. Also, my friend has a really black washing machine door surround as she washes everything in a 15 min wash. The temperature is not much more than cold. I make a point of using a 90degree wash around once a month, especially if my washing in the main has been consisting of 40degrees or less. The hot wash helps everything, soap etc to flush through. My machine instructions also advises this.

All towels and tea towels 60 degrees (towel only wash)
T shirts, all pants, socks, school skirts (dark wash) 40 degrees
School shirts and other white t shirts and light underwears 40 degrees
Rarey wash on 30 degrees but will going buy occassional care labels
Bedding 40 degrees except dd's with allergies 60 degrees

I wash towels, bedding, tea towels etc at 60 degrees and everything else in together at 40 degrees. I don't separate colours at all, it's not necessary ime and just creates more work

I only separate out bras for handwashing, and things the cats have been sick on.

Not dead yet.

Apparently you should wash your underwear separately to towels and tea towels separately to everything else as if you wash these things together it can spread faeces particles onto the towels you dry your dishes with (YUCK)!
I would wash all your towels on 60 to kill germs completely and the same with nappies and underwear, and tea towels!

Everything white goes for a 90ºC wash, including pants, shirts, tea towels, white towels and hankies. This also cleans the machine.

Coloured towels and bath mats get done together in a towel wash at 60ºC.

Everything else goes in at 40ºC. I’ve tried cooler but found things were sometimes still a bit whiffy afterwards.

I do separate whites, coloured and dark washes all including respective coloured underwear on 30. I add in some of that Dettol laundry cleanser so I figure that cancels anything out. The machine does the dosing of the detergent (Miele twindos) and I always tell it the load is ‘heavily soiled’ as I figure someone’s at least weed on something in there (we have small DC, it’s not just DH and me 😆).

Towels plus tea towels and bedding go on at 40 with laundry cleanser.

Sportswear I do at 40 ditto with laundry cleanser.

My current dilemma is what to do with micro fibre cleaning cloths and those magic face cloths. Apparently they shouldn’t have conditioner used on them but it seems excessive to do 2 more washes (no way am I putting face cloths in with cleaning cloths).

My sons clothes are often covered in wee and poo so I wash his stuff separately 🤢 With bio. Dp's dirty work stuff separately with bio, and mine and the girls' together in non-bio. All at 40 degrees apart from bedding and towels that get 60.

Whites 50 degrees Inc towels and bedding and white underwear but not bras. Sometimes go mad and do a 60 degree white wash.
Darks 40 inc towels
Lights 40 or 30 inc bras, often on short wash
Don't really do tea towels but when I do they are white and done at 50 or 60