Does anybody get clothes properly clean at 40 degrees? Without lots of work

[Sabriel]

My washing machine is only 2 years old. I don't overload the drum. I don't leave dirty washing lying around for ages. I use powder rather than liquid, and I generally use the named brands (Ariel, Persil, Daz) rather than the cheaper own brands. Yet the washing is never completely clean. I've tried every known method of stain removal. Sprays, in wash, soakers, nothing works.

My DD is very hard on her clothes. Her new leggings got mud streaked down them; her new socks (worn once) look like she's been shoeless down a mine; and most of her pants are stained because she soils :(

I've just put them out on the line. The mud stain is still there (altho faint). The soles of the socks are clearly still dirty. All her pants are grubby.

It seems that unless I spend ages pre washing, soaking and treating every mark it just doesn't come out. I used to have a miele that had a 50 degrees programme and that worked, but my new machine only does 40 or 60.

Does anybody get properly clean clothes out of their machine. If so, what do you do differently? And how on earth can anybody use 30 degrees as we are all being urged to do?

I tend to wash at 60 if it looks like it needs it & doesn't seem to be made of something that will shrink / disintegrate.

All the kids knickers say 40 and tracksuit bottoms and everything. For a toilet training 2yo that is ridiculous. It's not like silk dresses or something.

Everything has come out fine so far. I guess it's a risk but one I'm prepared to take. Life's too short and all of that!

I stick to guidelines for DD1 school tights with wool in and DH poncey tshirts. Other than that do what seems necessary!

i was feeling the same as you op

as another poster said new machines dont wash in a lot of water

anyway you are probably gonna laugh but this has really boosted my whites

ive always used persil or aerial and always biological so

load the machine

put powder direct into drum

choose programme,wait to start filling

now(my machine is near back door)get the garden hose,stick in water draw,turn on tap,fill machine till half full,just like the old machines,so you can actually see the water climbing up the door

turn od hose ,let machine wash for 20-30mins till heated up,stop machine leave to soak foe an hour,turn on again and finish programme

im sure its the volume of water that soaks and cleans

they come up great now

clearly i need to get a life,lol

I do my "white" wash at 60 thats anything white- panys,bras the lot. I do the coloured wash at 40. Most things are clean and everything is intact!!

I do all my washing on a 30 or 40, used to be 40 or 60 until I lost my job and needed to cut costs. I haven't noticed any difference.

I use bio liquid, again used to be named brands and now it's supermarket brands and again I can't see a difference.

I use the vanish soap bar for stains. Fab stuff :)

All my washing is clean and my whites are white.

I do most of my washing on 40, except towels on 60. I have 7 mo twins. They are pretty clean as babies go, but if they have explosions or food stains I put in a nappy bucket with napisan for a couple of hours and put the washer on at the end of each day (at least once a day, sometimes 2-3 loads).

I use persil non-bio small and mighty liquid.

I can count on one hand the number of items that don't get washed properly first time.

My machine is a Miele and has the option of extra water. Without this, it weighs the clothes and judges the amount of water needed and length of wash cycle.

But I can opt for a higher water level which I do if I want to ensure clothes are rinsed more thoroughly.

I don't think more water= better wash- it's the detergent and agitation that makes clothes clean!

TBH I think we have got used to/expect machines to cope with the impossible: my mum used to have a boiler and boiled lots of whites- and did they come out white! Then she had a single tub with a manual wringer for everything else. The washing took all day- so I don't see that having to soak clothes or apply a bit of Vanish is really a big deal.

I usually wash more things at 60 during the hot weather, when clothes tend to get a bit sweatier. I always wash teatowels, sheets and towels, underwear and socks (and nappies) at 60.

I never take any notice of the care label, if I think something is dirty I'll wash it at 60.

By the way, I saw you said that it was your DD's new clothes that were stained. Had they ever been washed before? I've noticed through bitter experience that if you spill something on a brand new item of clothing, you can pretty much never get the stain out. I think it must be that they are coated with something in the shop. Anyway, I now pre-wash all new clothes before they are worn (I just stick them in the 30 degrees 15 minutes quick wash programme), so that when the inevitable happens and a new white t-shirt gets ice cream/tomato sauce/squashed strawberry/mud and grass splatted on it, it is easier to wash it out.