I'm shit at laundry- help me out!

[BearCubX]

I've somehow made it to 30 without ever becoming one of those people who just know all sorts of tricks re laundry. Throw a toddler into the mix and I now need serious guidance to ensure we're not all walking around in clothes covered in sand/dairylea/pombears all the time.

In an attempt to not be totally hopeless, I've put my general washing routine below and got some questions. Someone please come along and help me out!

I split colours and whites. Put washing powder (generally whichever is on offer- is there a specific brand that's best?) in the drawer. Wash at 30. The cycle lasts 1hr15, then I do a spin cycle that I assumed essentially rung out most of the water? That's 10m or so.

Everything comes out smelling lovely and feeling clean. But general grubbiness (dirty knees on toddlers clothes for example) don't come out anything like spotless and the marks are still there.

I wash towels at a higher temp but do all clothes at 30 as I'm always worried of shrinking.

Where am I going wrong?!

Everything goes in at 40c here (split into darks and lights). Never thought about doing undies at 60c to kill bacteria... what bacteria is that?!

I use the spin cycle if I hand wash any clothes, before I hang them out to dry

A tip I've read on here is to run stains under cold water. Warm water apparently sets the stain. I'd been using expensive products like vanish in the machine to try and remove stains, with not much success, or scrubbing at the stain, but now I simply hold the stained area under a cold running tap before putting in the machine and it gets the worst of it out!

All the cycles on your washer relate to the action of the drum. The difference between synthetics and cottons is that cottons has a more rigorous wash action and a faster spin. If you switch to cottons, it will remove the need for a separate spin.

I separate darks, light colours and whites. All clothes get washed at 40 degrees. Bedsheets, towels, cleaning cloths or anything else where hygiene is more important gets a 60 wash.

I tend to use a liquid detergent for darks and powder for lights and whites. Powder contains oxygen based bleaching agents for added brightness and stain removal, liquids don’t. But if you just want to use 1, use a powder. Of the mainstream detergents, Persil Bio is my favourite.

I don’t use fabric softener at all, it builds up a residue on your clothes and in your machine (it’s just scented animal fat!).

I must be super lazy - I don't split whites and colours but will pop a colour catcher sheet in if it's something like new jeans etc. The whole lot goes on a quick wash at 30 (1 hour normal or 30 mins if not really dirty) with bio liquid.

Always comes out clean and no issues!

If you check your washer manual, quick wash is only designed for small loads. It doesn’t use enough water or rinse enough for large loads.
Remember rinsing plays a huge part too to get all the detergent residue out.
Also quick wash will only ever do a short spin so clothes will take longer to dry.
And 30 degrees for sheets and towels isn’t hot enough. Not only is it unhygienic, it doesn’t wash as well. 30 degrees won’t shift the oils left in towels by our skin and won’t get rid of dust mites and bacteria from our sweat from sheets. This will result in towels needing replacing more often.

Lots of different washes in my household! Powder and fabric conditioner used but no fabric conditioner in the towel wash.
Tea towels and dusting cloths at 60
Towels at 60
Bedding at 60
Clothes sorted into whites, dark colours, light colours all at 40
I use bio for extra dirty clothes, non bio for non dirty clothes and colour powder for darks.
DO ALL ZIPS UP OTHERWISE YOUR CLOTHES WILL GET ANNOYING TINY HOLES IN!!!! VERY IMPORTANT :)
Also turning all dark clothing inside out, like black jeans, can help them stay black longer (and never use bio powder with dark clothes, will fade the colour quicker)

I know how to do laundry but I don't always get it done and the piles can get huge...ugh..I'm crap at it and always tell myself today is the day il get on top of it all but never happens!

40 wash
Bio powder

I always do another spin.

Passthecake All clothing has bacteria on it - particularly in areas where we sweat or bodily fluids are produced. If it then sits in a laundry basket they reproduce. Underwear will have the most bacteria from our bowels, vagina, bladders, penis.

I wash things quite hot (60c, sometimes 40c for darks/adult clothes, the occasional hot wash for towels/sheets). I read once that bacteria isn’t killed unless you wash at at least 60c.

Please don’t mix bicarbonate and vinegar - one just neutralises the other. Definitely don’t mix bleach with vinegar as it can make a toxic gas.

To clean your machine naturally. Wipe seals with vinegar. Take out detergent drawer and give it a good scrub if needed - toothbrush is your friend. If not done for a while you may also need to do in the drawer slot too. Wipe all with vinegar (if you do regularly that’s all you’ll need to do).

Then wash on hottest wash cycle (95) with about half a packet of soda crystals in the drum and some in the powder dispenser.

Should now be all lovely and clean!

I have a new model Hotpoint machine
I split lights & darks.
Daughters clothes it blue are a baby blue so would go with lights, we have a few mustard coloured tops, they go with darks.
Forever telling myself to do whites but it's only school socks & shirts so 15 items a week, so I throw them in with lights & although the bottoms of socks never come up great it's the bottom & nobody sees them, daughter wears pinafore so never stains on shirts.

I wash 90% of stuff on a 40 degree eco wash with fairy liquid pods & then fabric conditioner in the draw. Takes 3 hours 55 minutes with a 1600 spin cycle I think if not it's 1400. Partners gym tops go inside out.

Bedding, towels & fluffy PJs get a 60 degree blast on the same programme (I can pick between 40 or 60 degree on my eco setting)

I have a 15 minute wash for when I forget about the pinafore that's fell down the side of the bed on a Sunday night