Housekeeping for dummies: washing cleaning cloths?

[HaggisTheGreat]

Hi, sorry, another dummy housekeeping question. How do you wash your cleaning cloths? To be greener, I have got rid of wipes and trying to use less kitchen towels. So am using cloths to wipe kitchen surfaces etc. My usual 30 degree wash doesn’t seem to quite cut it. But if I leave them and wait for a whole load to accumulate to do them at higher temp that would take ages??

If you want to kill bacteria my understanding is you need to wash them at 60degrees. I use Microfibre cloths, they last a long time and come clean at 60 degrees

I do the same.

I wash them at 30 for the kitchen cloths- only used for wiping the kids hands and cleaning the surfaces with Method cleaner. It’s fine.

The cloths that I’ve used to clean something gross or the bathroom, 60 degrees and a dash of laundry cleanser.

I put them in a bucket and put a kettle of boiling water over them. Stick a little bio powder in with them when it’s cooled. Rinse.

I’m not sure if that’s okay though. It saves using the washing machine for a few things though.

I either wait till I have a load to stick on at 60 with mop heads etc or if they are a bit stinky pop them in a bucket with some napisan.

I have a small lidded box and once used they go in there, when it's full it gets whacked on a 95 degree wash with towels. Once a week and I'm doing the towel wash anyway. At the moment all my laundry is being done on 60 degree washes due to my anxiety levels over the virus.

I just put them in the usual wash but I don't use them in the bathroom

I just throw the kitchen cloth straight in the washing machine ready for the next load of whatever laundry needs done. I don’t bother separating them- they’re no dirtier than the kids clothes etc.

Bathroom cloths and the mop head I’d be fussier about and wash them together on a hot wash.

A wash hot enough to kill germs (sanitise, not sterilise) must hold the cloth above 60 degrees C for over 10 minutes. So a boiling kettle poured over will not do that. Only a persistent heat, so usually a washing machine, will do that. You should wash on your hottest setting.

Not all, or even many, washing machines actually persist this temp for 10 minutes; to list the temperature on the dial they just need to reach it at some point during the wash. So I soak my cloths in a solution of sodium percarbonate first and then boil wash. (I must maintain infection control protocols for reasons unrelated to the current drama.) A boil wash is fine.

hokolo thanks!

Ok, I’m going to stick them in the 90 degree service wash I do then.

Mine go in the wash with Dettol Anti-Bacterial Laundry cleanser which kills 99.9% of germs. They tell you it is effective as low as 20 but I put mine on a 40 degree wash.

I have used reusable cleaning cloths for years. I even made my own flat mop heads for use on an old Lakeland flathead mop (loads of instructions online).

I have a plastic lidded tub in my utility that all the cleaning cloths go in, so floor, surface and bathroom ones. I have a separate tub for kitchen dish cloths, hand towels and tea towels. I wash them separately due to volume.

Dettol laundry can be found in all supermarkets.

I have quite a few they get put through with tea towels/towels/flannels/bath mats on a 60 degree wash

I just but the in the washing up bowl with washing powder and a bit of bleach, leave overnight rinse out in the morning then stick in the microwave for 2 mins.

I wait until I have a few then throw them in at 60 degrees on a short cycle.

I accumulate a bucketful, plus tea towels, apron, oven gloves.
Important to dry the cloth before storing it in the bucket, to avoid anything going mouldy before it's washed. Then 60 degree wash. I'm putting a scoop of vanish in as well now.

Mine go in on their own for a 20 minute quick wash at 40c with a dash of bio liquid. They seem fine.

Every now and again I put them through a 90c wash.

Minimum hygiene temperatures for infection control are 65 degrees held for a minimum of 10 minutes or 71 degrees held for a minimum of 3 minutes. If your machine has a 75 degree cycle, that’s perfect. If not, a 90/95 cycle will need to be done.

I have a huge stash of about 40 microfibre cloths. They get used for everything from dusting to washing windows. I also have a microfibre flatmop for cleaning the floors and bathroom tiles which has 4 changeable microfibre pads. So they all get washed together on a hot wash with bio powder.

Those washing their cleaning cloths with clothes on 30 and 40 cycles - that’s really nasty. 30 and 40 degree cycles do not sanitise anything. You’re washing your cleaning cloths with socks and underwear and than transferring that onto your kitchen worktops! And anything that your cloths picks up from your kitchens - E.Coli, salmonella, shigella etc - are then all in your washer and all over your “clean” laundry. It’s especially rank if you use liquid detergent or pods which has absolutely zero antibacterial agents in it. Powders at least contain oxy bleach but it isn’t activated below 50 degrees so again, not particularly hygienic.

I realise this will probably fall on deaf “we never get sick/don’t be a germaphobe” ears but come on, this is basic hygiene.

If you have an old pan you could boil them on the hob.

A tumble dryer reaches temperatures of 175c according to Which. Does that not kill germs too?