Come and talk to me about laundry -TW for a riveting thread

[Begonne]

How do you do a wash?

Do you sort ? By colours? By fabric weight? Bio or non-bio? Fabric softener? Smelly bead things? Oxi- powders? Do you use colour catcher sheets - or off brand ones? what temp do you wash at?

And …why!?!?

I realised the other day I don’t actually understand a thing about laundry and I’m actually performing some kind of superstitious ritual and hoping the clothes come back clean.

I did an AMA thread about exactly this, hang on and I will find it

I am excited about this thread.

I use non bio and just wash whatever is in the basket (whites separately). HTH

Oh and line or airer dry.

yes please!

Here you go
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/3308661-I-developed-laundry-detergents-AMA

Mid forties. It was trying to explain my system to teenage ds that made me realise I don’t actually have a clue!

Excellent! I’m making a cup of tea to sit and read that

Good point!

Woollen clothes (I wear all wool in winter) on the hand-wash cycle (not the wool cycle that's rubbish) for 54 minutes at 30 degrees

Linen and cotton on the 30 degree cycle for 50 minutes

Towels and bedding on the 40 degree cycle for 1 hour 20 mins

All of these are done with non bio liquid

Synthetics like my DH's work uniform on the 40 degree cycle for 55 minutes with bio liquid

Everything is split into lights and darks and is handwashed at least once when an item is new to check for colours fastness

Woollens are dried flat on a tiered fabric rack that either hangs in the bathroom in winter above the heated towel rail or on the washing line in summer

Linens and cottons I hand up on hangers to dry and either hang them over radiators or on the line

Towels and bedding I put round the tumble drier in winter and on the line in summer

Synthetics on radiators in winter and on the line in summer

Ok so I do.

Dark wash... usually on 30.

Colours and lights...30

Whites... usually on 30 unless very dirty

Towels and pants...longers wash at 40

I use bog standard laundry powder. I hate fabric softener

I sort everything religiously. Never wash towels with clothing. Never wash underwear with tea towels. I use Formil bio powder and fabric conditioner. I use colour powder for colours. Persil silk and wool for delicates and woolies. Halo sports wash for sports gear. I soak dirty white socks first before doing a whites wash. I wash everything on 40 except bed linen and towels (60) and woollens (30). I dry outside whenever possible and only use the tumble drier in emergencies in the winter.

I've gradually got to the point where all tea towels, dish cloths, sheets and pillow slips and towels are whites. White wash every week with bio washing powder and soda crystals at 60 deg.

Duvet covers are blue and white - they are a load with any light coloured clothes. Non bio powder and soda crystals at 30 deg.

Everything else is referred to as 'dark' and goes on a 30 deg economy wash with non bio powder and soda crystals.

Hand wash stuff (winter only) on wool programme with liquid.

We have three separate stand up bags in a bathroom cupboard for whites, darks and everything else. Bag comes down when full and washed as a full load.

Line dry whenever possible. If you iron, try to catch bed linen etc whilst it’s damp. <Sad>

Bed linen, weekly, 90. Don’t pile too much in or stuff will be over-creased. Eg if you have a heavy king-sized duvet cover, wash the sheet & pillowcases with those from another bed.

Towels together (obviously not pastel colours with strong colours) on 60 or 90. Fresh air whenever poss. 5 to 10 minutes in tumbler to soften.

Spot clean kids clothes or soiled things first with stain remover, then you can use a cooler wash. 30 or 40.

Soak anything with blood or grass stains first.

Most clothes will be okay with 30 degrees - but see below about sweat ..

Hand wash (as in, go nowhere near a washing machine) silk and cashmere. Doesn’t take long. Just slosh around in warm water and Woolite for a few minutes. Rinse. Line or drip dry. Hang shirts and tops on hanger. Dry jumpers flat on an airer.

We rarely have shirts etc with sweat stains because we just don’t seem to be very sweaty, so I’m not sure about those.

I use Fairy for most stuff, put some Vanish in for whites.

Weekly one light wash
Weekly one dark wash
Fortnightly towels and sheets
Every so often all the odd colours.
(Once a month my reusable sanitary towels on a 30 degree)

Bio tablet, fabric conditioner
60degrees
Hang out on line
Iron if needed

First let me say I have a Miele FL that has temps of :

cold, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 75 and 90 degrees.

I do indeed sort:

Darks - they go on a dark wash which is 40 degrees
Whites - 60 degrees
Delicates - cold
Hand wash - cold
Other coloured clothing - cold
Sheets - changes between 60-90 degrees
Towels - 60 degrees
Pet bedding - 75 degrees

I haven’t used fabric softener in years, no need.

Ive never used colour catcher sheet’s because everything is well separated.
Everything ( apart from delicates and hand wash loads which is Aldi wool wash) is washed with Aldi powder. Whites and sometimes towels have a bit of Napisan added.

Everything is line dried.

Oh I meant to say, I do long washes on everything. Cold washes are around 2 hours plus.

I sort into black/dark colours, whites, pastel colours and anything not using conditioner (towels, outdoor gear etc). Every morning I empty all the laundry bags into the laundry room and then wash whatever section is fullest. All non bio, I use spray on stain remover for stains, and whitener powder for the whites . All on 40 degrees except towels, sheets, dog bed etc (60). A tiny bit of fabric conditioner but no bead things (seem terrible to the environment to me).

(Oh and line dry if possible. Or hang it all up in the laundry room if wet. Tumble dry towels only).

I do most things on a 30 degree 1 hour setting.
Bedding on a 60 degree 2.5 hour wash with oxi powder too.
Bio detergent, white or coloured. Colour catcher sheets if I need to mix loads ( not often)
I don't use conditioner.

I separate by colours: whites, blacks, blues, greens, reds. Then mixed lights and mixed darks. There are a couple of loads of whites and blacks plus bedding and towels each week; usually only a couple of colours each week.
Also one load of random stuff like t towels, gloves, dishcloths etc.
I line dry indoors or out (drying room) all year round except double size bedding in the winter which I tumble.

I spot clean suits and coats with dry cleaning fluid .

I sort our laundry into a whites, brights and blacks, wool, bedding and towels (again sorted according to colour) pile.

Whites get washed at 40-60 degrees with Persil non-bio plus conditioner.

Brights get washed at 30-40 degrees with formil (Lidl) powder for coloured clothes. Plus conditioner.

Blacks get washed either on a cold wash or 20 degrees (to stop colour fade) with formil as above. No conditioner as that leaves marks on black/dark clothes.

Bedding all goes in together and gets treated as the whites pile.

All towels go in together and treated as clothes above.

Wool (I wear a lot of cashmere and alpaca in the winter) or silk get soaked separately (DH baby bath) with shampoo (yup, you read that right) and then put into the washing machine on a rinse and spin cycle.

Everything dried on a clothes horse on the patio (I don't have a washing line).

I enjoy doing laundry. It gives me a lot of joy and satisfaction! 💪🏻😂

Doing the laundry is my favourite chore too.

Honestly that linked thread is actually amazing 🤩

I hand wash my bras and tights for the first six months, then pop them in a wash bag and wash as normal. We sort of seperate whites but only if I can be bothered. Everything all together. If I notice it's a dark wash I will put the dark wash setting on.

I just don't have the space to sort stuff separately. We don't own a dryer and hanging out a family of dives washing takes forever so I have no desire to add more to the chore.