The Mumsnet Laundry Rules - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Fairy Non Bio is sponsoring the Mumsnet Talk app, so we’d like you to talk about your top laundry tips for families.

Do you have tips for removing the plethora of stains your DC somehow produce? Maybe you’re skilled in mixing wash loads with zero colour transfer? Or perhaps you’ve got a cast-iron system for laundry that keeps the job from overwhelming you (and your machine).

Whatever they are, share your laundry tips for families below. Everyone who posts on the thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

If you're an avid Mumsnet talk boards user, you should download the app for yourself. It's free, and allows you to be part of the conversation wherever you are!

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Check the pockets!! Nothing worse than a tissue being washed (actually there is - money being washed!!)

Plan your washing round the weather if you can and make the most of the dry days - not always 100% reliable but definitely helps. Meanwhile to help with indoor drying I have got my DH to put up a hanging rail over the bath and this is great for drying things overnight and reducing ironing time.

I swear by white Vinegar instead of fabric softener.

Steep towels in snow flakes for extra fluffiness.

Hairspray for ink stains

Always check pockets of stuff you are about to put in the washing machine for tissues!

Pre treat any stains, large W/Machine drum means just one darks and one whites wash and we are good to go.

We dont have a washing line so we bought two airers, these are just great, you hang your clothes on and then on sunny days just put them out in the garden and then in the winter again put the clothes on them and put them near the radiator. once dry Just stick the clothes in the tumble for 3/4 minutes this softens them up a treat and no ironing required. Also big savings on electricity use

I have 9 children so my laundry gets a bit overwhelming even with a large (12kg) machine! I always sort it all very carefully into whites, darks, lights, reds and pinks as I like to keep the clothes all separate so they don't go grey or lose brightness.
I do like the tubs of oxygenating laundry brightening powder that I get from Poundland for soaking off stains and putting in the white wash as it disinfects and it brightens as well as taking stains out. If I have something really awful I stick it in a bucket of warm water, oxygenating powder and some washing detergent and leave it for a few hours and the stains usually disappear on their own without any scrubbing.
I also like to put a cap full of Sainsbury's Basics disinfectant in each wash because the kids are so dirty sometimes and some of the washes are such low temperatures that I'm not sure all the germs would be killed off without it! I always have to do the laundry even if the weather is bad so drying it in the Winter months gets very hard!

Treat stains straight away, don't wait until washing day :)

Never mix white and coloured, I separate the black laundry too, I do three washes a week, and if anyone doesn't get their laundry into the basket, tough luck! It either waits till next week, or they do it themselves!

I find with baby clothes especially putting the stained clothes into soak and forgetting about them then washing them later that day so not as hard a job in the washing machine as stains already gone or loosened

Put a wash on last thing at night. Electricity is cheaper then, and it's ready to hang out first thing in the morning.

White vinegar is a Godsend!. I saw something online about it being an excellent stain remover and it is!. It's removed marker pen, oil, paint etc out of my kids clothesb& it's so inexpensive. I always separate my whites from darks as I hate seeing off-white clothes. I also like to line dry my laundry because it's kinder to clothes.

Spray hairspray on biro marks, then rinse off under the tap.

Once washed always try to dry outdoors. The fresh air helps protect the fabric by drying naturally.

We do mixed loads, use a colour catcher, was on 30 and hope for the best. If there's a bad stain I use Vanish.

Sunshine is the answer to any tomato based stain! I wash whites separately but lob anything else in together.

You can wash pretty much anything in one wash on a 40 degree cycle... time saving and energy efficient!
Don't put too much in the drum though, i find it makes it smell musty.

I use washing up liquid on stains and the sunshine, always gets stains out :)

some great smelling detergent and even better smelling fabric conditioner...fresh for days

Put the washing in the night before on a timer so it is ready to hang on the line when you wake up

I always do a dark wash and a light wash every week. On tough stains I use vanish or something similar. I stopped ironing when my daughter was a toddler!

Keep the whites separate!

I love fairy because it has seen me through some bad mistakes with laundry ie the grown-up children putting washes on and then complaining that the clothes come out mixed colours alittle fairy on a brush works wonders on clothes then back into machine an hey presto the boltages are gone clothes soft an smelling great panic over!

I love these stain removal tips. My tip is to get basket style forage from IKEA and use it instead of a washing basket. Whites, light coloureds and darks all get collected and sorted. A load is done every day, towels and sheets once a week. I iron twice a week and divide the ironed clothes into baskets for each person whichgst put in their room.