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

Oh god. I am so useless with the laundry. My rule is that it's DH's job.

Bit of a strange 'tip' but I recommend weighing your washing occasionally, and comparing it to the capacity of your machine. Ours is 8kg and it's easy to forget just how much washing that it - saves us several loads a week if I fill it up every time...

I do most washes on 60 and white towels on 90. No more smelly clothes and machine

Also run machine with a cup of vinegar every few months

Bio is the only thing that can sort out dh smelly gym gear after it's been in his car for the weekend

Hhhmmmmm looking at my post I seem to have a real issyabout smells 😂😂😂

Don't buy clothes that need to be ironed - we're down to ds's school shirts and dhs work shirts (I do the ones for DS, DH does his own).

Hang as much outside as you can to avoid wet stuff in the house and try not to care about little stains.

A capful of zoflora in with every wash - keeps the stink at bay

Loads are sorted by person here, not colour. Everything from that person including sheets and towels goes in one load. Makes putting away much easier. No white school shirts turned grey yet!

Dry outside, and the sunshine removes most stains, even on full days.

Towels in the tumble dryer. I always thought this damaged them but it seems to be the opposite and they feel almost as soft as new ones since I started doing that. When I was leaving them to dry outside they were like cardboard.

Huge one For me is that, however tempting (I have 4 kids and a mountain of washing!) don't overfill the machine.

always wash whites seperately, use a white bio powder, and they stay clean and nice till they fall to peices.

Colours split into darks and not darks, use colour protect wahing powder, doesn't need to be expensive, I use Asdas. Colours stay good for ages.

My bathroom has 3 laundry bags, whites, darks (black/ navy) and colours. Kids sort clothes as they take them off, stick a load in when bag full.

Washing up liquid for stains seems to work as well as any branded item and drying in the Sun gets rid of lots of stains .

separate dirty laundry baskets for whites and darks in my house...wow betide anyone who gets it wrong.
Then baskets for non ironing for any body currently resident ( we have 4 DDs between us and they float in and out of living here...as older teens/young adults do !) and one basket for ironing.
I always do ironing on sunday listening to archers omnibus...kitchen is sealed off for this activity and no one interupts under pain of death or at least a scorch on their clothes..
Everyone then collects their basket and it is their responsibility...don't collect your basket and empty clean laundry then no more washing done...

Always check pockets before putting the laundry in! I've washed pens, coins and chewing gum, fortunately without too many disasters...

Don't buy white clothes ever!

Most stains can't be seen in dark clothes, job done :D

No darking on my washing and no tissues allowed ever in pockets.

A laundry basket with separate bits has made my laundry life much easier! Categories are: handwash (bras, baby's home knits), they go in the machine on the handwash cycle; lights; whites & darks. Whichever is fullest gets washed.

Then either hung up outside or onto the heated airer.

Check the forecast before hanging stuff outside.

Nappies get washed every other day, which means we never run out (so far!).

We use Fairy non bio due to DC's eczema. Don't bother with softener.

If, for whatever reason, the machine hasn't been emptied & the laundry starts to go about whiffy, stick a bit of Zoflora in & put on a quick rinse cycle

I'm obsessed with drying stuff on the radiators. When it's not nice enough for outdoor drying, and warm enough to have the heating on, I try and dry everything on the radiators, they're on anyway, so may as well use that heat! But the trick is you've got to keep turning the clothes so they dry evenly, that way you can get stuff dry really quick, especially in winter! I find myself obsessed with it though, I'm constantly turning the clothes and rotating the dry stuff with wet stuff from an airer... I really need to get a life

Oooh oooh
Bedding sets......the old MN tip

Fold a whole bedding kit, duvet cover, sheet, etc and put into the matching pillow case, stacks neatly and it's all together in one place.

No stain remover ever works on tomato stains - apart from sunlight. Leave it hanging in the sun for a few hours and even the most stubborn tomato stains will be a distant memory!

washing up liquid directly onto stains.

wash with low scented super concentrated Method (now discontinued but I have stocked up), with a scoop of soda crystals and at 30 or 40 degrees.

Use IKEA blue bag as fold away washing basket.

Hang stuff on hangers.

Iron nothing!

To the people who think strongly scented laundry liquid/fabric softeners smell nice - it doesn't! They are hideous and we can smell you on the streets.

Don't marry a farmer.

That's it.

I separate whites and darks. Also delicates but never seems to wash as well. I put washing up liquid on any stains (both sides) and add white vinegar in the final rinse most times. Haven't used fabric softener for over 20 years after reading what it contained. I wash overnight so I can hang on line in the morning, after checking the forecast. Rarely use the tumble dryer, maybe just to finish off. I reduce the spin speed in the summer to save energy and creasing as it will dry anyway.

i always separate loads of washing andd swear by fairy liquid for stains

I have a Rita for wash days, which means I never get a build up of washing waiting to be done. Darks mon, lights tues, towels weds, bedding thurs, whites fri (to catch all the school socks and polos), dark sat, light sun. Iron the same day if dry.
Teach toddlers to sort washing - it's a fun game that becomes habit!
Sunlight bleaches bolognese/tomato stains - incredible but true!
Use washing soda in the machine every now and then to keep it clean and fresh.
Odd socks get put back in the laundry basked until they eventually come out as pairs.

Drying cloth nappies/ white baby grows and vests on the washing line in the sun is an amazing natural way to bleach them back to white again

erm... Leave the laundry mountain until it is dangerously high and your DH gives in and tackles it

I really hope someone has a tip for keeping socks together as they go through the wash, we have thousands of Mismatched pairs!!!