Share with Fairy Non Bio your tips and tricks for mixing colours and fabrics. £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

The rules on laundry and what to do with mixing colours and fabrics can sometimes get a bit confusing with different people saying different things. Therefore Fairy Non Bio would like to know what your tips and tricks are when it comes to mixing colours and fabrics?

Here’s what Fairy Non Bio have to say: “Everyone’s got their own way of doing things. We design our products so that you can get the most out of every load but would love to know how you divide and conquer your washing and what you use for it!”

Do you find that once colours have been washed once you can mix them with the lighter colours? Are there certain fabrics that you know can be easily washed together? Or have you figured out a laundry system that means your dark colours no longer bleed into lighter clothes? Maybe you’ve had a laundry disaster that forced you to change how you did things?

Whatever your tips are, share them on the thread below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

I've got a big family and always have a full load of darks, lights and whites, I never mix them!

I rarely mix colours and always keep dark and light washes separate but if I was pushed for time I'd do a mixed wash on a low temperature quick wash program

I always stick my colours together on a low temperature wash. If i have new coloured clothes then i will wash them on their own a few times before it will join the big colour wash. I never mix my colours with whites as i like my whites to stay white and will add a whitener so they stay that way.

I wash at low temp for colours to keep everything bright and whites 40 to 50 degrees, keeps them white with Fairy.

I try to keep whites with whites, but everything else just goes in together. The only exception is if something is new and hasn't been washed before (eg. jeans) - I then try to do a dark wash just incase the colours run.

I never mix my laundry up as I've seen other family members with grey laundry that was supposed to be white and chewing gum towels. I wash all darks together, all whites together, all reds together, all lights together and I also wash green and yellow brights together. We also have a separate hotter 60 degree hot wash for towels because it was unhygenic when the kids were leaving them on the floor of the bathroom right next to the toilet! I do find the clothes look nicer and newer if they are washed carefully.

Make sure you double check your load for colours in with the whites. Faded pink, blue or grey are not a good look.

We do only whites wash, and everything else together on 30, like to use a colour catcher too in our washes

I did have one disaster of a red and white striped top and thought it would be ok and it dyed most of the wash. Now I am very wary of things I have not washed before and I identify which really share their colour! I sort washes into pale wash, dark wash and then the intermediate (greys and pale colours) which always have a colour catcher in.
As for fabrics I tend to mix most and use washing nets for more delicate items.

Towels stay together whatever colour they are and are done on a boil wash. Blacks and dark blues are done together at 40 degrees. Everything else is bunged in together and done at 40 degrees. Having said that, I don't own anything that is red. If I did, I don't think I'd dare bung that in with everything else!!

I never mix colours. It's not worth the risk. Whites, darks, pastels and colours. New jeans also get washed the first time on their own to make sure they don't run. I'm a dog groomer and I never wash my work clothes with anything else because the hair gets everywhere xx

Better not to mix but if you have to wash at low temperatures

It depends on what it is, for older, more scruffy clothes I'm not bothered about risking mixing whites in with colours, with the clothes I do want to keep looking their best I keep whites separate and have a light load and a dark load, or I just wash all the colours together on a lower temperature. I always wash anything new that is an intense colour on its own on a quick wash before risking it with other clothing items.

Chuck everything in together except whites. Job done.

I keep a three sectioned laundry bag, whites, brights and darks.
Towels and bed linen go in a separate laundry bag as I like to make sure they are washed at a higher temp.

I keep colours and white clothes in separate bundles for separate washes on different cycles and don't mix them! It's impossible though not to have the odd occasion when things shift from one pile to another! Well...in my house at least! :)

I wash darks on a lower temperature and try to keep whites together and put them on a hotter cycle.

Everything goes in together in this house, I had to stop caring about it when I went back to work full time and DH took over the lions share of the housework.
I do take care with new dark clothes as I never know how colour fast they are, for at least their first wash!

good whites by themselves with no colourex trims, old whites with Beiges and pales then a dark, a blue green and a pink red purple wash. I love hanging out colour coordinated laundry!

I have separate laundry boxes for lights / whites, colours and my boil wash, so everything is sorted as it’s put into the utility room. I just look at which box is fullest to decide which load to put on in general.

I have a new 10kg machine but, still split into white, lights and darks. I wash the fleece onsies separately from other things but only because of their size/bulk and will mix the towels and bedding together if necessary to make a load but, I will also put the towels in with the whites or lights (colour dependent). I wash my jeans separately because they are a no fabric conditioner wash and will put in the microfibre sports towels with them for the same reason. I do use Colour Catchers if I really need to mix a load or if I feel uneasy about something and once forgot and had a big laundry fail.
I've also started to use laundry detergent specifically for dark clothing to try to stop colour loss in the darks.
Most fabrics are mixed (colour dependent) but, I would be a little more careful with wool or silk - in fact, hand washing might even happen with silk!

Everything goes in together and we never wash at higher than 40 degrees :)

I like the ol whitening sachets when I do a load of whites, but I keep the temperature nice n low, and usually wash a lot of my other things (like my throws) by hand. I have a proper old fashioned washing board and I find it gets stains out better than anything!

And I do love to use Fairy, mainly because of my kids sensitive skin and how lovely it always smells, I'm pretty loyal to this brand, when its on offer! x

New jeans are washed separately the first three or four times as they seem to be the worst offenders of sharing their colour with other clothes (bitter experience!). Other than that, I mix colours and whites on a 30° or 40° wash without any problems. Wool and other hand wash items go on a special cycle and towels (which form a full load by themselves) are washed separately too.

I’ll mix if the darks are synthetic and have been well washed already