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

very strict in my washing pile... darks, lights and whites! Never ever mix white with anything else, can't stand to see greying fabrics! Oh and lovely fairy fabric conditioner, discovered when my son was a baby 12 years ago and never looked back, smells so good!

I separate darks,lights and brights to wash separately.
If something is blue and red striped or blue and white striped I will wash it on its own for the first few washes,then after that put it in with the whites.

I was new jeans on their own a couple of times to be safe.

I just do a darks load and a lights load. Everything gets washed on a 30• quick wash.
I have never had any problems with running.

I do whites, then separate the coloured into darks and light colours.

Darks run, especially jeans if washed with very light colours it is noticeable.

But I separate colours mainly because it's as good a way to sort the washing as any other.

Dark wash, then whites and then colours. If the clothes are old then they tend to get thrown in together.

I have a 7 month old, so lots of washing. I do alternate days white and dark loads, both at 40 degrees and always use a colour catcher.

Daughter has bad eczema so only use fairy non bio and no fabric softener or drier sheets.

We try to wash whites separately but do throw whites and colours in together to make up a full load if required. We wash towels and bedding on a hotter wash than our clothes.

Always do whites only to stay white, the pinks/reds, blues/greys, dark colours as separate loads. Try and do one load per day to keep on top of it, had a baby four months ago and washing has almost doubled!

I have a clearly separate pile for whites... the rest just mostly gets thrown in together. If there's particular things I'm washing I may break it down further into lights and darks, otherwise I may throw in a colour catcher sheet and hope for the best!
I don't wash above 40 degrees.

Most of my clothes are so old and have been washed so many times the colours aren't at risk of running anywhere anymore! So I suppose that's a bonus...

I very rarely use a fabric conditioner, as I try to limit the amount of unnecessary products we buy and use (down both to costs, but also the environmental impact of the chemicals and packaging) however I do like to use a dollop when I wash our bedding as that 'clean sheets' feeling is one of lifes little luxuries and it's made so much nicer with a subtle lush scent!

We are a family of six and so finding a full load of colours that go together is fine!

Do you find that once colours have been washed once you can mix them with the lighter colours? - I never, ever mix colours and whites. I tend to do 3 categories of wash: dark colours, light colours, creams & whites.

Are there certain fabrics that you know can be easily washed together? - I'm less fussy about separating fabrics, apart from wool, which I always wash separately.

Or have you figured out a laundry system that means your dark colours no longer bleed into lighter clothes? - No, I never wash together.

Maybe you’ve had a laundry disaster that forced you to change how you did things? - I grew up always wearing grey whites, because there was no separation of anything - everything went in together. It used to bug me that all my lovely 80s white t-shirts were grey after the first wash, so as soon as I could, I learnt how you avoid that and did all my own laundry and have stuck with total colour separation ever since!!

Whites together and everything else at a low temperature (remembers the 60 degree wash where everything went green...)

I only ever separate my whites and colours. I haven't got time to be separating all my coloured items so I just bung them in together. I do always wash new denim items on there own the first few times but other than that I don't do anything special except using a colour catcher which always does a great job at stopping colours running.

Whites,
Blacks and Denim,
Coloured fabrics.
All at 40°.

I tend to do a separate washes for whites, darks and reds/pinks. Then I also have a 'blue' wash which consists of blues, denims, greens, yellows and purples. Anything particularly soiled or delicate will also be washed separately.

I do light and darks on separate washes as I have had too many school white polo shirt turn a dull grey colour where they've been washed with grey school trousers. I use glo white sachets from time to time to refresh white shirts and socks. All the dirty washing gets put into the same laundry bins and I just sort it into the machine at the time the washing is going on

I usually do a dark and a light wash. Sometimes, when clothes have been washed a few times, I do become more relaxed with this, but would never wash a white t-shirt with black jeans. I like my whites to stay crisp and fresh white!

I’m pretty good,
Lights, darks, reds/pinks

The one that drives me nuts are the navy and white striped things. Are they dark or light. And we have so so many variations of them in our house

I only separate whites and then everything else goes in together. If there's a new item I've not washed yet or something I'm worried might run then I'll chuck in a colour catcher. I tend to reuse them a few times.
I use vanish white with every white wash as I can't stand whites not being white!
I tend to wash everything at 40, as my DS is pretty mucky and 30 doesn't really do the job.
I've had a few disasters with red items particually so hence relying on colour catchers. It's always trousers, I don't know why but they run so much worse than everything else.

I use Dylon colour catcher with every wash unless it's an all white wash.They are very good. However I still separate white and light colours from the very dark colours. And any natural materials such as cotton that are a very dark colour will run every time you wash them without fail, so I wouldn't mix any of the 'lighter' dark colours with them. I try to wash dark colours at a low temperature of 30 degrees.

I'm afraid I never wash whites with anything other than whites. I like my cottons crisp, and my whites white. Nothing lower than a forty degree wash! I also try and put likes together, so darks (greys, blacks, navy's etc) go in together, but something like reds (which we have quite a bit of in this house) get washed together, never with the darks.

I'm very careful about separating my colours and washing on the correct temperature. I have learnt to take my time an do this after many a shrunk top of miss coloured item has come out of the machine.

Whites
Reds and similar
Blacks and very dark fabrics
Everything else, typically blues and Grey's

Robust stuff that can be tumble dried usually goes in a full load. More delicate stuff goes in a smaller load with similar weight items.

I separate if the clothes are new and going through a wash for the first time! other than that everything gets thrown in together

I do 3 main washes- whites, darks and in-betweens.
I know you can get colour catchers and mix but I'm too chicken. :)