What laundry rules do you follow or ignore? Share with Fairy Non Bio for a chance to win a £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

With laundry stacked high and always increasing, it can be tempting to break even the most basic of laundry rules in order to keep on top of the task. Fairy Non Bio would like to hear about the rules you implement (or ignore!) when you’re doing the laundry.

Here’s what Fairy has to say: “We want to know what’s important to you. Have you found a way to save time? A way to get the best stain removal? A way to keep clothes huggably soft? Or even just a way to not lose matching socks! We would love to hear your tricks of the trade.”

What’s your perspective on laundry rules? Either way, Fairy Non Bio wants to know. Do you obey temperature regulations or simply stick everything in at 40? Perhaps you’re the kind of person who avoids overfilling and never fails to air-dry fine fabrics. Or, maybe you fill the machine to the brim and adopt a one size fits all approach to drying that would make manufacturers weep. Whatever they may be, divulge your laundry indiscretions.

Share the rules that you follow and those you ignore 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 have separate dark, brights & white washes. Use different detergents for different washes. Never use fabric softener. Dry sportswear, underwear & tights on a drying rack, most others in the drier. Use the hand wash cycle for delicates. I don’t overstuff as it makes things more creased. Now I need to put a load of washing on.

When I'm with it (less than half the time seemingly currently!) I put a wash in in the evening and set the timer so it's ready in the morning.
Can't beat the old fashioned vanish bar for baby poo stains

I avoid overfilling as you can damage your washing machine, they clothes cannot roll around and have chance to clean thoroughly and they detergent capsule does not always have chance to disperse properly.
My rules are separate colours, and for small mixed washes (school uniform etc) wash on 40 with a colour catcher.
For good stain removal I add salt to my watch and find a really good idea is to add meat tenderiser powder to the stain (blood and poo) - works a treat.
The one rule I stick to is washing underwear on a 60 degree was,and keep it separate from other laundry.
I use a deep cleaning cycle once a month to keep the machine healthy clean inside.

I normally separate lights and darks, we generally have more farms but I can make up a lights load weekly.

My other absolute must is that I have always have washed my bras. No risking wired coming out in the machine! If I wear tights they're handwashed too.

I don't do a dedicated maintenance wash with the machine empty but do towels on the hottest wash every 10 days or so which helps keep.the machine sweet.

I tend to ignore most labels - apart from my husband's stuff - and just bung it all in on 30 if it's not too dirty :D

Every day I bung everything in at 40 . No time to separate whites. I include hand wash and dry clean only. Then its on the radiator to dry or outside in the rare event of sunshine

When Monday comes around I tend to have a big heap of laundry to get through in our household of five, I make sure I separate into lights and darks as there's nothing worse than a white shirt with a pink tinge, I do tend to put most loads on at 40, however towels I put on a seperate hot wash, for delicate items I tend to wash with one of two other similar items and use my machine delicate wash setting ( Thank heavens for options) My machine also gets used for washing lunch bags and dirty trainers ( in a washable trainer bag)
As for the problem of washing socks well I haven't solved that one yet and always have a container full of odd socks than sometimes never find their partner again

I always separate pale and dark clothes and then a white one. That’s about the only rule I follow. Everything goes on a 40 wash apart from oh’s work clothes(manual job) which goes on a hotter wash.

Seems to do the job and have not wrecked a item yet.

I separate light and dark colours but do not worry too much about the materials and I machine wash delicates

everything goes on a pre set daily wash and rarely gets separated unless getting washed for the first time

The better weather arriving reminds me that the sunshine is the absolute best way to remove stubborn stains. Wash as normal and then hang to dry in full sunlight for the stain to vanish, literally into thin air! No need for stain removers and all that fuss.

I have to admit I only seperate out dark colours when the clothes are new and normally only if they are jeans! I put most of the normal clothing items in on 40 and if they don't survive they aren't worth keeping! I do towels on 90 and bedding on 60. The white school tops are my biggest grievence and I wash them once a week with any white work shirts with a bucket full of stain remover (or thats how much it feels like) and they have stayed much whiter this way.
Even if it says dry clean only I often put it in the washing machine on a delicate wash! Ha!

As poster said above sunshine is the best way to remove stains. I left a baby vest pegged out on the line over the weekend with a food stain on it that wouldn’t come out and I checked the vest yesterday and the stain has gone! 😮 I’m so impressed!
For washing I always use Fairy and put on a 40degree wash. Towels are separate and go on at 60. I do a wash every few days as I have a baby and he goes through a lot of clothes! I like the clothes to smell nice so I’m always changing conditioners and looking for tips on here!

I do separate my white items out, but other than that I just wash everything together.

I stick most of my laundry on a 40 wash but I do clean my machine regularly by adding calgon and will sometimes use a delicate care wash for my husbands wool jumpers and so far I've not had any disasters.

There's a whites load, then light colours, then dark colours, then towels, then bedding. No more than five loads a week, usually one a day if I can be organised. Clothes wash at 30 or 40 on the long economy cycle, with half the recommended amount of detergent and about 2/3rds the recommended amount of conditioner. If these products smell of lavender that's even better. Detergent is almost always big box powder since a a repair man once told me it's best for the machine. Will line dry on good days, have an indoor airer for the rest of the time. Don't have a tumble dryer though I pine for one and am rejigging downstairs to make room for one. Don't read labels, go by the feel of the fabric. Haven't ruined anything yet!

I always do light and dark washes!

Do not mix colours / whites, try to be eco-friendly, don't over-load - it never ends well!

I do mix colours and for dry clean only items I generally just wash them by hand

I try to wash in separate colour groups, but a lot of the time it just depends on what needs washing at the time and can fill the machine to capacity. So unless we have a lot of one particular colour/shade then it all gets bunged in together.

I use much less detergent than suggested, and top it up with soda crystals.

I have always hand washed my cashmere - until recently when I risked an old piece in the washing machine and it turned out fine. No more hand washing for me!

I separate whites, darks, reds and bright pinks, then greys (4 piles) whichever pile is biggest gets washed first. I wash bras in the machine on delicates but nothing in that wash except bras. I machine washed a cashmere cardy recently but wished I hadn't - the loose fibres bunged up the drain pipe and I needed a new machine :(

Most things go in at 40, with coloureds and whites separate. Towels and bedding done at 60.

My washing machine is much abused and so are all our clothes. I wash everything together, and overload the machine horribly. I’ve also yet to find any item of clothing or furnishing that will fit in a machine that is actually not machine washable .

We have a fantastic 15 minute cycle which is great for clothes that only need a light wash.
We don't own a tumble drier so we use airers in the winter and the washing line when it's not snowing or raining!
We try to wash everything in whites, colours & darks and put delicate items in zipped washing bags or a pillow case!
We don't use any fabric conditioner for our baby's clothes.
We are a non-bio household as my husband and baby have Eczema so we can't use bio washing powder.