Cold Washing your Laundry

1jeannie

:beer:I visited Australia 11 years ago and my Auntie used cold water all the time for all her washing and they were away ahead of us in the UK with recycling in fact if they did not use the correct bins they could be fined.
Saying that my Auntie used to hang her wash out to dry and by the time she hung it all out she started bringing it in again as it was already dry. Aussie sunshine. It also stopped cloths from fading in the sun if left out too long....
:j

angela110660 wrote: »

Last summer when my inlaws visited from NZ, sister in law said that she does all her washing (including undies and towels) in cold water soap. Saves on energy and is fully available over there. The clothes don't lose all their colour either.
Have tried to discover something similar here in UK but to no avail. Does anyone know about this stuff or use it here?
The amount of washing I do it would be so worthwhile.
Thanks.




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Diflower

Having read all this last week, I did my first ever cold wash today - hadn't even realised the wm had a cold setting!
I did king-sized mattress protector, some napkins (had elderly neighbour to dinner) and a no-longer-white bra.
Used half measure of liquid (M&S when they were selling it all v cheap) & half of washing soda.
Truly surprised, it's all cleaner than I'd have expected on a quick 40deg wash, the bra is now white again:)
Now plan on using this all the time, just towels on a 60deg maintenace wash, unless I notice anything not getting clean enough.

I did towels the other day on a 60deg wash, using half powder, half washing soda (hadn't used the soda before) and was impressed with that too.

skintbint_2

think i'll give this a try, i always steep my whites in the basin for a good half hour in boiling water with soda crystals then do a 40d wash with an odd 90d every now and again but will definately try a cold wash - have seen me in a hurry just doing a rinse and spin and never noticed that they were any the worse for it just put a tiny dash of washing powder in as it fills and spins about three times on the rinse cycle.
as for the dish cloths/cleaning cloths i give them a rinse in hot water wring them out then throw in the microwave for 30 seconds, do this every night to stop them going sour and kill the bugs.

parsonswife8

skintbint wrote: »

think i'll give this a try, i always steep my whites in the basin for a good half hour in boiling water with soda crystals then do a 40d wash with an odd 90d every now and again but will definately try a cold wash - have seen me in a hurry just doing a rinse and spin and never noticed that they were any the worse for it just put a tiny dash of washing powder in as it fills and spins about three times on the rinse cycle.
as for the dish cloths/cleaning cloths i give them a rinse in hot water wring them out then throw in the microwave for 30 seconds, do this every night to stop them going sour and kill the bugs.

My dish clothes/cleaning clothes go into a Milton solution for a few hours.

Try and dry them in the fresh air too.

skintbint_2

love drying my washing outside! always try and hang my towels out even in winter as my mum used to say the frost killed the bugs, have seen them frozen to the line (bearing in mind up here can go down as low as -5 or -6 on a normal winters night) they are just as wet when they come back in and when they've defrosted! but i know the are as fresh as they will ever be

lavender

To kill bed mites put pillows or bedding in the deep freeze for a time then you will not need to hot wash to kill them.:T

Nicoll

Just when I think I know all the handy tips on this site, along comes another one :j

I often use my quick wash setting which is 30degree but never thought of going for hot water off option. On my machine I can change the temperature on all washes so definately going to try that, especially with most of my clothes that I just wear sitting in the office so don't really get dirty anyway.

I currently use Lidl cheap tablets, just one per wash but might have to get some liquid wash as might not break up quick enough with cold water.

Thanks everyone for enlightening me yet again :T

irishwexford

My machine does not have a cold wash setting, the lowest is 'worn once' at 30 which I do try to use except for towels and bed linen. When I have to replace the machine I will make sure new one has cold wash. Some good tips on here, will try the microwave one for cleaning cloths.

Diflower

Nicoll wrote: »

Just when I think I know all the handy tips on this site, along comes another one :j

I often use my quick wash setting which is 30degree but never thought of going for hot water off option. On my machine I can change the temperature on all washes so definately going to try that, especially with most of my clothes that I just wear sitting in the office so don't really get dirty anyway.

I currently use Lidl cheap tablets, just one per wash but might have to get some liquid wash as might not break up quick enough with cold water.

Thanks everyone for enlightening me yet again :T

On the half hour wash I used liquid (half dose, plus half washing soda). Today I've done bedding, normal cycle but on cold, with 1 tablet + small amount washing soda. It's come out beautifully - I couldn't see that a 40deg wash would do anything a cold one wouldn't, so thought it worth a try.
Have also looked up bed bugs and it seems if you don't have them, then there's no point worrying. As for mites, no idea if there are any of those, I guess vaccuuming the mattress would help.
I can't believe I've lived all these years without knowing you could wash stuff in cold water:T

Cookiecrumble

I tried using a cold wash for the first time today, the load was a dark wash of tee shirts underwear and socks. Result - very disappointing I used liquid detergent and white vinegar. No vinegar smells but under arms of tee shirts still smelt sweaty so I washed the lot again at 40.:(