Laundry tips and opinions which were requested:
Using fabric softener will make cotton feel clammy and greasy, and give it a mildewy smell. Fabric conditioning helps with staticky plastic fibres but isn't necessary for natural fibres! Just wash without. Never put it on towels, it stops their absorption powers. You can use a little bit of vinegar instead of fabric softener, it will have a mild smell when wet, dries odourless.
Line drying is less wear on clothes than dryer but live your life if you have no place to dry them!
Bedding needs to be washed super hot occasionally! Towels, too!
If your shirts smell terrible because you've been sweating into them, soak them in the sink with a cup of vinegar in room temperature water, rinse, wash normally. This kills a lot of mildew and helps break apart organic residue.
Liquid laundry detergent is silly! Just get detergent in powder form, you're spared the plastic bottles and no heavy liquids are ferried around.
Soap nuts are great if you're allergic to everything but soap nuts. They're not even nuts and are compostable!
A lot of the washing instructions are LIES. You can literally boil 100% cotton and it's fine! You'd be amazed how much dry clean only is not! Polyester and cotton will be just dandy in 60 Celsius - the manufacturers play it safe because some dyes fade in hotter temps. Cheaply made clothes may shrink, but if it's stinky, take the risk!
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe Re: stink, it's also worth periodically cleaning your washing machine - you can get cleaners that run through most of the mechanism, though discouraging mould and mildew on seals is a constant battle and why I hate front loaders. (Most mould killers - including stuff like white vinegar - will ruin the rubber of the seals, so it's hard to completely kill. You can use cloths or paper towel to soak up any excess water after you've used the machine so it dries faster, but then you have to remember to remove them...)
I used to clean mine every 6 months, or after washing anything particularly badly soiled or stinky.
@dartigen@aus.social If you wash bedsheets and towels at 70 Celsius or more, not all the time but every now and then, that tends to cook all the mould and mildew that is currently on there. There's a bunch of minerals and residue that will accumulate as well, depending on the hardness of the water and detergents used, so I've seen it recommended to wash the washing machine itself on an empty cycle with one of those citric acid tablets. It's not super great on the gaskets, seals and the unprotected axels of the drum, but every now and then should be fine. I've seen once a year recommended, but honestly can't remember the last time did, because I wash white towels with an oxidising powder detergent that tends to melt away everything accumulating on my machine. 😂
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe @dartigen@aus.social We wash the kitchen towels on 60C about every month or so (when we get a machine full) with dishwashing tablets, that cleans the machine out too (and disappears any stains on the towels completely, including years old ones). And replacing fabric softener with vinegar will cut back on the mold anyway.
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe Ah, yeah, I'm in a city with extremely hard water so that's probably why it's recommended here to do it more often.
I don't know if it's part of older washing machines, but I've never had a machine that had a hot setting higher than 60C. (I've also never had a brand new washing machine though.)
@dartigen@aus.social Probably depends on the region. Mine goes up to 95C and this has been the case for as many machines as I can remember.
I have the vague memory that in Japan most machines only go up to 50C, to save energy with that many people using them? A native Japanese person moved to Finland and reported that for the first time ever, his laundry always smelled fresh after washing!
@dartigen@aus.social Probably depends on the region. Mine goes up to 95C and this has been the case for as many machines as I can remember.
I have the vague memory that in Japan most machines only go up to 50C, to save energy with that many people using them? A native Japanese person moved to Finland and reported that for the first time ever, his laundry always smelled fresh after washing!
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe @dartigen@aus.social All washing machines I’ve had in Japan haven’t heated the water at all. Sometimes there’s been a hot water pipe that you can switch to and in that case you set the temperature on the the water boiler. Great for wool, but not so energy efficient to rinse in warm water for all other clothes. They’ve all been top loaders.
Front loaders have started to be popular in Japan as well, but if you just rent a less than a year each time you can’t invest in your own washing machine.
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe Weird, I'm finding that 60C, 40C, and either 20C or 30C (and then cold) are supposedly the standard temperature options here, but in most other countries there's also a 90C option. (Definitely didn't look into whether there's a way to enable the 90C option, or why we randomly don't have it...)
@dartigen@aus.social 60C is the lowest temperature that kills dust mites in bedding, which are an allergen and irritant to a lot of people while not strictly dangerous, so it's bizarre to me that not all machines go that high. I was shocked to learn the other day that there are gas powered dryers? You know, those things that just spontaneously catch fire sometimes if there's too much lint in them? Seems silly, but what do I know
@ahltorp@mastodon.nu @dartigen@aus.social Holy shit, that sounds absolutely bizarre! Cold water isn't enough to kill most microbial life that lives on our clothes after we wear them!
I have the vague idea that it's common to air dry laundry outside, which helps a little bit, but definitely explains that one dude's laundry gripes.
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe @ahltorp@mastodon.nu Not to mention that cold water won't remove greasy residue or stains...
There seems to be the thought that the soap is enough to kill everything, but it just doesn't.
Sini Tuulia
Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]
