How do you wash towels and sheets?

[gayl]

I wash everything in cold water and hang to dry 9 months out of the year.

 

[Nemo2]

I wash everything in cold water and hang to dry 9 months out of the year.

Wow..that's a long time to have clothes on the line.

 

[W2R]

I wash everything in cold water and hang to dry 9 months out of the year.

Wow..that's a long time to have clothes on the line.

No viruses on THOSE sheets by the time she brings them in! Just friendly jokin', gayl, nothing bad meant.

 

[rodi]

I wash everything on cold. I add vinegar in the rinse. When weather allows, I line dry in the sun.

Vinegar also helps the sheets/towels not get as "crunchy" (stiff) from the line drying.

Between the detergent, vinegar rinse, and disinfecting sunshine I thing the towels and sheets come out sanitized.

 

[harllee]

I wash my sheets and towels with hot water and a little detergent and I dry them on hot.
That's they way I have always done it since I have been married (48 years) and that is the way my age 90 mother does it--she said it is the way to kill the germs. I did not realize there was any other way. My sheets and towels last forever. I think I last bought some 15 years ago.

 

[RE2Boys]

towels and whites: detergent and warm water, rinse cold.

colored: detergent and cold water.

sheets same as above. everything goes with second rinse as our son seems to be sensitive to any detergent residue.

Dryer: synthetics on medium, everything else on high heat.

 

[iloveyoga]

I have washed in cold water with Tide for years, in a very old washing machine.

No issues here.

 

[Rianne]

Good comments. After obsessive research the dryer is the important part of killing germs. And cleaning the washing machine with bleach periodically by running a cycle without clothes, just bleach and water. Drying clothes completely at a high temp for at least 28 minutes does the trick.

 

[iloveyoga]

Good comments. After obsessive research the dryer is the important part of killing germs. And cleaning the washing machine with bleach periodically by running a cycle without clothes, just bleach and water. Drying clothes completely at a high temp for at least 28 minutes does the trick.

Yes to all of the above!

 

[Amethyst]

I do. They smell great when they come in.

In fact I hardly ever use the dryer, unless it's raining.

I figure any germ that survives the wash cycle, plus the tea tree oil which I add, deserves to live.

My mother used to hang the sheets out in the sunshine to dry, which probably helps to sanitize them too. I never do that myself.

 

[rk911]

Soap is good enough IMO. It’s not like you are doing hospital laundry.

+1. we've had three sets of sheets for years and alternate them. each set is washed with tide in hot water. no loss of elasticity or comfort.

 

[davebarnes]

Soap is good enough IMO.

Soap is horrible. Lots of fat in soap.
Use detergent.

 

[badatmath]

Never occurred to me to NOT use hot water don't you need that to kill dust mites? I have horrid allergies - wash everything in hot.

 

[audreyh1]

Soap is horrible. Lots of fat in soap.
Use detergent.

Well, excuse me for calling laundry detergent soap.

 

[Rianne]

Never occurred to me to NOT use hot water don't you need that to kill dust mites? I have horrid allergies - wash everything in hot.

The dryer will kill dust mites too. But hot water helps. It makes me think of ticks. The dryer kills ticks, not the washing machine.