Hello Dear Reader,
I'm writing in the response to the email you sent me about 'laundry and what temperatures to wash things'. Firstly, thanks for taking the time to get in contact and that's a question that will be well debated.
I think what I'm about to write is generic but you wrote and asked and I'll take the time to answer.
DB and I have 'front line services' public sector jobs where we are expected to present ourselves smartly and be clean and tidy. That means we have to wear decent clothes, keep them clean and have them pressed and looking smart. Neither of us do 'dirty' jobs and that means our clothes can have a quick wash and freshen up as they haven't really got dirty and neither of us are particularly 'hot and bothered' so a quick wash will do.
Our washing machine will wash at 20 degrees C and that's the setting we use. I also use the quick wash of one hour and I use a much smaller dosage of laundry liquid. I use Ecover as I can take my bottle to the local shop and get a refill which saves me money and the same container gets used over and over again.
I don't use biological soaps but will use the laundry liquid neat on a mark or stain or just rub a bar of soap over it and then leave it to soak if it's stubborn. I don't use biological simply because I don't feel we need it as we don't have dirty jobs. If we did, it might be different.
Our weekend clothes are a different matter. We don't get them dirty either but we don't have to be the 'public face' at the weekend and these clothes can we worn longer, don't need to be washed that often so we wear them just for the weekend and if they're not dirty or smelling of cooking, then they will go back in the wardrobe to be worn again.
Some items get a hotter wash. I wash towels once a week as I hang them up to dry after use. On a sunny day, they go onto the 'clothes horse' in the back porch with the windows open to dry off and get taken to the bathroom and used again for the rest of the week. In the winter, they get a dry in front of the fire and used again. At the end of the week, they get changed as do the bed sheets and get a hotter wash at 60 degrees with a little more liquid soap and a slightly longer rinse as they've had nude bodies in them and dried them for the past week. Underwear gets washed separately and usually in a 'delicate' cycle.
Everything I possibly can gets line dried, a few things get dried in front of the wood burner in the damp season and the very occasional thing goes in tumble drier but that is rare.
So, no I don't use biological, I only light wash/freshen our work clothes, our weekend clothes get worn again and only towels and bedding get a hot wash.
Now, over to you Dear Reader. You might have a different opinion. Is it more effective and therefore cheaper to use biological? Do you have a job where you have to look clean and smart which means you have to change clothes daily and keep them clean? I think most staff have high standards and laundering clothes has a cost so how do you keep it to a minimum?
I look forward to your opinions.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxx
