In the interest of conserving energy and utility money, which clothing items can I get away with washing in cold water?
I should note that since I’m a cheapskate in other areas too my laundry detergent of choice is Giant Bucket of Laundry Powder store brand. Also my washing machine is about 15 years old and typical of that time.
My typical laundry loads consist of;
Work jeans, sometimes dirty sometimes not. I can treat dirty areas with Shout.
Work shirts, heavy cotton, as above.
Socks and underwear.
Bath towels.
Kitchen towels.
Everyday wear, jeans and t-shirts.
Lounge wear, cotton t-shirts, cotton shorts, cotton pj pants.
Workout wear, synthetic shorts, shirts, wind pants, etc…
AFAIK you can wash any of that in cold water. Bear in mind that hot water cleans better, so you’ll want to wash anything really dirty on at least “warm”. Also, cold water may not fully dissolve powder detergent, so you may need to dissolve it in a little hot water before you add it.
Is your water heater electric or gas/propane? If it’s electric, which is expensive to run, then it may behoove you to try a better detergent. Check out something like Consumer’s Reports for their faves; I don’t recall what the results were this year. But spending a little more on detergent may enable you do get good results with cold water.
If you have a gas/propane water heater, than it’s probably more economical to stick with the cheap detergent and heat the water when you need it for cleaning power.
But to answer the question, if you’re using a pretreater, than you can easily get away with warm for everything, and can probably do cold for all but the most filthy stuff. So you sort the filthy stuff into the same load, and do that on warm and other stuff on cold.
I do socks and underwear on hot, because I have the vague niggling sense that it might kill fungus and bacteria better, but I don’t have any proof that it has an effect. I don’t have any athlete’s foot or crotch rot in the house, though.
I disagree that hot water cleans better than cold water; and it’s also harsher on clothes. Also, depending on the stain, hot water will set it; and it (or it’s zombie shadow) will be there for life.
I wash everything in cold water, and add half a cup of white vinegar to the load - no athlete’s foot or crotch rot in this house either, WhyNot! (It also brightens whites, and added to the last rinse keeps clothes lint-free.)
As DCnDC says, Batfish, if you’re using a powder detergent for a cold water wash, dissolve it first. If you REALLY want to be a cheapskate, use one third of the amount of the washing powder, and add half a cup of baking soda. If you use bleach, baking soda increases the potency of it as well; so again, you can use much less.
OH! I forgot the biggest laundry tip I finally got through my thick skull. Don’t overload the washer. Seriously. You need room for the stuff to slosh around and get good ‘n’ wet. Give the water room to work.
Simply cutting my loads in half and reducing the detergent proportionately increased the clean factor of my clothes by 10. Yes, this uses more water overall, but water is cheaper than detergent here. And since I used to rewash a bunch of stuff anyhow, I really wasn’t even saving all that much water by overstuffing my machine!
I use cold for everything and also never separate laundry unless I have some new dark jeans or something that is likely to bleed. Everything comes clean just fine. I also make my own detergent using this recipe (but I recommend making a bigger batch than this). I use about a teaspoon of this detergent per load, and it works better than the commercial detergents, in my opinion.
I wash everything except things that are REALLY dirty (I mean, like, something a cat peed on - I wash my work pants from the zoo with everything else) on cold. I do put towels on hot, but that’s just because we really kind of go too long between washing towels.
I, too, wash underwear, white cotton socks, and towels on hot with bleach. Everything else can be washed on cold. I use vinegar instead of fabric softener, and the clothes rarely are clingy. I also use washing soda in sheets and towels along with the detergent. I’ve never tried baking soda, though. I imagine it’s close to washing soda.
My daughter does everything in a couple big loads, unsorted for the most part. She wouldn’t wash a nice t-shirt with jeans, for example. The rubbing of the heavy denim against a lightweight t-shirt would really shorten the life and affect the appearance of the t-shirt. I do notice, however, that her white stuff is a dingy bluish gray, but they’re not my clothes so it’s not my place to say anything.
I do sheets, towels and washcloths on hot, and that’s because my dermatologist told me that I’d do better my my acne by washing the pillowcases on hot once a week. True or not, it’s what I’ve done for years. And since I’m washing them on hot, I put the rest of my sheets and my towels/washcloths in at the same time.
Thanks kayaker, I’m not sure you’re the expert I’m looking for.
Of course it is, I was trying to appear simple to evoke sympathetic answers. I almost went with “laundressess” but decided sharp things might fly my way if I did.
Yes, me too. I do wash socks and underwear on hot and towels.
And yet, Mom, here we are…
Thanks everyone for your replies.
I’ve always washed everything except underwear and towels on warm. Until recently when I considered that today’s modern detergents are supposed to work on cold too. The only problem I noticed was I had to rewash some dirty jeans. I decided to ask some advice. I may look into some less expensive liquid detergent.
The vinegar additive interests me, I’ve actually used that before on a load of smelly towels or something.
That may depend on your washing machine. My consumers magazine tested this in 2011.
They tested washers with a capacity of 5, 6, 7 or 8 kilo’s of laundry. The bigger the washer, the less water and electricity it uses per kilo of laundry, but only if it is filled to maximum capacity.
When 3 washers were tested how clean they got the laundry when packed full, it didn’t make a difference for the washing part of the cycle. Rinsing differed, favouring the less full washers. Centrifuging just differed from brand to brand.
I do bed sheets and pillowcases in hot - the bed linen and towels because this was recommended to me by both an allergist (kill dust mites) and a dermatologist (skin issues).
Everything else goes in cold. I used liquid detergent or Woolite, depending on what I’m washing, and rarely pretreat unless there’s a special issue, and everything almost always gets perfectly clean. If I have an especially stained/dirty load I’ve found the Tide stain remover ‘power packs’ are a godsend. (They work far better than anything else I’ve ever tried.)
I admit, I am anal about separating towels from jeans from whites from colors from delicates. I’m a bit obsessive that way. I do a lot of small loads. Most of them end up being cold water loads.
Really, though, if you’re not concerned about allergies, etc. any piece of clothing that is safe to wash in water can be washed in cold, especially if you use liquid detergent.
Full, yes, but not overfull. My washer has weights listed on it, but I would far exceed the recommended weight ('cause who the heck weighs their laundry, unless they’re paying someone by the pound to do it?!). Turns out my washer thinks “full” is about half of what looks visually full to me (which would often include cramming stuff down a little tighter to fit just three more pair of jeans in this load.) Full is good. Overfull is not.
Can’t remember where I found the info, but it’s the thing to use on fabrics that you’re not supposed to use fabric conditioner on, such as towels and anything that has lycra/spandex in, and it actually works!
