Am I the only one?

Well done Gonegirl and Blinko!

Greengran thanks for the reply - hope your operation was successful. Mine's for a double groin hernia repair - I've been putting it off for years.
We do need more bedding, might buy some cheap bottom sheets.
More relevant to the discussion - I started to use Ecover washing powder a few months ago. Soak soiled whites in cold water before washing, then @ 60 degrees.

My mum had a boiler. If she didn't send sheets etc to the laundry we'd have this boiler bubbling away filling the house with steam on Monday with the sheets and towels in it and the "little bag of blue".
I did try and defeat the crunchiness of some of my sheets by putting them on the hottest wash. They're still really spiky and the jarring creases can only be defeated if ironed wet.
If you have new dark new clothes try steeping them in very salty water overnight. It does help hold the colour a bit.
I seem a bit stuck on the 40℃, no good reason, habit?.... I will use 30℃ from now on!

Does anyone know how to get out what appear to be rust stains on a white cotton duvet cover? I have no idea how they got there!

Millie22. I still have enough for the children to stay! You have made me think - possibly a trip to the charity shop?

MawBroonsback. Yessss! Well, some have died, very sadly as we know, but nobody ever blamed the way the laundry was done!
I am the shocker of GNet and probably will no longer be regarded as "safe to go near" when I make this admission....
All my dogs come to bed with me =5
I said it very quickly so it wouldn't be as bad.
They decided they needed to be with me after a very bad thing happened and I got PTSD.
I don't know if I could sleep in the house on my own if they weren't on the other side of the bed. Not after that and especially not after something else that happened more recently.
I wash all the bedding including the duvet (mine-single) once a week. The dogs are washed about once a fortnight and rubbed over with those special wipes each night. They are very small dogs - smaller than cats.

Fennel. Crumbs! that sounds like a big ordeal! I have a silk sleeping bag liner. I don't know if that would have helped! Silk is supposed to be very good at not harbouring germs.

Wishing you all the best for your operation.

ReadyMeals Thanks for the information.

In my view, in the ordinary domestic setting, provided none present has a compromised immune system or open sores/ulcers, there is unlikely to be any ill effects from items of clothing, bedding, etc, being less than sterile. In a hospital/medical setting, of course, I do understand the need for much more stringent policies re washing clothes and bedding. Having said that, I have seen nurses wearing their uniforms while going to and from their places of work which seems less than hygienic to me.

There has been much more concern about people becoming ultra-anxious about germs, resulting, I think, from the alarmist marketing campaigns of producers of chemical cleaning products. It has recently been said that if children are not exposed to some germs they are more likely to develop allergies and respiratory problems.

Elvive. I just adore the smell of fresh laundry off the washing line! I think that's what is getting me down about all this rain! I have had to go ahead and do the washing and will just have to hang it up indoors. No delicious fresh smell.

Eloethan. "There has been much more concern about people becoming ultra-anxious about germs," I agree! I just do not understand it! The thing that made me aware of the "new" fear of germs was when my third child was born 40+ yrs ago, and everybody was fanatical about wiping their baby's hands and face all the time, not just nappy change time.

There was a TV sketch about a young mother whose devoted father was always pandering to her regarding her baby and her over-the-top hygiene standards, wasn't there? I remember the father of the baby bringing a new baby buggy into the house for her and she and her father threw it away because the wheels were dirty or something!

I got it too Llamedos13.. It took me a couple of minutes to figure it out.
Nonnie
I always turn everything inside out to wash. It prevents clothes from fading. It really does. I wash almost everything on 40 and undies on 50. I always put a Dr.Beckmann Colour & Dirt collector sheet in the drum with the clothes each wash. It's amazing the colour and dirt they collect!

petra
the little critturs are probably still lurking on the bed even if the bed linen is washed - unless you use an insecticide regularly, like my friend. (I don't).

Fennel, I have just realised why the 5 sets of bedding was mentioned- I hope all goes well.

Towels, tea towels at 60 degrees, my sheets , duvet covers have 40 degrees on the label other clothes are washed either at 40 degrees or 30 degrees depending on what the label says.

Pretty well everything at 30 degrees. If there is soiling such as bolognese sauce I massage Surf liquid bio into the stain, leave it for a very short while (otherwise it digests the colour of the garment) and then wash on 40 or 50 degrees. I always use Surf liquid bio.

Good grief- I'm just off to lie down in my germ ridden bed at the thought of all these washing machines whirling away on a high heat.

Don't think I'd fancy animals in my bed. Well unless it was.....

annodomini 'how many times have we have this thread?' I wouldn't know, I've never seen it before.

When I was a student nurse we had a lecture from the hospital's Infection Control Nurse who advised us to wash our towels, especially bath towels, at 60C to kill all the bum bacteria (those were her very words). She also advised us to wash tea towels at 60C as well, to kill any salmonella and other such bugs, especially if we use them to actually dry the dishes. Bedding, especially the bottom sheet, she also advised should be washed at 60C to not only kill the bum bacteria, but also any bed bugs! This was not that many years ago, but back in the early 2000s. She also explained that she it is who has to visit the local authorities swimming pools to test the water there to make sure that the chlorine is killing off any bug that may come from the bodies that swim in it.

We were taught that the hotter the wash the whiter the clothes, plus sun has a bleaching affect. Nothing to do with bugs. All my linen is white, so it gets 90c ? everything else according to colour. The only thing that gets 30c is delicates, silk, wool, cashmere, etc. And they also get washed in wool and silk wash.
I will admit to no longer starching.

I need to up my game I think - being too old fashioned.

I wash everything at 40 degrees.

Eloethan I am glad you brought that up about the school of thought that says children are not exposed to enough dirt these days because we are too clean. In fact I think we are less clean than a century ago. In the old days things were washed with water and carbolic, tables were scrubbed, many types of clothes were boiled. These days most things just get a quick wipe with some product, and I'd be very surprised if contact was maintained long enough for the product to perform its advertised cleansing. Apart from which, a quick wipe doesn't remove most of the residue that provides the food for the next wave of germs to take up residence a few minutes later. I'd really love to see some scientific comparative studies using homes that agreed to use early 20th century methods against a modern home and see which really was more clean.

I also wash at 60 degrees on whites and bedding . Each to their own as long as it’s clean .

"Llamedos", I've seen a couple of houses named this.

Years and years ago I twigged why those houses were called Llamedos. It is a very clever username too.

I use the cold cycle on the washing machine with a detergent specifically made for cold water. It saves about
15 lbs of carbon emissions per load and cuts your energy use. I dry clothes naturally and very rarely use the dryer.

Quick wash for all darks..... neither if us is in employment ... don’t sweat excessively.... and most things just need a ‘quick wash’. Bedding and towels at 60*. White cottons 60* and once a month 90*.