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Anyone got any ideas for washing handkerchiefs

(7 Posts)
Notagranny44 Tue 25-Aug-26 13:50:08

I've just been filling in a survey on my local council's waste management strategy and it has made me wonder how we can reduce our use of single-use items.
I always seem to have a runny nose and/or phlegmy throat, so use quite a lot of tissues. I would happlily move to using handkerchiefs, but have early unpleasant memories of washing them before my Mum had a washing machine!
Would soaking them before washing in a bucket of salty water or bio wash powder mean that I could just put them in the machine to get them clean.
Any thoughts anyone?

Septimia Tue 25-Aug-26 13:54:50

At home I usually make do with a piece of kitchen roll but like to have a proper hanky when going out, so I use them frequently.

I soak them overnight in bio liquid or powder and then they come out of the machine nice and clean even after a 30degree wash.

valdali Tue 25-Aug-26 13:55:48

I use a mixture of Hankies & tissues I'm like you, very phlegmy in summer.
Soak them in washing powder solution (cool), rinse then wash them with the rest of the load is what I do.

MT62 Tue 25-Aug-26 14:01:25

Just put them in a bucket of Milton solution, or unbranded sterilising solution. Then I would wash In one of those net bags (mine end up in the rim) with your whites.

grannyjan2 Tue 25-Aug-26 14:10:50

I read of a machine cleaning regime somewhere, involving soda crystals on a 90º wash cycle. So I do this every 3 months or so and put the hankies, as they are, in for that cycle.
2 jobs in one.
I needed to have enough hankies to see me through that long.

Sarnia Tue 25-Aug-26 14:30:32

Back in the 1950's when I helped my Granny with the washing she had an old saucepan which was kept just for boiling handkerchiefs. She added a chunk of Sunlight soap to the water and let it simmer for an hour or two before rinsing.
I'm sure times have changed since those days, Notagranny44 but you have brought back a fond memory of post-war wash days.

dalrymple23 Tue 25-Aug-26 14:35:10

I inherited my mother's preserving pan - the only thing I have ever used it for is boiling handkerchiefs!