The best washing tips: how to wash your laundry correctly
Especially when you are washing for the first time, it may not seem straightforward at first. But even if you have washed several times, you may already have experienced that your laundry has discolored or your whites later showed a gray film. Everything on the subject — the best washing tips and what you should consider when washing laundry — can be read in the following article. Of course, you should sort the laundry beforehand.
1. Pay attention to the color of the garments:
To avoid discoloration, it is important that you separate dark and light garments. Under no circumstances should you put both in the machine together. It is advisable to use similar shades. New red or black clothing in particular requires caution, as these items can bleed heavily. Ideally, wash light, dark and white laundry separately.
2. Different sensitivity of garments
Garments vary in sensitivity. Therefore you should always check the care instructions on the label inside the item. Depending on the material, different detergents are recommended. The wash cycle also plays a decisive role.
For example, you must not subject wool sweaters to a boil wash, as the sweater would no longer be wearable afterwards and you would have to dispose of it. Delicates can be permanently damaged by high temperatures or an incorrect detergent. You can find all relevant information on the respective labels.
3. Heavily soiled laundry
If your clothing is very soiled, it should also be sorted separately beforehand. Clothing with stubborn stains, such as red wine stains, should be put in the washing machine as soon as possible and you should not wait too long before washing. Otherwise the stain may dry in and removal becomes more difficult.
Alternatively, the stain can be well pretreated with specific products, e.g. gall soap, and then added to the rest of the laundry in the washing machine. For laundry that is extremely heavily soiled, you should also use the prewash program.
The best washing tips: how to load your washing machine correctly
When loading the washing machine it is important that you do not put too much laundry in and thus overload it, because otherwise the drum will have difficulty moving properly. At the same time it makes sense to fill the machine sufficiently so that electricity and water are saved, which also benefits the environment.
Our tip: there should still be enough space between the laundry and the drum for an upright hand to fit. This gives the laundry sufficient room to move and washing performance is optimal.
The best washing tips – How to choose the right temperature and program
The majority of washing machines include the following main wash cycles:
- Delicates
- Easy-care
- Colored / Boil wash
- Wool / Hand wash
These washing machine programs can also be practical:
- Drain
- Quick wash
- Spin
Which cycle is optimal for your laundry and how to wash your garments correctly can be determined by following the care instructions on the respective label.
Colored and boil wash:
Towels, dish towels, bed linen, cotton underwear and tablecloths belong to the robust linen and cotton fabrics. Therefore these can be washed as Colored or Boil wash at temperatures between 40 °C and 95 °C. For this reason the cycle is sometimes also called „Cottons.“ To make towels, baby clothes or underwear hygienically clean again, 60 °C is sufficient in most cases.
Easy-care laundry:
With this program you can wash a large portion of your clothing at 30 °C. This includes, for example, cotton sweaters, shirts, sweatshirts and long-sleeve tees. Textiles that can stretch due to elastane are also called blends (cotton + synthetic).
If you can no longer find a label on an item, you should try to estimate the temperature yourself. Cotton textiles can be washed at 40 °C or lower. If textiles are rather delicate, you should as a precaution wash them at 30 °C or on the hand-wash cycle.
If you are not sure at all, it is better to wash your laundry on the delicate cycle, since this generally does not harm the garments. Also keep in mind: a lower wash temperature additionally leads to energy savings.
Hand wash and wool:
Programs such as Hand wash are usually cold-wash cycles and should at most be washed at 30 °C. Fabrics such as silk or wool are well suited for these programs.
Because laundry on these programs is barely spun, it remains relatively heavy and wet at the end. For that reason it is better to dry the garments flat.
Depending on what material your laundry is made of, you must decide whether to wash it by hand or to use your washing machine with the hand-wash program. If you do not have much delicate laundry, it is better to wash it by hand, as this can save a great deal of energy.
Here you wash your delicate and fine textiles by hand, preferably in the sink. Depending on how sensitive the material is, the water should be lukewarm to cold and the sink about half full. After that you should add an ecological detergent. Here we can recommend the manufacturers Sonett, Sodasan or Almawin. Alternatively, you can also wash your laundry with organic soapnut shells, especially if you want to wash your laundry plastic-free.
Then let the dirty water drain away and refill the sink with clean water. Finally, the fabric should be very gently wrung out and laid flat to dry.
The best washing tips for delicates:
The delicate cycle, for example, is suitable for skirts, blouses and shirts, since these fabrics are usually very sensitive. They are then washed gently at 30°C. The delicate-wash cycle also applies to synthetic fabrics, bras or lace underwear.
For fabrics that are very fine, the drain-only program is excellent, because here the water is not spun out but merely pumped away.
There are also eco programs that take more time to wash but are significantly more economical in consumption. Because the laundry soaks longer in this program, the detergent works better. For that it does not require high temperatures.
Best washing tips – How to maintain your washing machine
When maintaining a machine, it is important that germs and bacteria have no chance to spread inside the machine. For this you must keep it clean at all times by:
- leaving the door open after washing so the machine can dry and mold formation is prevented.
- running the machine empty once a month at a minimum of 60°C.. Bacteria and germs are eliminated and bad odors are prevented.
- descaling the washing machine regularly – here you can, for example, use the AlmaWin washing machine cleaner.
These measures should be carried out regularly, otherwise germs and unpleasant odors will spread in the machine and the laundry will simply smell unpleasant.