What temp are you supposed to wash clothes?

r/

Been living alone for over 10 years and always washed clothes on cold cycle. Never even occurred to me to use any other temps.

Just got married and about to be living with a woman for the first time. I don’t want to fuck her clothes up if I’m doing a load.

Am I doing this wrong?

Comments

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  2. cluelessinlove753 Avatar

    Ask

    For the rest of your marriage, that will continue to be the answer. Communicate directly.

  3. beseeingyou18 Avatar

    30C will do for your clothes unless they are heavily stained.

    Bedding, towels, etc. 40C-60C depending on what the label says.

    Source: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/nov/21/washing-low-temperature-console-table

  4. Bourbon_Buckeye Avatar

    Cold is better for the materials and for energy use, if it’s doing a good enough job getting rid of odors and stains. Modern detergents seem to do a great job, regardless of the temp.

    I also like to dry on the low settings. Heat, in general, is not great for fabrics.

  5. Mandr0n Avatar

    Cold is pretty much always acceptable.

  6. Fun-End-2947 Avatar

    We’re a 30 degree C house (86f)

    Anything lower feels like were cheating ourselves out of that good ~30 degree activated enzymes, anything more feels like we’re burning electricity for no good reason

    The biggest consideration is how you dry your clothes.. old washer/dryer combis usually end up implanting a musty smell in clothes that might not fly for a new person coming in to your household, and you’re probably nose blind to it if you’re in this situation

  7. cinic121 Avatar

    With the evolution in color safe detergents, cold is fine. In the past, whites in hot water and darks in cold water.

  8. blue-flight Avatar

    I think you have to use “perm press” for women’s clothes. Idfk…

  9. OddTheRed Avatar

    I always wash mine cold. It saves on energy costs because you don’t have to heat the water. Modern detergents compensate really well for the slight decrease in solubility that occurs in cold water.

  10. EngineerBoy00 Avatar

    As a man happily married for a quarter of a century my advice about a wife’s laundry is as follows:

    • first, try to negotiate away any responsibility for her laundry, not in a lazy way but in a “stay out of that minefield” way.
    • if you end up doing her laundry, get absolutely clear and unambiguous instructions about exactly and precisely how each piece is to be handled. I am not joking.
    • do not attempt to give any advice on how her laundry might be handled more efficiently.

    I’m retired and through an iterative process my wife and I have developed a system where I can help with her laundry without triggering any mines, as follows:

    • we use a multiple basket system where different colored baskets represent different handling of her garments.
    • garments in the blue basket can be washed together in cold (hence the blue coloration) and run through the dryer.
    • garments in the red basket can be washed together in warm and run through the dryer.
    • garments in the pink basket should be washed and dried separately from all other garments.
    • the final basket contains items whose handling is so complex, opaque, and/or important that I am not, nor ever will be, qualified to decode the procedures, risks, and contingencies related to successfully laundering them correctly. I leave this basket alone.

    My clothes? Every, single garment gets washed and dried together, and virtually all of it is wrinkle free/resistant.

    Vaya con dios, my friend.

  11. HandaZuke Avatar

    There should be a tag in your garments that has symbols. There’s an app that will tell you what they all mean including what temperature to wash them.

    Generally I default to cold water but it’s worth knowing what they recommend too.

  12. Rlyoldman Avatar

    My wife and I have a deal. If it can’t be washed in cold and it comes out of the dryer wrinkled, it goes in the circular file.

  13. JakeDuck1 Avatar

    I do tap cold for everything unless it’s freezing outside then I use warm because water that cold doesn’t break down the tide pods and I get streaks

  14. codeegan Avatar

    Talk with her about how she thinks it should be done. But, cold is best for color items. Delicate things check label. Whites in hot.

  15. goinupthegranby Avatar

    I’ve never washed clothing on anything other than cold mostly because using hot water is a nonsense waste of energy which has both an environmental impact as well as an impact on my wallet.

  16. SectorNo9652 Avatar

    Why not ask her so you learn what she likes??

    But if you used your brain, you’d know that a warmer temp can kill more germs/ take more dirt out.

    I avoid it w blacks so they stay dark longer. You kno, common sense.

  17. Numerous_Teacher_392 Avatar

    I wash everything on Warm. That’s one decision I don’t figure is worth sweating. 🤣

    But women but shit I never would. Like, if it says, “Dry Clean Only”, or “Hand Wash Only, Line Dry”, i don’t own it.

    You never know what stuff she has and what time-consuming maintenance it requires.

    I mean, I have a Jeep as a toy, and some fancy bird guns, so I can’t really complain.

  18. Ok-Needleworker-419 Avatar

    You can’t screw it up with cold. If you have to do a load and she’s not available to answer, cold is a safe bet.

    I personally only wash my bed sheets and towels on hot.

  19. spaceporter Avatar

    Cold water is fine. You might want to wash sheets on hot though. You also should consider buying a cold water soap as it’ll bubble better on cold water. 

  20. magickpendejo Avatar

    Never even thought about hooking up the hot water to the washer.

  21. DrDirt90 Avatar

    If you can use a smart phone you can learn to do laundry.

  22. chease86 Avatar

    A lot of clothes have the idea wash temperature on the label along with other instructions for cleaning them, if it doesn’t say on the label then just ask.

  23. UpOrDownItsUpToYou Avatar

    My wife and I put everything in together and wash it all cold. If we want to get a stain out, we usually use Dawn or soak the stain with regular laundry detergent for a week or so. If that doesn’t work we shrug and move on.

    The only down side to this plan is that hot water is better for white clothes, but the amount of hassle saved is well worth it.

  24. overmonk Avatar

    Cold by default is great. Drying is where things shrink. Whites alone in a load – no colors. Don’t ever risk it.

    Read labels.

  25. Contemplating_Prison Avatar

    I wash all my clothes on cold because they last longer and keep their size longer.

    I hang dry most of my clothes as well.

  26. SnooChipmunks2079 Avatar

    Cold will not hurt anything. I wash everything on cold because most of the disinfecting of laundry happens in the dryer.

    Your wife may have a different opinion. If you don’t know and are washing her laundry, use cold.

  27. AutomaticFeed1774 Avatar

    tumble drying is what fucks clothes, the heats are very high. washing temp doesn’t really matter. cold or 20 – 30 degrees c, maybe a bit higher for bedding or if you shit your pants.

  28. morbidangel27 Avatar

    All of our clothes. Mine. Hers. Kids. Get tossed in and washed on cold. Dried. Thr only caveat is that I want fold things that don’t look like shirts, pants, shorts. Or hang anything up. She has her system.

  29. Routine_Mine_3019 Avatar

    Read the back of the detergent bottle and the labels on your clothes.

  30. RepeatAggravating524 Avatar

    Pretty much cold water is all you need.

  31. Legal_Delay_7264 Avatar

    Cold is fine with a cold rated washing liquid.

    Don’t wash her delicates with your thick work clothes, or clothes with Velcro. 

  32. celery-mouse Avatar

    I mean, ask, but also pretty much all clothing directly says how to wash it on the label, which is really helpful. But you’ll almost never go wrong washing stuff on cold unless it isn’t supposed to be machine washed at all. It’s hot that can cause issues, and some things you can’t put in the dryer. I always just wash everything on cold.

  33. Cereaza Avatar

    The answer use to be warm for whites and cool for colors. Most detergents are much better, but that rule of thumb still remains. I run everything on luke warm term.

  34. Pit-Viper-13 Avatar

    Just tell her this. She will show you the way.

    If you want to look like a laundry pro though, check YouTube.