Laundry Hot or Cold, Clean and Green

Sheets, towels, socks and undies are always washed on hot. Usually with bleach. The rest of my laundry I usually wash on cold unless it is especially stinky or dirty then I use warm. I feel like cold is easier on the cloths so they last longer. May not be true, but it makes me feel better!!

I care about the environment, but I use warm (if not hot) for undies, sheets and towels, because I just am not sure about how clean they will be otherwise! Most other items I don't mind washing in cold water, being sure to separate whites from darks.

Just for fun, you could try washing everything (or everything you dare) in cold water for a month, and see if there's a difference in your utility bill. That can give you some idea how much energy you're saving as well.

This week I started trying out homemade laundry detergent, so I can't give an evaluation of it yet - except that it dissolves in cold water as well as warm (the stuff starts out as a slippery-looking gel), which is more than commercially-made powdered detergent does for me!

I end up doing all my clothes in cold, and the homemade detergent (check out thriftyfun.com for recipe--it's fast, cheap and easy. Really cheap) works great. If you have a particularly dirty, stained or stinky item...like if you have kids, pets, or a husband...just put that load on to fill with hot water and soap and let it sit for a couple of hours, then let it run the cycle.

Best wishes and blessings

I wash everything in warm/cold with Tide. The trick is to turn the clothes inside out, so that they stay newer longer, and to tumble dry on low to prevent shrinking (only towels are dried on regular). Fold clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer to avoid ironing.

I / we (my son does his own laundry) wash all our clothes on cold, and sheets/socks/towels on hot. Clothes get dried in low, sheets/socks/towels on high.

For me, it's a shrinkage issue + an oil issue. The hot water helps to release oil from fabrics (and therefore also the dirt that gets trapped in the oils)... but I'm not willing to be buying new clothes all the time to replace the ones that get shrunk in hot water. Plus, I wash my clothes more frequently than sheets. Clothes get washed after 1 to a couple of wearings... sheets and towels only once a week.

((ROFL Gina... kids pets and husbands always sort of seem to be perpetually in need of a bath, don't they?))

I wash nothing in cold - it does not get them clean - you cannot convince me it does as there are to many oils on our body that cold water cannot release. My MIL only washes in cold and her towels stink of mildew and kids clothes come home 'clean' but are actually dirty and smelly. Water temperature does not fade clothes (you may need to set the dye the first time you wash a bleeding color), drying does. Like one post suggested - turn the clothes inside out and that will also reduce the wear/tear of clothes rubbing against each otherwhile washing especially if you wash jeans/cargo pants with others types of clothes - it also reduces that white hazy 'finish' on khaki's/blacks and other clothes. I hang dry most everything except jeans, undies, socks & towels - I put the others in the dryer for about 5 mins. to get the wrinkles out and soften them up a bit. I also wash loads with only the same type of clothes, i.e., jeans w/ jeans, khakis w/ khakis, soft cottons w/ soft cottons separated by colors - our clothes look great and last a long, long time. I have handed down clothes that both boys have worn and they still look great. My husband and I still have clothes from college (we graduated in 1993) that look great as well.

I am all about being green but buying new clothes b/c of fading and mildew is not being green to me.

I usually was everything in cold (my apartment's laundry room prices are higher if you was in hot or warm loads) but if it were free and up to me, colors would go in a cold load (so they don't bleed) towels and sheets would go into hot loads to make sure they're clean (I'm a germaphobe!)

Towels and bedsheets on hot wash, high heat dry. Every so often I wash the pillows on steam sanitize and hot dry and do that to the comforters as well.
Everything else cold water, low dry. Nearly everything turned inside out. I add white vinegar to the wash cycle and use tennis balls in my dryer (a great energy saver). If it's a little dirtier I use an additional rinse.
I hang things like bras and delicate shirts in the bathroom doorway after washing in the same load as everything else on cold. I just put things in lingerie bags if need be.
It's acutally against our CC&Rs to have a clothes line.

I do about what you do. If things are lightly soiled, cold water is usually fine. I only use hot on sheets and towels since I feel it kills germs better, the rest goes into warm water. I've read that cold is okay for everything these days.... but I'm old school and just feel better when washing things in warmer water, just makes sense to me that oily sweat come out better in warmer water. I dont have a clothes line tho.... and I'm sorta glad about that ;)

wash my clothes warm/col, or hot/cold. this is one i can't skip. need towels, underwear etc washed in hot.

The only thing for us that needs hot water is our whites (socks, panties, tees) and we bleach those as well. We could get by using warm water.

It costs more to use hot water because the water heater uses electricity or gas to keep heating that water, waiting to be used. If hot water is being used more often, the heater is being used more often to heat that water by using electricity/gas.

Same with taking longer showers. This is why it's suggested to use a dishwasher only when it's full.

So using cold rather than hot can save you money. (energy efficient = use less energy)

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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My warm doesn't feel warm to me, so if things are gross, I wash them in hot, but nothing is regularly washed higher than warm (I don't bother with cold most of the time, again, because my warm setting is very lukewarm). I don't bleach anything and use homemade laundry detergent (I've been doing that since early last fall and haven't looked back). The homemade detergent is very environmentally friendly and does not really make suds, but does leave clothes very clean. I hang some things up that shouldn't go in the dryer (like bras) and my husband's t-shirts (so they don't stretch or shrink), but our basement is musty and I don't like the smell of clothes that hang to dry, so I use the dryer on low a lot. Some of those choices are environmental, but mostly because they are convenient and economical for me. :)