Do you wash laundry in hot or cold water?

It depends on what is being washed but we rarely use hot water. It is usually cold or warm water, mostly cold. I haven't had any problems using cold water to do the laundry. The clothes seem to come out just as clean as if I had used warm water on them. I would have thought using cold water was saving us more than $40 a year though!

 

I usually wash my clothes in cold water. I hand wash many of my clothes as they are not suitable for the washing machine.

I wash all of my wool clothing in cold water in the bath. It must save a lot of money so I don't mind doing it.

 

I wash everything in cold.

 

I usually wash mine at 30. I used to wash it at 60 so the savings have been immense. I have washed in cold water before and think the difference between cold(15c) and 30 was minimal. It's a habit that I have got into now, it's a significant improvement from 60 anyway.

 

Really, 90%????? That's a lot higher than I expected. Where did you get those numbers from? I normally wash in warm and only use hot for towels and bed linens, but if that 90% is true then I need to reconsider and start using just cold with Tide Cold water detergent (which is one of the best according to Consumer Reports).

 

I tend to use cool for wool, warm for general clothes etc, and hot for towels and sheets. I like to use hot water for things like towels to help kill bacteria etc, and I find the washing powder doesn't dissolve very well in cold water either. I certainly don't go in for all of the 'new' detergents that are advertised as being good for low temperature washes, as I think the chemicals in them are probably more damaging than heating some water and using a more eco product!

 

I wash 99% of my loads of laundry in cold water.

I will occasionally use hot water for a particularly special load of laundry. For example, if there is something on the item that is particularly smelly or contagious, I will use hot. I will wash sheets in hot when one of us has been sick, too.

 

It usually varies upon how tough the stains are. If the cloths just need their regular wash, then I go with cold. But if were talking about some serious dirt and grime, then hot is in order.

 

I mostly just wash with cold water. My trick is that I never buy too many apparels or home products that require a ton of care. Then I just throw them in the washing machine worry free because since they're cheap I won't have to worry too much if they get ruined, as I can always just buy a new one and not make the same mistake again. For my items that require a bit more care, I just have professionals wash them. I look at it like it eventually balances out since I don't spend much on everything else anyway.

 

Good idea! might as well try this!

 

Usually cold water unless it's something where you HAVE to use warm water. Wouldn't want to ruin anything

 

Our dark clothes always get washed using cold water. I do use hot water to wash my daughter's cloth diapers and our whites (towels, undergarments, etc.). However, I have heard that the hot water does not get hot enough to kill certain germs and that the dryer is what helps get rid of most unwanted microorganisms.

 

I wash all my clothes in hot water. Reason is because I feel like it can get much more cleaner and much more better when you wash it in hot water. I feel like it can kill more bacteria and germs as its stronger.

 

I pretty much always use cold water to save on the money. But, I do use hot water if I'm washing some dirty towels, maybe that have some grease on them or something. If I have anything really dirty, that I want to make sure gets clean, I run it through the hot water cycle. Cold water works great 99 percent of the time though.

 

Not only that, washing in warm clothes harms most of the clothes especially silk and oven products.

 

I wash everything on a 30 degree wash. In summer, when the clothes just need freshening up, I wash them by hand in cold water, and allow them to line dry. I'm in Spain, so I can guarantee virtually every day of the year is a good drying day. I also use a laundry ball rather than detergent, unless I have a heavily soiled wash, or I'm washing sheets and towels. And I never run the machine with less than a full load. I think I'm doing all I can to save money and save the planet.

 

I wash my dark clothes in cold water. I was my whites in hot water. This is the way I was raised. I didn't realize that all clothes could be washed in cold water. I am really amazed. I live in an apartment and use the apartment laundry room so my water choice doesn't affect my utility bill.

 

I wash everything in cold water and I line dry my clothes. I live in Florida and it's hot most of the year, so I don't miss using the dryer. I don't buy "dry clean only" clothes anymore. When I do laundry, I make sure to zip the zippers because Jeff Yeager pointed out on Extreme Cheapskates that open zippers on clothes in the washing machine are like little chainsaws tearing up and putting wear on your other clothes.

 

We live in an old trailer house, and it only has cold water to the washing machine. Actually, the only place we have hot water is the kitchen sink, and the shower, everything else only has cold water. We hang the clothes outside to dry, so I only can do laundry on nice days, and not in the rain. The trailer has no place to even install a dryer, so we save money on electricity, and maybe on water, since we use only what we need. The clothes do come out smelling so nice and fresh from drying it in the sun, so that is another benefit of the clothesline.

 

I use cold water for everything. I used to use hot for my whites, until I read on a baby forum that bleach works better in cold water, though the Clorox people say differently. I've never noticed my whites were less clean when I switched to cold water for them.