I always use fabric conditioner with towels because I hate hard, rough towels and it has never reduced the absorbency. I always leave the door of my washing machine open overnight, but not in the daytime as it would get in the way. I put the detergent drawer in my dishwasher to keep it clean as it gets all gungy and mildewy otherwise. I have had a lot of problems with my washing machine. It had a vile drainy, stagnant water smell. I undid the filter to check it, which is a total pain in the bum because I have to take the plinth off that runs along the bottom of the kitchen units. The filter is so low down that it's difficult to get anything more than about 2 inches in depth under it. When I checked the filter it had just a few small bits of fluff in it, but when I looked inside behind the filter there were two Colour Catcher sheets in there which smelled absolutely foul! Couldn't believe they had got through to the filter part of the machine. So now I always put the Colour Catcher sheets inside a small zip up laundry bag to stop this happening.