A housewifery question re tea towels

Snap.

Yes, that's it Elegran. It looks odd.

Mine go in with towels and cloths. I never use fabric conditioner on these but a splash of white vinegar. They are then soft and absorbent... and don't reminds you of chips!

Empty wash feetle? Why not bung some clothes in

My machine is 10 years old and I've never done any empty wash stuff.

I must be very lucky. I only ever wash at 30 and have never had mould I'm glad to say.My machine is 5 years old and was the cheapest on the market.It is a cold fill. Something to be said for simplicity. I wash most days too as I have so much.

Pittcity at the hotel we stayed in on holiday a few weeks back, the towels and the bed linen smelt of vinegar!

When I had the guest house I used to buy towels from a company called Eden Valley. They are the only towels that have never gone cracker shaped on a hot wash. The ones I have now are from Ethical Superstore, made from bamboo, and are nearly as good.

Dishcloths and other cloths can be sterilized by wetting them and putting in the microwave for 30 seconds. I do my green scourer/sponge too. I assume the same would be possible with tea towels, but I use hand towels (better absorption) and wash them with everything else at 30 degrees.

A couple of months ago I decided to boil my tea towels, old fashioned style, on the hob. It didn't do much for the tea towels, but the over boiled biological detergent brought the stainless steel hob up a treat. Now clean the hob with boiling biological detergent. Tea towels go into towel wash in machine. X

Oh, I thought it had to be two and a half minutes to sterilize a dishcloth!
I usually put mine in bleach.
I generally put everything in together at 40 degrees but every now and again think that I should be more careful and put them and towels at 60 degrees.

You've got a special towel wash on your machine j52?

To be precise, I wash the tea towels with the towels in the machine on economy wash. Previous post probably lacked precision because I was concentrating on the chocolate cake that I was eating. x

And ....J52 I find biological detergents are the best thing to clean oven racks when soaked in a strong solution, I just thought I would add that

Oh heavens, for a brief moment there I thought J52 was a future incarnation of Jingl who had managed to travel back through time!

I have to wash them separately, can't bear to wash them with towels and I could never wash them with my clothes. I like the idea of vinegar, thanks Pittcity.

What am I doing posting about tea towels of all things. It is nearly 2 am here, I think I have lost the plot.

I get through at least fourteen tea towels in a typical week (no dishwasher), so once a week I put them in a 90 degree wash. Bedding and towels I do at 60 degrees, I don't trust detergent to kill bacteria at 30 degrees which is the temperature I do most of my washing at.

Always boil them (I make a lot of jam so need really clean tea-towels,* jars are also 'baked' in the oven to sterilise them!)
I have an old pressure cooker pan (minus all the bits) and boil them in that.
* not saying that any other method produces inferior results I've just got into the habit of doing it this way

feetle; you use Swarfega for your washing ?

I put tea towels and towels together on a hotter wash and that's about all I can say about it.

I chuck them in with the regular wash and I've never poisoned anyone - not even myself.

I've heard you can put your dishcloth in the dishwasher... never tried it.

I have had no problems with mould round the door since I went back to using washing powder and not liquid.

Teatowels at 90 degrees and towels and bedding at 60 degrees. I've no dishwasher so change the teatowel at least once a day. Never had problem with mould around door seal, either.

I don't use tea towels, I think kitchen roll is more hygienic for all I have to wipe from the drainer. Oh god, I'm for it now. Running away

I washy everything at 40 degrees because I can't be bothered faffing about with all the different prorammes. I rely on ironing them to kill off any remaining germs.