A cleaning expert from household cleaning products company has revealed that one in five Brits wash clothes weekly – even if they aren’t dirty.
However, there are several inexpensive and simple methods to keep your clothes fresh without automatically tossing them into the washing machine. Many of us are keeping an eye on our energy bills amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, and running multiple washing machine cycles a week could quickly become expensive.
With this in mind, Kathleen Bell, a sustainable cleaning expert for smol, has spoken about how to get “wear out of clothes without compromising on cleanliness”, and has offered her top five tips.
According to Kathleen, tougher fabrics like denim, jumpers, or sweaters can “be refreshed” using a simple homemade spray if they’re on the verge of getting a bit smelly.
All you need to do is mix water with some essential oils, adding these to a suitable spray bottle. Essential oils such as lemon, peppermint, tea tree oil, lemongrass, eucalyptus and lavender are said to be particularly popular choices. Then, you just need to “mist over the fabric”, before allowing it to air out nicely.
Kathleen cautions against the pitfalls of putting on multiple half-load washes, which can squander both water and detergent while also potentially nudging up your energy tabs. She counsels a handy tip to gauge if your washing machine’s drum is suitably packed by suggesting: “You should be able to fit a palm’s width between the top of your laundry and the inside of the drum.
More space than the width of your palm then you know you’re not fully loaded, any less and the washing won’t have room to clean.”
When it comes to ironing, Kathleen recommends leveraging a bit of steam to spruce up clothes you’ve once worn by placing them in the bathroom while you luxuriate in a steamy shower or bath – a shrewd energy-saving manoeuvre.
For minor mishaps, she advises the simple tactic of spot cleaning rather than instantly laundering. Swift action with cold water will do the trick, as hot water would only further embed the blemish.
Kathleen believes that getting thoroughly clued up with your washing machine’s handbook “could save the average family almost £701 a year”, since mishandling of loading choices and temperature settings owing to unfamiliarity is quite common.
Kathleen advised: “Washing at the right temperature not only helps for energy-saving but can also help keep your clothes looking better for longer, too.” She added: “Most detergents work perfectly, and sometimes even better, at lower temperatures, because anything too hot can denature the enzymes in them that break down stains.”
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