Spring Cleaning Tips

White cleaning is essential if you what to keep your clothes in pristine condition and not looking dull and dingy. There is nothing worse than seeing people wearing clothes which have lost their brightness and look dirty even though they have just been washed!

The key factor in keeping white clothes bright and white is to ensure that they are washed, either by hand or in a machine on their own, for example without mixing with colored clothes. The other thing that needs to be kept in mind is to check the material and wash the whites at the correct temperature.

Cotton blends should be washed at between forty and sixty degrees with appropriate washing powder. Many white cleaning washing powders or washing liquids have boosters in them which make the clothes really white, there are a whole host of different commercial brands which all claim to get your washing whiter than their competitors, however, you should be careful that the powder or liquid does not contain any bleach because although initially the white may appear beautifully white, over time the bleach has a tendency to turn the whites yellow.

Pure cotton for bed linen and kitchen drying towels can be washed at ninety degrees, this is particularly essential for laundry which is contaminated, for example babies toweling diapers or when used for people who have contagious diseases. The hottest wash cycle should be used to ensure that bacteria are killed, if this is not possible the laundry should be boiled on the stove.

Biological washing powders and liquids are made up of chemicals which can cause irritation to delicate and sensitive skin, especially for babies or those with skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis. Non-biological are generally much kinder to the skin but as they do not contain the whitening chemicals unless the washing is entirely of white items they may quickly fade and turn dingy.

Another way to keep white cleaning really bright is to turn clothes inside out when hanging them on an outside washing line as the hot sun can also make them fade to yellow.

By using a fabric conditioner in the final rinse which has a blue coloring will also help to keep white cleaning lovely and pristine. The ‘blue’ works with the color spectrum of natural light and gives the appearance of really white washing.

Clothes, especially underwear, made from nylon and synthetic materials have a tendency to turn grey rather than white if they are washed in water which is too hot. Synthetic fabrics should be washed at forty degrees or under to keep them whiter. Again, white clothes should be washed separately and not mixed with colored clothes, especially dark colors. Drying synthetic fabrics in a drier which is too hot can also turn the clothes dull, ideally these should be dried on the lowest setting or dried outside.

An old fashioned way to carry out white cleaning was to hang the white washing outside overnight during the winter and allow the frost to form on the laundry, during the day the frost melted and left whites sparkling and surprisingly soft!