Washing Clothes in Warm or Cold Water???

You can wash ANYTHING that is not dryclean only in cold water. Many people only wash their clothes in cold, to avoid having to separate their clothes out, or accidental shrinkage.

Yes, heat causes shrinkage (when I'm losing weight, I don't go out and buy new clothes, I just progressively shrink them with me by using increasingly hot water and increasingly higher settings on the dryer... I can get 2 sizes of shrink out of most clothes that way).

Cold water does not work as well as warm/hot, but it does still work. Wash Warm/Rinse Cold (as opposed to ww/rw), will shrink less than W/W, but will still cause SOME shrinkage.

I use hot water on fabric that needs to break up oils/it doesn't really matter that much if they shrink. So, HOT/Cold for sheets, towels, & socks... Cold/Cold for everything else.

I also set the dryer on LOW for absolutely everything EXCEPT sheets/towels/socks... which all get dried on HIGH.

I always wash my clothes in cold water. The one time I washed my clothes in warm water things shrunk. Everything comes out clean washing in cold water.

YOu can wash anything in cold water, and it works fine, especially if you use a cold water-specific detergent like cold water Tide, together with something like Clorox II. I always wash my darks in cold water, even when it says warm, to preserve the color. If stuff is shrinkin, you should definitely use cold.

Hi sweetie - Ever herd the phrase "Mother knows best" well this is one of those cases where it's true. I can't stand that phrase when comes to my mom either so don't feel alone.

Hot & warm water shrinks clothes - YES!
Because of the material they are made out of.

You can saftly wash all clothes in cold water no matter what the tag saids except for; "Dry-clean only" - You only dry-clean, dry-clean clothes.

Hope that makes sense.

How ever you can wash your linen (towels, wash clothes,
sheets, pillow cases & bedspreeds in warm or hot water for good reason.
They are made out of special material that won't shrink.

Hope this helps!

From
D.- A mother of three who was once in your shoes & this is what I was told I've been married for 25 years & have been doing laundry for that long too. This advice has worked for me glad I could pass it on.

My experience is that the dryer is the worst culprit for shrinking clothes. Clothes that I'm concerned about shrinkage I hang dry. I will put them in the dryer on air only for about 10 minutes (to get the wrinkles out) and then I'll hang them to air dry.

Sounds like your problem is with the drying. Dryers have different heat settings. Only try towels in the hot cotton setting. I don't know the dryer you are using so I can't specify all the settings, but there should like a knit or permanent press setting for normal things and a Low or delicate setting for special fabrics. SOME fabrics (rayon) should not go in a dryer at all unless you want it to fit your son.

I wash most of my clothes in cold water only. I only wash my whites in warm water. I dry most things on low, but if I don't want things to shrink I hang them to dry. I don't dry any of my shirts or my daughters and depending on what my husband's are I may or may not dry his. Cold water is fine to use. I have no problem with geting things clean.

I've never used warm with my baby's clothes. Cold should do it. If you have stains, try oxyclean. If you spray on a lot, you may want to rinse twice if it's for your baby. It gets out every imaginable type of baby poop, blood, you name it.

Hello M.. I took an energy efficiency class a few years ago and learned that you can wash all of your clothes in cold water and it works just fine. I did that for several years and it worked fine, but recently started washing everything in hot water for some reason, except for my whites. When I use bleach, I always use cold water, so the beach doesn't 'yellow' the whites (another thing I learned in the class and am eternally grateful for! lol)The washing in hot water shouldn't continually shrink your clothes. That's a little strange, unless it's 100% cotton or something like that. Anyway, good luck. :)

Ever since you got married, your husband's clothes began to shrink? Maybe it's your good cooking!! Ha ha! ;-)

Thanks for asking this, I'm going to try doing everything on cold from now on.

As for the shrinkage, I think it's the dryer. I always had problems with my clothes shrinking at the last place I lived, but haven't had any problems since I moved and bought a new washer and dryer. The dryer is incredibly cheap, and it only has two settings. One is hot and shrinks, the other is cool, doesn't shrink, doesn't make all of the clothes burn to the touch, and dries them all faster (40 minutes).

I am pretty sure it is the dryer that shrinks clothes & not the warm water. Are you sure it is not your cooking? Maybe you are such a good cook that he is gaining weight & clothes are not shrinking after all!!!

Yes warm water can shrink the clothes but they shouldn't keep shrinking..also could be the dryer. try setting it to a lower setting. Plus using cold water (which I always do except for my towels) will reduce your utility bills and it's more environmentally friendly... don't use Tide and you're being even more earth friendly! :)

I don't know about shrinking but I have always washed my clothes in cold water and never had any problems. Even with clothes that say use hot water. Plus it saves you the cost of heating the water.

Hello, I only wash in cold water except when I am bleaching whites, then I wash those in hot water. It won't hurt anything to wash in cold. As far as the shrinkage, the dryer will shrink things. If you don't want them to shrink, try drying them less time and hang them right away.
Good luck with your precious family.
K. K.

Hey M.,
I only use cold water to wash all my clothes. It saves energy (and money) and still gets our clothes clean. It also prevents colors from running as well as prevents shrinking.
Another factor you may need to consider is the dryer. Most clothes have dryer directions on them and will indicate if they need to be put on cool, warm or hot. I use the cool cycle on everything and this seems to keep clothes from shrinking as well although it may take a longer time in the dryer to get them completely dry.

It really depends on the clothing you are washing whether it will shrink or not. However, I only use cold water and I hang dry all of my shirts and some of my husband's so the dryer won't shrink them. I only dry underwear, towels, socks and my son's clothes. Cold water saves money too on the heating bill!

Hope this helps.

I never pay attention to labels. My husband complained to me about shrinking clothes so I always do our clothes on cold and dry on low. Never had a problem. We have been together seven years. Good luck. :-)