Poppy I gave up on top sheets awhile back and the boys use duvet covers over their non down filled comforters..I can't use the down filled with the asthmatic child..that has cut down how often the comforter needs washed also. Tim does try to help with his bed, lol, I think I'm too picky, but I never let him know I'm fixing his job.lol. he's also starting to help with laundry right now he's only learning about sorting. And helps put gentle fabric garments in the washer, he can now set the watet temp on the gentle load without being told to warm, turns the dial to gentle and starts it. I give him the detergent measured out to dump in, he's not ready for the deciding which detergent and how much yet. He loves this chore lol.I'm trying like he!! To tutn the boys into laundry fanatics lol

Try a quilt instead of the non-down comforter in warmer weather. Probably easy for me to say because I make them in the size I want. Lap quilts are perfect for little boys; easy to wash and spread.

I will use a quilt for winter, right now they are using very light weight comforters due to the A/C needing to be on all the time..we can't open windows due to chips asthma. I turned the duvet inside out when I bought them and sewed cotton ribbons along the bottom and sides, than I sewed the ribbons on the comforters makes it easy on wash day to turn the duvet inside out tie the comforter and flip right side out. And it all stays in place..I will do the quilts the same way.the quilts were my grandmothers they are still ingreat shape I doubt these things ever fall apart, but they wete made with a lot of mismatched fabrics, so nothing great to look at but very very warm and in the duvet everything matches lol. poppy I can't use a lap quilt for Tim, he's not quite 8 but just shy of being 5 foot..lol his dad is 6 foot 6 in...lol.

Pinky a twin quilt is 72 x 90. That fits until they are in high school. If you can sew ribbons, you can make a quilt out of two pieces of fabric with the batting in between. It's called a "whole cloth quilt". No worries about patterns or colors you don't like. You don't even have to handquilt, a straight stitch on any sewing machine will make a fine grid.

WAIT...I don't have scary dry feet...OMG...LOL. I have pretty feet for a guy (manicured and cared for).

The pilling is more toward where my thighs upper calves are. Maybe I move my legs in my sleep.

But my feet are pretty...damn it! LMAO!

"FOOD of the bed"...I see it now Mama. You can tell where my head was at. I better fix that typo.

Seems like all has been covered. But here's what I do. I have a king bed. My husband and I and 2 dogs all sleep in it. I sweat a lot and I notice when I remove the bottom sheet, my side is yellowish. I use the Sanitary cycle, Tide with Bleach Powder and some OxiClean. Everything comes out pure white. They are all white cotton sheets 600 count.

I use Clorox Ultra Care Bleach in emergencies.......it is safe to put directly on fabrics, does not harm them. I do that with a toothbrush to remove blood spots. Then wash as usual.

Another thing I do...........lower the spin speed and I only dry one sheet at a time in the dryer on low temperature. Really cuts down on wrinkles, although I too iron sheets.

Hope this helps someone.

Omg Georgeeeee...roflmao, your pretty feet probably look better than mine...do you go to the salon? Haha..that's not pilling from dry feet, it might be the crumbs from the cookies..haha.

As a followup note..........I do have a very large front load washer............Sears41072......about 5.3 cubic feet...............lots of room for a full set of sheets. When I had a smaller top loader, I used to wash the top and bottom sheet separately.

Poppy the key word here is STRAIGHT LINE lol, thank you I just may try that this winter when I'm bored with being inside.sounds like a great sew day project, can I use flat sheets for the fabric? I seen some heavy duty flat sheets at Ikea, cream with navy stripes like a railroaders hat that I really like.

Leononmaui...I am now using an Electrolux 4.4 cu.ft. washer and 8 cu.ft dryer.

Though I try to line dry sheet any chance I get. The only time I tumble dry is when (Thursday is "bedding" day) it's a rainy day.

Leon, I've wondered about that Clorox Ultra Care, do you know if the % of hypochlorite is as high as clorox regular? I think it needs to be a certain strength to sanitize and kill germs.

Mama...Anything other than original Clorox bleach can NOT disinfect.

Or I mean to say only regular bleach of any brand will disinfect.

Scented, Splashless, Ultra Care...etc. will not kill germs.

It may whiten but it can't kill germs. I now only use regular bleach.

Pinky you can use sheets, BUT prewash. Draw lines with a water soluble marker, long stitch. Use flannel. Batting can be fused so you don't have to baste or pinned.

Thank you Poppy, I know what I'm doing this fall lol

Thanks George, that's what I thought, about the clorine bleach. Which is why I only use clorox regular.

georgect - can you point me to where you found the information that only regular bleach will disinfect?

Don't know where George got it, but I read it on a few threads over on AW, sorry I didn't book mark it though.

I just looked on the Clorox website. If you compare the regular bleach with splashless it is almost the same. Splashless has a couple of ingredients to make it not "splash" and foam up. Other than that, they are identical products.

maylingsmom...

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a24138/scented-cleaners-dont-disinfect/

http://www.oregon.gov/OCC/OCC%20Forms/TA/bleach-faqs%20English.pdf

You can contact Clorox by phone, email and ask them, be sure to ask which formula is a disinfectant.

Regular bleach will say "Kills 99.9% of germs"...the others will not say this.

I looked at the list of ingredients. That's how I came to the conclusion that they all disinfect. Did you contact them and ask that?

The EPA has said only the 8.25% is strong enough to disinfect, any other lower solution will not disinfect.

Here's the difference. The other types of bleach are not registered as a disinfectant because they cannot be used to disinfect water to make it drinkable. They have additives such as fragrance or thickeners to make it splashless or make it smell good. It's not that they don't disinfect at all. It's just that they aren't registered as a disinfectant.

IDon't know how to post it but clorox site says the only clorox brand suitable for disinfecting laundry is regular clorox...this is interesting, I'm gonna dig a bit about it later lol.

My post explains why they say that.

This is interesting to me so I called clorox...they explained to me why only regular clorox is suitable for disinfecting. All their other formulations contain ingredients not suitable for drinking water, also the EPA will not register it as a disinfectant because it won't disinfect...the ultra care is only 2.45% hypochlorite, and the splashless is 3.895% hypochlorite. neither one of these contain a high enough level of hypochlorite to disinfect even if there were no other chemicals, like thickening agents and perfumes.

Unless someone is ill with a contagious disease or there is a biological incident it seems a bit extreme to worry about sterilizing bedding. A hot profile wash with a good detergent should take care of most bacteria and biologicals. Oxygen bleach will whiten sheets. I don't understand the need for Clorox.

However, FWIW when we had the anthrax scare after 9/11 the CDC told me to decontaminate as necessary with a 4:1 solution of regular Clorox. We had to dip some things that came in contact with mail. Clorox will kill anthrax and virus.

I wash all our sheets in HOT water. If the sheets are 100% cotton they should not 'pill.' It's the polyester in the blends that causes that. I dry them on a warm rather than a hot setting. Just let them run longer on that lower setting and they will dry just fine. I think it's the dryer heat that causes shrinkage and other damage, not the hot wash water.

As to dry feet damaging sheets, mine were so dry and cracked that they literally shredded several sheets before I realized what the problem was. The solution was simple - sleep in socks. No more shredding.

Hisown, I also use hot water for sheets, around 150 deg f..I do however use chlorine bleach if someones sick. Lasy year both boys tested positive for influenza B..chlorine bleach came in handy than. I get dry feet, elbows, knees in the winter more so in summer. So I never never forget to moisturize daily...I could never sleep in socks even in the dead of a pennsylvania winter lol..but I've heard moisturize and put socks on nightly will help heal the dry skin...bet George does this to keep them *Pretty Feet lol

You bet your sweet bippy Mama!

LOl lol lol

Vaseline (not lotion, pure, clear Vaseline) on the feet then socks. Moisturize while you sleep. Rough soon gone.

Oh, my feet are cleared up now. Thanks though.

Lmao...this is not for hisown lol....make sure the socks are 100% cotton. And best foot moisturizer for feet I've ever used is coconut oil, works great. My stepfather uses vicks vaporub, he says the doctor recommended it, rub it on at bedtime and wear socks to bed, he says about a week or so and all the dead skin fell off and he has soft feet again. I bet his current wife loves washing his socks lol

Pink-The blue top regular Clorox used to be only 5.25 % then changed to 6% and now that it is so ultra it is the 8+%. I have seen it listed on their site as 5-10% so I think part of it is how it is bottled. As in first bottle in line to last--which gets last weakest or strongest. Look at some store brands and they will say disinfect and have 6% in them but this is some not all.

I can't figure out why people use bleach,(I do on dish towels) Hot hot water, Sanitize 2-3 hr cycles on their own sheets. I see it this way, it's my germs on there, not like I am renting out the bed. I see using the clorox if you are sick or have a sick kid but just general week to week and most time you have a shower before bed? I have and do use Hot water sometimes but I'm not afraid of my own sheets, towels, etc. There is just no use in wearing out everything just cause you can. I will stop preaching now--and this is just my view--everyone has their own view and way of doing things.

I have read to use the Vicks and socks if you have a night cough and it will stop it. Bet the coconut oil does work great.

I agree with you about the use of chlorine bleach, I think just normally hot water, not boiling and detergent is fine for a familys sheets. I use it only if someon is sick, like the boys with the flu or snotty noses all over the bed. Once in awhile I use it on kitchen towels if someone grabbed them to wipe up raw meat drippings..thats gross that's why I have antibacterial wipes. But otherwise I don't understand the need for the stuff.

Sparky - chlorine bleach is a potent disinfectant. Hot water and SANITARY cycle temperatures are NOT hot enough to eliminate virus, bacteria, Hepatitis, HIV, staph, e-coli, and the list goes on. Oxygen based bleach is worthless as a disinfectant. Clorox is the best single disinfectant which BTW is a standard in the health care industry. So that's why people use bleach.

Back to to washing sheets. What people miss the most is what is the soil level of the load. In hospitality, sheets used once or twice are considered Light Soil, washed at 120-140F with bleach run WITH the detergent for a short wash.

Sheets on a bed for a week or longer, sickroom, allergy, pets in the bed, require more aggressive approach. A higher temperature SANITARY wash, detergent, and separate bleach or disinfectant after the BREAK, and several rinses. High temp kills dust mites, fleas, lice, ticks, allergens, and bleach handles all the disinfection for one clean load.

If your dealing with stained sheets, blood, urine, feces, body fluids this requires additional steps as this is considered HEAVY soil. It should start with a cool water rinse or flush, followed by a HOT prewash 120F and a good enzyme based detergent, followed by a drain and second carryover wash with additional alkaline based detergent and higher temperature (SANITARY CYCLE), bleach after the BREAK and several rinses. What you end up with is clean, sanitary, and fresh linen that is stain free.

You have improvise a little on a residential machine but it can be done with great success.

All my sheets and covers are washed at 140F and dried at 170F weekly. I have done so for years with zero problems.

I'm lazy about washing my pillow and comforter, though. I don't have allergies so I don't really feel the need to wash them too much. Besides, I have to drive to the laundromat to dry them because my dryer - as you can see from my profile pic - won't handle the comforter.

Whirlpool - nothing the matter with that routine. My household sheets are washed weekly at 158F, with a 5 min bleach at the end, triple rinsed and dried. Zero problems here.

My household Towels which are used once are light soil and washed at 120F 15 min. Wash and 5 min Bleach with two rinses and a finish softener in the third. They come out better and softer than using a Sanitary cycle, and just as clean and sanitized with the bleach. Zero problems again.

Ya have to do what works for you, but my personal opinion is I process the laundry in the most cost effective, time efficient manner while ensuring excellent clean, soft, and sanitized laundry.

Hi Rpsinfoman, I still haven't looked into that finishing rinse product you mentioned sometime back, but will at some point.

Lol, I know you will Pink. How's that new SQ? I miss my TL sometimes! Was that the Laidlaw product I mentioned? Fabriclean Supply carrys it. Pricey though.

Rpsinfoman, yes it was the Laidlaw product, as far as the Speed Queen I love it, just a few issues that need taken care of, but otherwise its a great machine, its a keeper. I really didn't think I was going to find a NEW machine other than vintage to meet my style of washing but I did. And I'm very happy. Thanks for asking and take csre.

Nothing the matter with vintage. There more flexible than anything out there. You can always get them to do exactly what you want. With the new FLs, that's not always possible.

RPS - Yes, I too noticed towels being rougher the one time I washed them in my Duet's Sanitary cycle (203F).

You must have a Euro machine. That's freakin HOT! Not too many things I would run at that temp.

Yes, I have the European Duet with the more powerful heater - although I never really use
the boil wash setting on anything.

Sweet

My kind of temps