Who would have thought that Boring Wednesday would be so controversial? As it turns out I was persuaded by the enthusiasm of everyone's comments to look into it myself (through minimal google-based research), with the outcome that I have decided to thumb my nose at this European snobbery for washing clothes in warm water. Frankly, the only advantages of that method that I can see are that germs might be killed if the water is hot enough (which it won't be, and really, as if I care about germs anyway. As if I haven't survived, nay flourished, for almost 30 years swaddled daily in apparently germ-coated clothes), that greasy stains are more readily removed in hot water, and that your clothes might all shrink and fade and generally be ruined (which might be an advantage if you want to make space in your closet for a bunch of new clothes. Since I'm an unemployed quasi-shop-a-phobic, I can't see how this might be an advantage for me).
And so I have decided to henceforth re-dedicate myself to the cold water approach. It's more environmentally friendly, apparently no worse in terms of making your clothes clean or getting the stains out (as long as you haven't been rolling around in grease or butter, which as far as I am aware I haven't), and it doesn't make anything fade or the colours run.
The only thing that stands in my way now is the fact that apparently the washing machines here won't let me fulfill my laundering dreams of environmental consciousness. It seems that on a normal wash, the lowest temperature I can get is 30 degrees. Sigh.
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5 comments:
Hi Robyn, I found you through expat blog. I'm an American expat in Italy. Down here everyone BOILS the laundry. Elastic dries out and turns to dust and everything fades! Fortunately the washing machines give quite a choice of temperatures. Mine even has a separate dial to select the temp. It has numbers from 30 degrees to 80, but even better, a bit before 30 there's a little picture of a snowflake! Like you, I like to be environmentally conscious, so I bet you can guess where I set the dial when I do the wash.;
We should change the angle in this whole discussion... I would suggest a completely different approach: why don’t you let the Reto do the washing? Being Swiss he should be able to use the machine and to separate colours/temperatures. And it would be a perfect solution for you because you fight for women’s rights and reduce your weekly workload at the same time.
Tina
I'm just curious how does the cold water make the wash more environmentaly friendly ??? Instead of warm/hot water with detergent going down the drain, you have cold water, so how's the impact on the environment reduced ?
And you thought that curling would bring the most comments... lol..
Apparently when you wash clothes in warm water, up to 90% of the energy used is used to heat the water up. Which is not surprising when you consider how unbearably cold the water is over here. Although that being said, just last weekend I saw some people swimming, apparently deliberately and uncoerced, in a lake, which suggests that either 1) the water is actually far warmer than it seems; 2)that I am a big wuss; or 3) that these Europeans are crazy. Hmm.
You might need a little bit of heating if the water is really that cold, just to get the chemical reactions of the soap going. But if you really want to wash in cold water, you can always turn off the hot tap.
My washing machine isn't even connected to the hot tap.
And it's been shown that an obsession with killing germs just makes you more susceptible to getting sick. And too much antibacterial hand wash will hasten the evolution of new super germs.
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