Tips on doing laundry in Germany

Right, firstly I have no idea what topic this would go under but this is general enough to Germany so I guess it fits in with "life in Germany".

The issue is having to do you laundry with this country's hard hard water with their crappy detergent brands. Come on, I still haven't found Tide or Sunlight here and after doing all my laundry in Canada about 10 days ago on holiday, I'm scared of putting it in the wash here! It makes my clothes feel so uncomfy.

I suspect this isn't purely an issue with Berlin, because they say water down there can be worse. I've tried that anti-kalk stuff, detergent specially for cashmere on my regular clothes and about 5-7 different brands of liquid and powder detegent from Kaisers and of course overloading my washing machine with different brands of softener.

To be fair, I don't own a dryer in Berlin, but it's on my tobuy list. I know not having a drying doesn't help things, but even my no-dryer clothes here come out 10x worse... socks rip when you put them on after a few washes... and clothes here are more expensive!

Any help or suggestions are really appeciated: Detergents, alternative products, anti-calcium products, softener, etc.

Hello!

Ok, soap - make sure you don't use to much (liquid soap - brand name is better).

Lenor - only decent softener ("Downy" in Canada) thats worths its weight in gold.

Dryer - they generally sell the condenser kind of dryer (no vent required) but watch it will "fry" your Canadian clothes - heat setting set very high!

Without a dryer, your clothes will be a bit crunchy - just the way it is unfortunately...

You get used to it...put it on your heaters - to dry this helps...

Chris

We use the "Frosch" detergent. Don't know where it is on the good-spectrum, but it works fine.

No softeners, but we put the anti-kalk stuff in, mostly to protect the machine from getting gummed up.

Towels will be a bit crunchy, but just shake em a few times and they'll soften up. You'll get used to the crunch and miss it someday...

I don't find our clothes particularly stiff, and they certainly last longer without being tortured by a dryer.

Invest a little bit more in the dryer and make sure it has different drying temperatures/settings such as bügeltrocken (slightly damp for easier ironing), schranktrocken (normal) and extratrocken (cracklingly dry).

I love my washer and dryer. Clothes always come out clean and soft.
We use anti-kalk tabs, Spee and Lenor and a dryer sheet. Can't beat the combinatorial approach.

@Chris_W-In Himalayas, the indians and nepalese used the kind of soap nut for their washing and this kind of natural soap nut is available here as well. Basically you just need those nuts to do all the work.

All you need to do is fill in a few nuts (4-6) into a cotton bag and place it direct into the washer (Just like when you place your clothings within) That bag of soapnut can also be use for a few more times. It is normally very softening and you do not need any softener at all. A big bag of the soap nuts cost 15€ and it will last for a year. Otherwise you may get a sample pack to try it out.

You may find those soapnuts within basic or any bio natural shops

Why is this, what's different about Canadian clothes?


I can't believe this is a real word, but if it isn't it should be!

I have to say that I am very dissapointed with the washing/drying thing here. We bought a washere/dryer combo and I can wash about 1 pair of jeans and a pair of socks if I am lucky. And it takes almost three hours to wash and dry! Holy hat! Germans say that they notice such a difference in cleanliness of the clothes from these machines to the US machines. I say they are delerious. I have never had to iron jeans and now I have to iron everything that comes out of that dammned machine or look homeless, no matter what I do.

play with the settings on your washer, I have mine down to a 48 minute cycle and my clothes come clean. Someone already mentioned about liquid laundry soap, I use purell and it does the trick.

There was a whole thread on this subject (why the cycles take so long, the pros and cons of the short cycle, etc.) on TT not so long ago.

Hmm was wondering why tramps keep offering me money at the S Bahn stations

@greenlakechris >> Yeah, I doubt it very much that I'll ever miss that oh-so-comfortable feeling of getting into a freshly washed pair of crunchy jeans :$ T-Shirts aren't that bad after you've been wearing them for an hour or so.

@Andy101 >> I'll give that nut thing a try, maybe I'll also get them to ship me 10 boxes of Bounce dryer sheets from Canada. Hopefully that should suffice!

i haven't really had this problem (have dryer/lenor- don't know if that's why), but was wondering how often you're supposed to use the anti-kalk tabs. something tells me i'm a little behind schedule.

A Laundry Tip: Do not use fabric softner (Lenor etc.) when washing towels. It will make them hard and crunchy.

Otherwise, on clothes & bedding I use Persil, calgon & Lenor. I have no problem with my laundry.

Wal Mart sells Bounce, I'd agree with Lenor (but never on microfiber towels) as I don't use a dryer.
As for the detergent, to get them to smell like my mum's I use Ariel Colour & Style as I like the smell plus it doesn't bleach the black stuff so much. Persil is fine, even the Aldi/Lidl stuff does the job well enough (I tend to buy colour-safe detergents and use a wash booster such as Vanish Oxy on the white load), Burti is very popular in Bavaria it seems and use either Burti Wollpflege or Woollite for hand-washing underwear and cashmere.
Calgon tabs bought in bulk from Wal Mart every wash and my machine is a Bosch Maxx (takes 6kg washing in a go, cycles are comparatively slow but energy efficient).

@Chris_W- Those fragrance paper is available here as well when using it in the Dryer (cannot remember the name). Don't waste your shipping money!

After you have used those tissues for the dryer, you may reuse them again but prewet it (not too wet) then place a drop of essential oil my fav lavender (which is soothing) and it is available everywhere.

For disinfection/antibacterial- i use teatree oil with a cap of water to place within the washing detergent rack. (this is my combination when using soapnuts )

For stain removing, you should put (Fleckensalz) for a boost when using the soapnuts

[quote name='Chris W' date='Feb 7 2006, 5:10 pm' post='423560']

The issue is having to do you laundry with this country's hard hard water with their crappy detergent brands. Come on, I still haven't found Tide or Sunlight here

We buy Tide = Dash (in Germany) 2in1 Kompakt in Real or in DM. I can´t complain.

The massive washing machine in my kellar has destroyed two jumpers and a beanie. Pisses me off. Then I got a bollocking from my neighbour for doing washing on a Sunday. Never thought washing clothes could be so complicated.

You could put precious things (like beanies) inside pillowcases to prevent them being shredded!

tell em to fuck off. You CANNOT be stopped from doing laundry on a Sunday.

She's normally nice to me ... gives me cookies and the english supplement from the Monday newspaper. The way I see it: she's just being typically 'old lady' like ... spotting an opportunity to say Das ist Verboten! I started to charmingly argue that I am not an uber Catholic and that the noise cant be so bad since our flats are insulated to the degree a bomb could go off and no-one would know. But then acquiesed (spelling?) ... better to have a good neighbour than a bad one in this town.

OK, if you think it better to stay on her good side but you could always anonymously crap in her letter box!

Hilarious mate! I am actualy laughing ...

(but the really amusing thing is how easilly people can get bent out of shape)

Britboard had a posting about this a while back, someone was wondering why washing machines take 2 frigging hours to do the wash, I said its the German over the top thing. When bought a new machine I made sure it had an express wash on it. 30 mins!I agree about the dryer thingy, they will melt most things. I don't understand how you can dry things in the spring fall when its cool and wet out, your wash takes days upond days to dry, it turns moldy after a while.

Do they sell bleach here? My whites come out dirtier than when I put them in the wash...

Yup, you can buy Bleach here.. its called "Bleiche".

Another note: Anyone ever tried a waschtrockner? I'm moving to a new flat and thinking of purchasing one, maybe a Bosch?

Oh yes you can!. Hausverordnung. I never allow my tenants to wash clothes on a Sunday.
Everyone knows that Wednesday is washday!

It's "Fleckensalz" you want, in powder form, usually does the trick.

@garibaldi:
But every housewife knows "clothes you wash on Monday have all the week to dry". So f* off back to your house, Meister.

Do they sell detergent that is gentle on sensitive skin like Era in the States? My skin is unfortunately very temperamental and I'd like to avoid getting an unnecessary skin rash..especially in my first months there...

Munich water is terrible, in Berlin it's a bit better.
I would suggest you, when you wash, to add some citric acid("Reine Citronen Säure") to the detergent.
You can easily find it at dm but do read carefully the instructions on the box before using it (it can be harmful).

Stepper: you can find bleach in any Italian supermarket (in Munich I only know Spina).

I can certainly wash my clothes any day of the week I so chose to do so and have been doing so for over ten years now. Don't care about a friggin hausverordnung as the weekend is when I get laundry done. I take the liberty to think outside the box. I don't have a problem with my washed clothes being hard. My only issue with laundry is dry cleaning is so expensive in Germany.

*heads to do a load of laundry and it's Sonntag*

It is amongst Europe's BEST water.
It is SO good, the bottled mineral water companies went to court to stop the SWM advertising how good it is.

It's hard, water from the mountains has that physical property.

@ Gazza, a lot of supposed "Hausordnungs" are illegal. You can do laundry in your own flat WHENEVER you like.

It's a wind up right? "Do they sell bleach in Germany?"

Same here. I also don't have a problem. I don't use anti-kalk tabs but I use softener and dryer sheets.