York is a university town and we love all the students who come to stay and study with us. This means we often get calls for laundry advice and what services we offer students who live in York. Keen to ensure we are giving answers to the most regularly asked questions, we did our homework and visited the chat rooms of www.thestudentroom.co.uk to find out…

Here’s our quick student laundry guide:

1. Check the wash labels stitched into the seams of your clothes. They are there to help keep your stuff looking good. If it says hand wash, then hand wash; wool wash then use the wool setting on the machine. Not sure what the different symbols mean? Check out our quick washing symbols guide here.

2.  Separate your washes: whites and coloureds. Regularly washing your whites with other colours will mean they will turn an unsexy shade of grey.

3.  Turn jeans inside out, otherwise the colour may go streaky. If they are new, wash them on their own a few times to stop any excess dye leaching on to your other clothes.

4.  Turn printed T-shirts and clothes with rhinestones or fancy decoration inside out in order to protect them.

5.  ALWAYS close all zips or you’ll find little holes in your T-shirts caused by the zip teeth snagging on the fabric during the wash cycle.

6.  To keep track of your undies and socks, use a net wash bag – that way you won’t lose your lucky pants!

7.  Most clothes will wash at 30 degrees (check the label) and modern detergents promote this. This is better for the environment and the life of your clothes. Check out our wash temperature guide.

8.  News flash… Germs are killed at 60 degrees*, so for stuff like towels, pants and bed sheets use higher temperatures and DON’T PACK THE WASHER or DRYER DRUM TOO TIGHT (this applies to all washes) – over filling means your stuff won’t get clean (or dry) and you’ve wasted your money and effort. For big jobs like this try use larger laundrette machines for clean, fresh and dry towels and bedding. It’s really hard to properly air-dry bedding in your room though many try…

9.  It you choose to air dry clothes in your room on a clothes horse keep the window open to air the room, even in winter, or you’ll get condensation forming along with mould and unpleasant damp smells (nasty).

10. Stick your damp shirts and T shirts on a coat hanger (can be off your curtain rail!), this will save you a lot of ironing and will also help the garment to keep its shape… If you do like ironing, brilliant, so do we, please enjoy our ironing tips…

11. A cheap popup laundry basket is a really fast way to clear the floor.

12. Pongy washing machine? We’ve got a quick, cheap and painless answer!

If you feel your laundry is getting the better of you, never fear,  just call our laundry line, (pun intended) help is always at hand – fresh, clean and ironed for you!

*NHS