As part of an overall general hygiene routine, it is also recommended to do a monthly maintenance wash to clean the washing machine: A hot wash at 60Cº, or preferably 90Cº with no clothes and a standard dose of powder detergent containing active-oxygen bleach. You may notice that ratings for top loader detergents are much lower than for front loader detergents. Fairy recommends rinsing the sponge after washing-up, adding anti-bacterial Fairy liquid, and squeezing it to distribute the liquid more evenly. You're more likely to catch something directly from the people around you, especially those coughing and sneezing, or from your hands.

Washing with an effective detergent like Persil Bio is also important to make sure your clothes are properly clean. We put 33 bio and non-bio washing powders, liquids and capsules through our tough cleaning tests so we can reveal the best – as well as the worst. Coming in at fifth place is Aldi Laundrite Laundry Powder, which, although just missing out on being recommended by our experts, offers some serious value for money at only 11 cents a wash. viruses* and bacteria, it works even at 20°C or a quick wash, so is effective without damaging your coloured clothes or fabrics. These are specially designed and tested to kill bacteria and/or viruses and can be recognized by the antibacterial claims on the packaging.Whether you have down-filled comforters, sleeping bags, winter jackets, pillows, or all of these, the right cleaning steps will ensure they stay silky soft and freshly scented. It is important to point out this ingredient is added to most regular powders to provide whiteness and cleaning performance, but is not present in powders designed for ‘colour care’. The CHOICE laundry lab has conducted its latest round of testing detergents, analysing more than 70 popular laundry powders, laundry liquids and laundry capsules for their cleaning prowess – or lack of.

So there's no need for a special antibacterial washing-up liquid if you're worried about COVID-19 or salmonella. You may see some laundry detergents that come with antibacterial claims, as well as products you can soak your clothes in to kill bacteria, such as the Dettol Laundry Cleanser, as seen above. In other unfortunate news for our hip pockets, only two out of the top 10 performers are supermarket own-brand products. Laundry detergent pods are considerably more expensive per wash than liquid or powder detergent, and our testing shows that they don't always perform as well," says Matthew.For more ways to keep your household running smoothly, sign up for our Home newsletter – it's free monthly. It's a huge win for Omo in our latest test of laundry detergents, with four of its products topping the results this year, and a further two Omo products making it into our top 10. We can’t see the germs on our clothing, so it’s vital to know how to kill germs in laundry routines effectively. Two of our five bottom performers for front loaders are capsules, with Surf Tropical Capsules and Surf Aqua Fresh Capsulesscoring just 53% and 54% in our testing despite the fact they cost over 40c per wash. Although we do recommend eight capsule products, on the whole they don't perform as well as liquids or powders.

See the user manual of your washing machine for more guidance or read our washing machine care tips. Powder detergent - great for extra bright whites and heavily soiled items, but tends to fade coloured fabrics. COVID-19 is an enveloped virus, which means that the RNA (nucleic acid - the viral genetic material) is coated in a lipid (fatty) layer. Washing your hands regularly is likely to be significantly more important than clothes washing at preventing most infections. And Coles Tropical Paradise Concentrate Laundry Powder also made the top 10, costing 25 cents a wash.Ariel Antibacterial is a laundry detergent giving you the hi stain removal performance of Ariel with the added benefit of laundry disinfection - even at 40ºC. You may think that washing on the highest temperature setting is the only way you’ll get a thorough clean, but doing so may actually damage your garments and their colours, plus it’s also costing you more in energy. From clever products that boost sanitation to the basic principles of sanitising clothes in the wash, get the know-how you need here.