Rinso, you just gave me the laugh of the day!
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I use cold water washes all the time, with excellent results. I also measure my detergent carefully to minimize the amount of rinsing needed to get all of it out. Have never used fabric softeners. Always use bleach in the whites. And I line-dry so I don't need to use the dryer often. At least two of those habits are enough to get me in trouble 'round here
BTW, to prevent stiff towels if you line-dry: When the towels come out of the washer after final spin, put them in the tumble dryer for 3 to 5 minutes with no heat, and then hang 'em up on the line to dry. They'll dry fluffy, not stiff & scratchy. The initial tumbling makes the difference.
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Pet peeves:
People whose idea of a full load is to press it all down two or three times to be sure it all fits when they squeeze the lid closed as if they're trying to trap an unruly ghost in there. Small loads with enough water to cleanse the Augean stables. People who think they're abstract artists, liquid detergent is paint, and the top of the washer is a canvas.
Idiots who let the door of a top loader drop closed with a loud *clang!*, or who slam a front loader closed like a car door in a movie about gangsters.
The same idiots who usually leave the door closed after each load to be sure something greenish-white & fuzzy starts growing in there, on the hopes that if they don't win the lottery, they can strike it rich by selling the greenish-white fuzz to the military for use in bioterrorism preparedness drills.
A particular idiot freeloader who overstayed his welcome by two months and put his stinky wet sneakers directly into the dryer (without washing them first!), by themselves, where they banged around like trapped animals and caused the heating element to fail ($60 in parts..). And then denied that the heating element was his responsibility.
Idiots whose idea of cleaning a lint filter is to bang it upside down on any available metallic surface, accompanied by much raising of dust.
Idiots who will twist the knob of an automatic machine all the way 'round the dial without pulling it out first or otherwise stopping the machine, accompanied by the expected painful sound effects.
End-of-load beepers that are left turned up so loud you think the fire alarm has gone off.
Worst of all: criminally insane idiots whose IQ is lower than room temperature, who put clothes in a laundromat dryer without removing their packs of chewing gum from their pockets, so that the gum falls out (if it hasn't already in the washer) and melts into a gross sticky mass that gets all over anything the next person puts in the dryer! Yes, I've seen wads of gum on the inside of public dryers, and have had at least one shirt ruined thereby.
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