Thanks to COVID-19, we are living in a time when there is an increased paranoia about the usual Winter bugs. What we may have shrugged off in years gone by and put down to usual bugs circulating this time of year, we no longer can. If being off-colour happens to involve a high temperature or a cough in particular, COVID testing has got to take place and isolation until the results come back.

This is a very different world for everyone, one, much more suited to the movies than ‘real’ life it feels.

Despite how unreal this all seems some days, it is very much a thing and unfolding day-by-day still at the moment. How are you holding up?

Protecting yourself and others

We all know now that washing our hands, social distancing and wearing masks/face coverings helps us and others to stay safe and virus free. There are no excuses for this.

We know that we need to be mindful about being thorough with our disinfecting at home and that in public places cleaning regimes have been significantly upped to try to combat the virus, including things like fogging in schools and workplaces.

What about our clothing? We wash our hands but what about the clothes we are wearing?

There is still some debate about how long the virus can remain on clothing, towels and bedding and there remain a few theories on this, but what we do know is that clothing, towels and bedding can be a breeding ground for bacteria, so it seems sensible to assume that could also be the case here.

Extra Laundry Protection

I’ve written here before about how we can carefully clean our clothes in the COVID-19 era and the steps we should take.

In addition to washing, drying, regularly changing and taking care to clean both our washing machines and tumble dryers, what else can we be doing?

Pre-COVID I always had a bottle of laundry disinfectant in the cupboard. Anytime anyone had a sickness bug, I would wash all their bedding, towels etc on a hot wash and add the laundry disinfectant. I would follow that with running washing machine disinfectant through the machine, before I washed anything else.

This was always my attempt to try and contain the bugs and keep them from whistling through the entire family.

Since COVID-19 reared it’s ugly head I’ve made sure I’ve always got a stock of laundry disinfectant and laundry disinfectant sprays for those items that cannot be easily or frequently washed. Realistically you can’t be washing things like coats and jackets or shackets everyday, also there are things like shoes that are exposed to germs all the time but we can’t always wash easily – that’s where these sprays come in really handy, just that added reassurance during these crazy times.

Buy adding a capful of laundry disinfectant (there are tons of different brands available) to each wash at the moment, I feel as if I am more thoroughly disinfecting the families’ clothing, especially thins like school uniform, where the children are coming in contact with lots of other people. I include facemasks in this as well, if you are wearing re-useable facemasks you should be washing these daily. Ours are on a constant rotation through the wash as the two older children wear them at school, as well as swimming training (up until the point you have to get into the water of course).

I then make sure I spray all the shoes, coats, jackets, bags, lunchboxes etc with a laundry disinfectant spray – again, there are lots of different brands and fragrances available, you can even get seasonal with your chosen fragrances if you wish! This is a good approach for any delicate fabrics as well that may be prone to bobbling with excessive washing. I would also include things like this long black cardigan in this category.

Have you altered your laundry habits since the pandemic began? Do let me know what’s changed in a comment below. Also, what have you been wearing during the raging pandemic? FYI, little satin dresses work as nightdresses these days – what’s that phrase…all dressed up and nowhere to go?

This is a collaborative article.