Can You Machine Wash Pillows, Weighted Blankets, Electric Blankets and Uggs?

Most synthetic and down pillows wash fine, two at a time to keep the drum balanced, warm gentle cycle, extra rinse. The drying is what matters: tumble dry low with two dry towels or dryer balls until there is no cold, heavy patch in the middle. Memory foam is the exception and never goes in a machine.

It depends on the filling and your machine. Glass-bead blankets up to about 7kg are usually machine washable; anything heavier can damage a domestic drum, and wet weight is far higher than dry. Check the care label first, some have a removable cover that is the only part meant to be washed.

Never machine wash with the controller attached, never tumble dry, never dry clean, solvent damages the wiring insulation. Some modern blankets with a fully detachable cord allow a short gentle hand wash, but only if the manufacturer says so in writing. If in doubt, spot clean and air dry flat.

Water and heat dissolve the adhesive and harden the sheepskin, so a machine wash turns them stiff and misshapen even when they survive it. Use a suede brush and a sheepskin cleaner, work in cold water, stuff with paper and dry away from sun and heaters.

Most are washable on a cold gentle cycle with a down-safe detergent, never fabric softener, which collapses the loft. The down clumps when wet and needs a long low tumble dry with dryer balls to come back. If the label says dry clean, send it: a puffer jacket is $35 with us.

Washable in principle, impossible in most domestic machines. A queen doona needs room to move for water and detergent to reach the filling, and it needs to dry all the way through. Damp filling grows mould, and the smell shows up a week later when it is too late.

Warm gentle wash, low heat drying. The waterproof membrane in most protectors is what fails first, and high dryer heat is what kills it. Wash every month or two.

Fabric and mesh shoes survive a cold gentle cycle in a mesh bag with the laces and insoles removed. Leather, suede and anything glued rather than stitched should not go near a machine. Air dry only, a dryer warps the sole.

Only on a genuine wool cycle, cold, with wool detergent, and never in a dryer. Agitation plus heat is what felts wool, and felting is permanent. When a jumper matters, dry cleaning is the safer route.

Water relaxes the interfacing in tailored garments and the shoulders never sit the same again. Silk water-spots and loses its finish. These are what dry cleaning exists for.