Keep the front door open after you take a load out, to help the water in the door gasket evaporate. If the spin speed has been slower and the gasket is wetter than usual, I'll stuff a rag in the gasket for a while too, to help absorb the extra water.

I dilute my liquid laundry detergent; it was recommended by the manufacturer of the last set I had, and it makes sense to me......I know using too much liquid detergent can gunk up the pipes and shorten its lifespan, so I also add a bit of water to the detergent before starting the machine too.

That's it! Easy peasy.

Good habits are to not use too much detergent or softener and do a hot wash here and there. FL washers use little water and a smaller dose of detergent is needed, usually half of the recommended dose. The liquid detergents that are super concentated are tricky to dose correctly so be careful. I find powder detergents easier but they are hard to find. Also it is not that expensive to run a sanitary or real hot wash once a while and that cleans the machine nice (and the linens!). If you only wash in cold then you should run the washer’s cleaning cycle maybe once a month. And leave the door ajar. I dont use bleach and I dont wipe the gasket and my machine looks litteraly like new. However, I would be more concerned if I lived in a very humid place and my laundry room didnt have ac. In that case I would probably use a rag to wipe the gasket and be more careful.

Best practice is not wash in cold unless the fabric absolutely cannot take some mild heat. Water temperatures nowdays are restricted by energy concerns vs. what they were in the past ... particularly on the designated Normal cycle which is the basis for energy ratings. Warm may be 75°F to 85°F on Normal. Hot may be a whopping 95°F to 110°F. Keep in mind that dryers are typically 135°F at low temperature, 125°F for extra low.

Fewer and fewer new front load washers are not offering TRUE Sanitize washes (meaning they don't get up to 152 degrees fahrenheit or 131 degrees for the Allergen cycle as per NSF protocols). So be mindful of that.

"Sanitize with Oxi" to me is not the same as bringing the temperature of the water to at least 152F or 131.

I do a Sanitize cycle on my whites ever once in a while to help keep the washer itself clean.

My Electrolux reminds me to do a "Clean Cycle" every 50 washes, which is just a cup of liquid bleach and water splashed around and then rinsed out. I do it religiously even though I use bleach weekly on my whites (nowhere near a cup though on a regular load).

Keep door open after use for at least the first 24 hours.

Wipe out the detergent drawer and compartment the drawer slides into after you're done with laundry for the day.

Wipe down gasket after use.

I never use COLD. Warm for colors and Hot for whites.

Depending on your water hardness or softness, use Tablespoons to measure. I use 2 Tablespoons for my weekly sized color and white load. You will have to experiment with how much you will need. You don't want suds, just bubbles.

I always use an extra rinse. My washer maxes out at three, some machines offer more rinses. You want to have as little detergent residue left behind on your clothes as well as your machine as possible.

I agree with everything george and dadoes say about using warm and hot washes and cleaning the machine on a regular basis. I also believe realistic expectations need to be addressed. I used FS in both of my FL washers, which meant no matter how hard I tried, there would be some mold introduced. I routinely removed the dispenser drawer, washed it and used a toothbrush to clean as much of the dispenser drawer compartment I could. I left the door ajar and left the drawer itself ajar as well. I had read enough here for years about not using FS for various reasons, but it was how I chose to do our laundry, and was willing to do routine cleaning as a result. Our first washer lasted for 10 years when the spider arm gave way. The second one was over 6 years old when we sold the house. I really prefer an appliance last for as long as it possibly can, but I do not expect a washer to last 25 years, and I don't want to alter my own preferences in doing laundry unless it clearly damages either the fabrics or the mechanicals.

I think the main thing is to always leave the door open. I have been using front loaders for 24 years and have never had a trace of mold. I very occasionally run the clean washer cycle and I always use only powders in my machine.

This is all extremely helpful information. Thank you so much! I should mention that I live in an area that is very humid most of the year. However, our laundry room in our current place is inside. Does that make much of a difference in anyway?