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To the person/people who shares our washing machine in our apartment building; STOP USING THAT CHEAP-ASS FUCKING POWDERED LAUNDRY DETERGENT! It leaves so much fucking residue in the machine, and a ton of undissolved powder and granules inside and all over the lid. I have a feeling this shit was responsible for the recent ruination of one of my favorite pairs of pants when they developed “splotches” on them after being put through a cycle in the machine that you had just used. I spent 10 minutes scraping your shitty-ass undissolved powder out of the machine before using it, and this STILL happened. Spent the extra twenty cents and get the liquid stuff, you broke-ass moron!
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Mainly due to #1, I was excited to be doing laundry at my in-laws’ while we’re visitng for Christmas. But wait - THEY DON’T HAVE HOT WATER HOOKED UP TO THE WASHING MACHINE BECAUSE IT’S “WASTEFUL!” @#$%* Have you ever tried taking a shower in ice cold water? Doing dishes in a sink of clammy water? SHIT DOES NOT GET CLEAN IN ICE COLD WATER. Heat is a FUNDAMENTAL aspect of cleaning - you need heat, combined with the soap, to break down the oils that are what make clothes “dirty.” WASHING MY CLOTHES IN ICE COLD WATER IS THE SAME AS NOT WASHING THEM AT ALL!!!
[QUOTE=Freejooky]
- To the person/people who shares our washing machine in our apartment building; STOP USING THAT CHEAP-ASS FUCKING POWDERED LAUNDRY DETERGENT! It leaves so much fucking residue in the machine, and a ton of undissolved powder and granules inside and all over the lid. I have a feeling this shit was responsible for the recent ruination of one of my favorite pairs of pants when they developed “splotches” on them after being put through a cycle in the machine that you had just used. I spent 10 minutes scraping your shitty-ass undissolved powder out of the machine before using it, and this STILL happened. Spent the extra twenty cents and get the liquid stuff, you broke-ass moron!
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Maybe they should just be taught some common courtesy. My mother always told me to clean up after myself.
Actually, I’ve always used powdered detergent of one kind or another, and I’ve never had this problem. Perhaps they’re just using too much of it? Or if they overload the washer with clothes, then the soap doesn’t dissolve in because the washer doesn’t agitate well when it’s too full of clothes?
It’s still wrong that they’re leaving such a mess behind though.
Again, I almost always use cold water wash and rinse, and my clothes come clean just fine. The only time I use hot is for towels, bedding, etc… and for white clothing.
But it is still silly that they don’t have the hot hooked up at all. Hooking it up wouldn’t be “wasteful”, even if they think using it all the time is. If you have hot water hooked up, you can still use cold most of the time, and only use hot when you really need it.
What Waenara said. I use powder and cold water on my clothes and everything comes out nice, clean, and smelling nice and without any sort of residue in the machine. Sounds like the person is just dumping too much detergent in there.
Cold showers and cold dishwashing is just weird though. Even during the height of summer, I can only tolerate a lukewarm shower. Cool or cold? Hell no.
What Waenara said. I use powder and cold water on my clothes and everything comes out nice, clean, and smelling nice and without any sort of residue in the machine. Sounds like the person is just dumping too much detergent in there.
Cold showers and cold dishwashing is just weird though. Even during the height of summer, I can only tolerate a lukewarm shower. Cool or cold? Hell no.
Waenara is right on #1. They’re either using too much powder or they’re putting two loads of wash in. Either way, they’re being idiots. Could you leave a note on the washer?
Waenara is also right on #2. (Why am I posting?) Most laundry detergents now are designed to work just fine in cold water.
I had a landlord who “didn’t believe in anything but cold water for washing clothes”. Well, I can agree with the clothes. But, my allergist said it’s imperative that I wash my laundry in HOT water to kill them nasty assed bed bugs. He even had a certain degree temperature and had me check my hot water heater to make sure it was hot enough (this was before I moved into landlord situation). I lived there 1.5 years, every night thinking of my bed bugs multiplying. I tried to comfort myself by saying the drier killed them.
As a side rant, I just used front loading mega washer at laundry mat for first time. I used bleach on my sheets and comforter which is light blue. Yes, my comforter is now RUINED. I’m pissed. My fault. I know how to use bleach on a colored comforter in top loader, very carefully. I am 38 and I know better than to experiment with bleach. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I think TJ Max discontinued this comforter too. Dammit.
Highjack/ If you have allergies, don’t you also have sensitive skin? If you do, doesn’t using bleach on your sheets irritate? I know it would cause big skin problems with me. I would love to use bleach on my sheets, though- working in a dermatology office has taught me that clothes, sheets, towels, and washcloths are all very nasty things once used. /highjack
I wash all my laundry in cold water, with powdered detergent.
It gets good and clean, and there’s no residue. (I often have black-only loads, so I think I’d notice.)
A little detergent is more than adequate to handle sweat and everyday dirt, and hot water tends to work a little too well – it takes the dye out of your clothes, making them look “worn” faster.
It boggles my mind that left-over detergent remains undissolved in the next wash. Are you sure that it’s actually detergent, and not calcium carbonate or something equally wacky from someone’s workclothes?
When you say “bed bugs,” do you mean “bed bugs,” or something else? I mean, dealing with an infestation is one thing, but you either have 'em or you don’t – and when you have 'em, you can see them. Why would you expect them in a new location? Do you live somewhere that bed bugs are ubiquitous?
Ick, now I have an all-over itch and heebie-jeebies just thinking about them. Ick ick ick.
She probably means dust mites. They are everywhere, especially in your bedding. They eat the skin cells that you constantly slough off, and their carcasses often provoke allergic reactions and/or asthma.
If you thinkthat’s gross, just think: there are microscopic critters living in your eyelashes. Shudder.
I must be lucky because the bleached sheets don’t bother me. But, slap a band aid on my skin for 2 days and you’d think you’d put acid on my body. Even the latex free band aids make my skin peel for a week or more.
And ya, I mean them dust mites. They’re these bugs that eat dead skin and they are in everyone’s bed, not like 10 or 100 in your bed, thousands! Even in your bed.
Sometimes knowledge is a very bad thing. I hate thinking about them eyelash bugs. And I’ve tried to block out what I heard about them butt bugs, the ones that crawl out at night. Maybe a smarter SDMB person remembers what them butt bugs are called and can do a link to that thread. YUK
“Butt bugs” are pinworms. I like “butt bugs” better, though.
From here on out, “pinworms” shall never pass my lips. (Eww!) Butt-bugs forever! 
Okay, I’m not about to disillusion you any further here – because that would be mean.
OK, it’s very late, but I went the extra mile to find a link to show everyone how terribly nasty these bugs in my bed are. Now I’m all tense and itchy and I gotta get to sleep. Should have great dreams tonight.
Link to good pictures of nasty bugs and recap of every nook and cranny they’re hiding. OH, and there’s 100,000 to a million in your bed, my mistake there.
hahha, sleep well everyone.
I prefer to think of it as being like a really, really tiny cattle ranch. Get along, lil’ dogies! I mean, I wasn’t gonna eat that dead skin, so why not let my tiny livestock have it?
And I wash everything but sheets and towels in cold water. I’m a very careful launderer. My stuff gets plenty clean; you should only wash in hot if you really need to, either because of what’s on your clothes or for reasons like allergies. Hot water ages your clothes and can be nasty to certain fabrics.
I wash all my clothes in cold water, but that’s because they’re all black. The fastest way to fade black is to wash it in hot water. They get clean just fine.
But still, people should be considerate.
I bought a new bed awhile back, and the guy from the furniture store who delivered it said that one reason that new mattresses are lighter than old ones, is because the old ones are so full of dust mites – enough of them to add noticeably to the weight.
I hope he was pullihg my leg.