We just had a huge debate here about what is needed
to get clothes clean. Someone was amazed that all
I use is liquid soap and washing soda. She uses
a pre-soak, stain stick, detergent, bleach,
fabric softener, and dryer sheets.
Isn’t laundry suppose to make clothes free of
foreign stuff? At some point aren’t you putting
in more than you need or should use.
Damnit… Now I have that Mathew Wilder song Break my Stride in my head. Curse you!!
However, as the one who does the laundry I generally use just soap. Depends on the stain I guess.
All I use is liquid detergent. I remember reading an article in Consumer Reports not long ago about this. IIRC, they found that washing without detergent was almost as good as using the detergent manufacturer’s recommended amount. CR recommended using less than the recommended amount since it’s the washing machine action that does most of the work.
I think they also said to pre-treat stains if you weren’t going to wash the item for a few days so the stain didn’t have a chance to set.
When I do my own laundry, I use Shout Stain Stick to get rid of stains and Tide Clean Rinse as detergent. If I remember it, I’ll use Bounce in the dryer.
But usually I’m lazy and I drag my dirty clothes to the laundry service where they hurt me by using really crappy detergent that gives me hives. I’d rather have hives than do laundry, though. Sad.
you need to be careful with some items, for example you shouldn’t use liquid detergent on Gortex or water-proof items, as it tends to break down the effectness.
Also, does anyone know how to get out blood? I mean alot of blood. And bone fragments.
Um, I’m asking for a friend of mine.
Also, does anyone know how to get out blood? I mean alot of blood. And bone fragments.
Um, I’m asking for a friend of mine. **
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OKAY! A good soak in washing soda will remove
almost anything. Borax is also good. Meat
tenderizer and/or cornstarch can also be
used on blood.
Cold water and only cold water. Ice water if possible. The colder the better. Got it?
As for bone fragments - they’ll come out in the dryer. Be sure to clean the lint screen.
I disagree with decreasing the amount of detergent and getting equally clean clothes. I have a very dear friend who always has clothes that could just be cleaner and brighter. Instead, they’re dingy. When I visited her last I washed a load of clothes, with some of her family’s mixed in, and they were fine. She did a load later, with some of mine mixed in (some clothes were identical) and my stuff just wasnt’ as clean.
So- I use Spray and Wash or similar on stains- I have two small children so unknown or known stuff is on their clothes all the time. I use Tide with colorsafe Bleach. I loathe fabric softener. I use chlorine bleach now and then.
I disagree with decreasing the amount of detergent and getting equally clean clothes. I have a very dear friend who always has clothes that could just be cleaner and brighter. Instead, they’re dingy. When I visited her last I washed a load of clothes, with some of her family’s mixed in, and they were fine. She did a load later, with some of mine mixed in (some clothes were identical) and my stuff just wasnt’ as clean.
So- I use Spray and Wash or similar on stains- I have two small children so unknown or known stuff is on their clothes all the time. I use Tide with colorsafe Bleach. I loathe fabric softener. I use chlorine bleach now and then. I don’t understand dryer sheets. My clothes are plenty soft with just the dryer- even line dried clothes are nice.
Liquid Tide with bleach. Nothing else will do. I pretreat stains with stain remover (the name I can’t think of right now), and use Downey.
Treating socks that have been worn outside without shoes, chocolate stains on white shirts, Kool-Aid stains, popsicle and freezie treats, grass stains and a wide variety of other substances that my kids manage to get on themselves takes a strict washing routine.
Generic and cheap stuff just doesn’t work, no matter how many times I optimistically try it.
For detergent, I use just what’s on sale, which is usually something like All or Cheer. My secret is REAL Downy (no cheap knock-offs) in a Downy Ball. Makes your clothes smell really good, plus they get nice and soft. My fiance did his laundry here once when he stayed for a week, and he’s never gone without Downy since.
Don’t use fabric softener on towels. It (supposedly) makes them less absorbent.
My stain remover for stubborn stuff is 1 cup Cascade (dishwashing stuff) and 1 cup Clorox 2. Put them both in the washer, let it fill with HOT water, put in the clothes, let it agitate for a couple minutes, then turn off the washer and let the whole mess sit overnight. Then in the morning turn it back on and finish the wash cycle. Guarnteed clean. Great for food stains and kid-generated stains.
Consumer Reports did a report on laundry detergents a while back and yes, you can use about half of what the bottle recommends.
Anyone ever tried those laundry balls? The ceramic disks you use instead of detergent?
How do dryer antistatic sheets work?
Do ‘laundry balls’ that supposedly replace detergent really work?
Also, does anyone know how to get out blood?
A friend of mine, who is a doula, uses cold water and salt. I tried it after my son had a nose bleed and found it worked remarkably well. The salt seemed to help “lift out” the blood from the fibers.
When not cleaning up bodily fluids, I use Tide with color safe bleach.
one word: SOAK. most washers seems to have a really wussy soak cycle, if they have one at all. Once, when I was in Eastern Europe I washed my clothes in a machine that had a 2hour soak cycle. These were very, very dirty clothes I was on the verge of throwing away. And the detergent was cheapo Bulgarian powdered stuff. They got so clean you wouldn’t believe it. Ever since then, if my clothes are really dirty I let em soak at least a 1/2 hour. (if your machine doesn’t have a soak cycle built in, just lift the lid after the machine is done filling with water.)
A couple squirts of Culligan’s concentrated detergent in the washer, half a Snuggle sheet in the dryer. Cold water whenever possible.
I have stopped using laundry detergent. I now use laundry soap. It’s called Fresh Breeze and I get it at the Trader Joe’s. Fabulous stuff. It is way cheap ($6.99 for over 100 uses)and gets my clothes just as clean as the Tide H.E. detergent I was using. Here is the link for the makers’ site: http://www.soapworks.com.
I never use any kind of fabric softener. It leaves some kind of weird film on clothes. Because of this, you aren’t supposed to use it with high-tech synthetics, like Capilene long underwear. Since half my laundry is made up of this sort of stuff, I really can’t use it. Plus, I don’t understand why it is needed. My clothes are soft without that stuff. Besides, I don’t like pouring extra crap into the waste stream if I can help it.
I’ve heard that hydrogen peroxide works well on blood stains. Are the bone fragments embedded in the cloth or just stuck to the blood?
Bah! Kinsey beat me to the punch. Automatic dishwashing detergent is fantastic stain killer. It can also bleach color out, so you have to be careful.
I used to just use detergent (anything but Tide, it gives me a rash). Now that I am doing baby laundry, I use Spray-N-Wash and Totally Toddler by the gallon, too. Also, I started to buy color-safe bleach.
I love bleach (the chlorine kind) for whites but I know it’s hard on clothes. I try to resist but when I do indulge… ahhhhhh I could get high sniffing those bleachy clothes. I love that smell. An early love of mine was a lifeguard…
Also, to add to Green Bean’s comment: fabric softener will ruin Rayon. It sticks the fibers and won’t come out. Many “dry clean only” rayon fabrics are in fact washable as long as you make sure no fabric softener is used. Cranky’s Tip O’ The Day!
Dress shirts (mostly Cotton Oxfords) and slacks go to the cleaners, while everything else goes to the wash and fold by the pound ladies at the laundromat. My T-shirts and white socks come back nice and bright, and they never giggle about the undewear.
Era, half the amount they say on the bottle, no fabric softener!!!
I get rashes from some laundry detergents.