http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=353x1718Oh my.
This bonfire was lit more than a year ago, but it's still smouldering.
eleny (1000+ posts) Thu Jan-24-08 11:08 PM
Original message
Some laundry talk
I have a 10 year old front loading washer. It works great. But I read the user manual again to refresh my memory on things like how much detergent to use and what features to use for various fabrics. I learned how much I forgot and how I've fallen into some bad laundry habits that could have shortened the life of the machine. I'm now using less water, chemicals and power because of the mini "refresher course".
It all started when, recently, I noticed that I had spots on my stretch cotton tees coming out of the dryer. So I switched from fabric softener to plain vinegar. That was after I cleaned the supply drawer and its cavity in our front loading washer. It was so gunky with soap and softener residue that it was probably contributed to the spots.
Now, I put just a little bit of liquid detergent directly onto the clothes and then a small splash of vinegar into the detergent dispenser (to help clean that feed line). And I'm using straight white vinegar in the softener dispenser.
The laundry is coming out clean and soft. When I left the cotton sheets sitting in the dryer overnight, they got chilly and smelled like wash off the line on a windy day.
I'm not anti-softener. It's supposed to deteriorate fabric and I don't question that. But I've kept clothes for so many years that I can get sick and tired of them and donate them since they've been in great shape. So I think that softener's bad reputation is a little overblown. But I am glad that I've switched to a vinegar rinse.
Grandma's friend:
sazemisery (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 04:56 AM
Response to Original message
1. I have used vinegar for some time now.
The dryer sheets seemed to leave residue on some fabrics. The vinegar works quite well for me. I use a homemade soap I purchase through our coop. The ingredients are Old-Fashion Lye, Fels-Naptha Soap, Borax, and Washing Soda. You only use a tablespoon so I can do 64 loads from a 2 quart container.
Grandma:
hippywife (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 07:57 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. I'm thinking of trying the one from the Rowdy Stickhorse. Have you tried that one? Which reminds me, I need to print off the app for the co-op and get it mailed in.
sazemisery (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 08:14 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. Yes, I use it also and used it regularly until I discovered the one from Upper Red Fork. It is better on tough stains and on whites. I have found I don't have to use bleach unless I need it for its disinfecting properties.
eleny (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 10:49 AM
Response to Reply #4
7. That homemade soap sounds great
Most of our clothes don't get tough stains since we're retired now. But I'll be gardening more this summer and expect to have some clothes that I'll need to soak in the work sink.
hippywife (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #4
10. I applied to the coop this morning and I mailed the check for the membership, too. I also use borax and only a little bleach because of the septic tank and because, well...it's bleach. The laundry soap is a little pricey but I really, really want to find something local and natural that works.
I've been using Seventh Generation dish soap but will want to change that up, too, to a local product, too. What do you use for dishes?
hippywife (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 07:00 AM
Response to Original message
2. I don't use softener and haven't for a while.
And I don't use a dryer, either, but I've noticed for years that every once in a while, there are some type of residue spots on some of the clothes. They are white and mimic the holes in the washer tub. This was happening even before I stopped using softener and was still using the dryer. I thought switching from a powdered to a liquid would take care of the problem but it didn't entirely.
Thanx for giving me the idea of running vinegar through the washer. I just bought a gallon of white vinegar and I think I'll try running the washer without clothes and add the vinegar to the water.
sazemisery (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 08:16 AM
Response to Reply #2
5. Hard water deposits most likely
The vinegar will dissolve hard water deposits which we suffer from here in OKlahoma.
hippywife (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 05:22 PM
Response to Reply #5
9. Do you have a well or city water?
We get water from a rural water district in Okmulgee but it's supposed to be Tulsa water. I dunno. Anyway, I did run a maxi wash this morning with about 2 cups of white vinegar. We'll see how that works.
sazemisery (1000+ posts) Sat Jan-26-08 06:42 AM
Response to Reply #9
13. Rural Water District
Water is very HARD. I use the vinegar on my shower heads every 3 months to keep them unclogged.
eleny (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 10:45 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. I had to run a few short washes to clear that soap line
I notice now that when the water starts into the tub through the dispenser drawer no suds appear.
hippywife (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 05:27 PM
Response to Reply #6
11. I don't have any additional dispenser lines or anything. Everything just goes in the tub. Hopefully, the vinegar will do the job. Don't know why I didn't think of that myself.
The warped primitive:
Warpy (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 02:24 PM
Response to Original message
8. Water here in NM is hard as a rock and alkaline so if I want to get some really filthy stuff clean, I use Borax in the wash and vinegar in the rinse. That seems to get rid of everything, including my cat's occasional "my dish is empty so I'm peeing on this throw rug" protests.
I tried Oxy-Clean and that stuff did shorten the life of fabric.
I use a little vinegar in wash water even with Synthropol when I'm washing wool. Any alkalinity will cause wool to felt and shorten the life of the garment. If I've gone to the trouble to spin the yarn and knit the damned thing, I'm going to make sure it lasts!
eleny (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-25-08 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #8
12. I used to sell my art works printed on fabric
I did my printing on an Epson home printer. My recommendation was that the prints be washed with Synthropol. That stuff is so gentle. Now I have to admit that I've never washed woolens in it. Doh! But I will from now on. Woolite is not nearly as safe. I think it has some bleach in it. But whatever it has, Synthropol doesn't.
Ms. Ed, the unappellated eohippus:
Horse with no Name (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 05:50 AM
Response to Original message
14. Tell me how the vinegar works
I just bought a new front loading washer. I usually use fabric softener sheets in the dryer and skip on the washer.
How much do you use?
I've never heard of this and am intrigued.
eleny (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 05:42 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. My front loader has a dispenser drawer with a bin for each - soap, bleach and softener. I now put vinegar into the softener bin up to the fill line. That seems to be working fine. I stopped using the sheets in the dryer and I'm not having trouble with cling. That surprised me. But I don't wear too many synthetics.
Which model do you have?
yy4me (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-27-08 03:21 PM
Response to Original message
15. I stopped using fabric softener years ago for both $$$ and allergy reasons. I just coped with the cling. Some time ago, because the allergies were getting worse, I switched to Charlie's Soap. I find that the "cling" in my dried clothes is considerably less. We have discussed whether this is because we have a better soap. Charlie's is an all natural product and seems to rinse clean and leave no residue. Was it the residue left from the old soaps causing the "cling"?
kittykitty (914 posts) Sat May-09-09 05:59 PM
Response to Original message
17. I've used white vinegar for softener for 10 years in my front loader, too.
Dryer sheets contribute to dryer fires. They coat the mesh of the dryer lint trap, and the thing can become flammable. Don't know if that's true for liquid fabric softener.
eleny (1000+ posts) Sat May-09-09 07:51 PM
Response to Reply #17
18. Every once in a while I use 1/2 a dryer sheet
When I wash things that are prone to much static. It would be awful to have a dryer fire.
What franksolich does is takes his own dirty laundry to the neighbor who lives six miles up the road, and washes it there, using whatever the neighbor's wife has on hand for laundry supplies.
Always the hottest water possible, both clean and rinse, so as to kill germs.
If there was some way to boil them, I'd do that too.
But alas there's no way to boil them.
Once through the washing-machine, I then bring it back home and hang it all outdoors to dry.
I've always been amused by primitives who talk about hanging clothes out to dry "during the summer," as if one can't hang clothes out to dry any time during all four seasons, not just summer.
Even in below-zero temperatures, with wind and sleet and snow and ice, clothes do dry outdoors. I think people who hang out clothes to dry only "during the summer" are wimps. Weather builds character.
