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I need a little help from my internet friends.
I have a confession to make.
I feel like a bad commercial even telling you this but here it goes: my whites are never white.
That is right, I have tried bleach, I have tried shout, I have tried it all but the bottoms of my kids white socks are still grey and my white pillowcases are more like ivory. Has anyone tried this?
Now another thing, do you add the bleach to your water with the detergent before you put the clothes in? How much do you use? The directions on my washer tell me to wait 5 minutes into the cycle and then add the bleach, but who has time to sit by my washer and wait 5 minutes?
I did try this but that didn't seem to work either. I thought y washer would know what to do, but apparently it knows squat.
So I come to you, dear internets, for help because I know you know.
7 years ago
Most likely it is your water that is causing your "white laundry" dilemma. Check this website out http://agfacts.tamu.edu/D10/Comal/FCS/Water/F1/nlaundry.htm I, too, have had laundry issues such as yours!
ReplyDeleteAbout the bleach - you need to add it to the water before adding the clothes, and waiting 5 minutes or so is important! The bleach wont work well at all if you dont wait. Hot water makes the bleach work the best! Boy, I guess I know more about laundry than I thought... oh joy! Just read the directions as you've been doing, but do check out that website above. It's a pain to fix the dinginess, but it'll be worth it - better than moving! lol Good luck!!
This isn't much of a confession! I was definately hoping for a bag of peanut butter cups in one sitting confession, with the way it was prefaced.
ReplyDeleteBut, I will take what I am given, and tell you that I am not very good at laundry. That is my dirty secret.
My mother swears by the oxy clean that you mention. She buys it in Bulk for me, and every so often, I will toss a scoop or two into my wash. You don't just have to use it with the whites either... it is apparantly some miracle thing that works wonders on every single fabric... odors and stains and battery acid and untidy nuclear spills and messes.
I can not tell you if I've ever noticed an improvement... but honestly, I am the wrong person to ask, because I barely glance at clean clothes. I am so glad that they are dry and that I will not have to deal with them again for at least 24 hours... that it is all I can do to grab them from the dryer and toss them carelessly into a basket with someone's name tag on it.
I hear- through the grapevine- that vinegar works on the dinge. But that's just a rumor and I've never been brave enough to try it myself.
Good luck!
I shouldn't even be commenting here. All I do is throw it all in together, add the stupid detergent, then come back in a half hour. I don't even do the snuggles softener thingy stuff. Then I throw it all in the dryer, even the "Dry Clean Only" ones. Then, when my whites get dingy, I go out and buy new clothes.
ReplyDeleteYou are way ahead of me. See, I shouldn't have commented, but hopefully you feel much better about laundry skills now.
You mean the kid's socks aren't supposed to be gray?
ReplyDeleteI thought that was why hanes was starting to make the toe and heel gray....to keep it all one color...
I'm going to have to consult someone about this!
mamalee, thank you I am so glad I can blame it all on the water!
ReplyDeleteican, come on back, there is sure to be a better confession for your soon. I have a ton.
I am glad I am not the only one with kids in dingy socks!
Sorry I am so late posting here. I have been refered to by friends as the Queen of Clean.
ReplyDeleteTry Iron Out. It is a horrid, chemical powder that you put in the washer as the water is running in, before you add the clothes. What I do when I am going to get the iron out of my whites is start the washer, add the powder and get back as it will cloud up when it mixes with my lovely irony water. Then I go round up all the whites that need a good cleaning. By the time you get back with your whites there is enough water in the tub that you can add the whites and I set it on the longest wash cycle on my machine and then do a double rinse. If you have really tough stains on just a few things then you can soak them in a bucket of water and Iron out and then just dump the whole thing in the washer after it soaks a couple hours.
I know that my whites really improved after I got a water softener but every now and again I need to do the chemical treatment, just not every week like before I got the softener. Good luck. Love the blog, first time posting to you.