Laundry Solutions

[jaspen]

Thanks Niliac but that doesn't even seem to work for me - being in the north my clothes get way too much sun (i've never seen clothes degrade/fade so fast) but the little brown grey spots from the banana residue are still there - numerous washes later - it drives me batty cause they are such an easy snack

[Astrid]

Have you tried Sard wonder soap? Sometimes a good scrub with that combined with a soak can help.

[jaspen]

I've tried the sard stick astrid (which I swear by for travelling to prevent permanent stains) but not the soap - i'd guess it would be more powerful??

[Rouge]

Ok here's another trick...

Pour vinegar onto the stain and leave for 30 minutes, rinse in cold water then scrub with the stick or soap and leave for another 30 minutes, wash as normal and if needed repeat.

With banana try and have a soaking bucket so that anything with banana can be soaked straight away as its the only way to prevent the stains.

[Kitt3n]

What are you favoutire oils to add to the vinegar??

for most items I use lavendar

for dd's school clothes i use tea tree (cant have the lavendar making her sleepy!)

and for woolens etc i use eucalyptus

[Rouge]

A clever chooky told me recently eucalyptus is good for keeping colour in especially for blacks.

Here's a clueless question from me how do you add it to the machine, I'm worried about doing it with a front loader because we use cold water and I don't want a buildup of oil in the pipes etc.

[jaspen]

thanks niliac I'll give it a go on the old stains and see how I go but the two particular things I'm thinking about probably were left and not attended to straight away - must get my soaking bucket back in action (stand a chance of getting DH to attend to dirty clothes then) - have been slack since the older two have reduced their messiness when eating.

be interested to hear about the eucalyptus - great question cause i avoid oils in the front loader too - cause if I can minimise the fade in the darks even a little it would be great

[rufalina]

Quick question... Is the vinegar / Bicarb wash only good for drying on the line? Or can I dry in the dryer. I have towels to do tonight and was going to try this, but only if I can use the dryer... tia.

[Laranna]

Ruf, I've used the dryer after washing with bicarb/vinegar and the clothes and towels were fine.

As for oils, I usually put in lavender - a few drops in with the vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser (I have a Fisher Paykel top loader).

[Fleur]

Ok hoping someone can help with this one...what about turning what was white...and is now pink...back to white?

DD claims I owe her a T-Shirt from JJs. And it wasn't even me that put her maroon pants in the wash with everything else

[Lulu]

Oh those oils won't be a problem with build up, cos they are volatile oils. If you left the lid off the bottle it would evaporate. I put mine (not too much) in the prewash dispenser of my front loader.

[MamaPan]

just wanted to say thanks girls.. i am in major nesting phase and came across this.. not much of a dom goddess usually... anyway just did a load of washing with vinegar and clothes smell great.. used a lot less washing stuff too... next time will add some bicarb as well.

[Hollybolly]

Jas, give the sugar soap mix a go... if it worked in DH's shirt with old napolitana stains it may work?

I also gave it another go soaking BIL's white singlet that he spilt a whole red slushie down the front of (BIL is 16yrs!!!)

He did it on the weekend & I only found the singlet Mon night
I soaked it Mon night & washed it today... back to white again

Cai - I add the oils to the white vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser too

[Bathsheba]

Oh those oils won't be a problem with build up, cos they are volatile oils. If you left the lid off the bottle it would evaporate. I put mine (not too much) in the prewash dispenser of my front loader.

Yep, I was just going to post this, thanks Lulu... I think tea-tree and all the other high note oils (the citrus ones) would do the same: leave no residue because they are so volatile ie evaporate. Compare to say Sandalwood oil: that does not evaporate, it's too gluggy,most Low note oils are gluggy and would leave a residue in your machine if you were to add it.

All essential oils are categorised as being either high, middle or low note. This is determined by a few things, mainly by how fast they evaporate... or not.

[buliej]

I've been following this thread and have used quite a few of the suggestions - they are great. I have the following essential oils around the house and am wondering if they are OK to use:
Lemon (sounds from above that as a citrus it is fine)
Lavender??
Geranium?
I also have something called an Essential Oil (or Aromatherapy) Solubalizer - I think I purchased it ages ago because I was told it would help mix the oil with water (for a bath) - does anyone know if it would help to aid this to the essential oil/vinegar mixture or is it just not necessary.

thanks for all the great ideas

[Fleur]

Hi buliej, I use both lemon & lavender, have not used geranium but I have used rose geranium...all seem fine in my machine, knock wood!

Interested in the Solubalizer... I wonder what exactly it is?
I wouldn't think you need it to add to the vinegar / oils, but I don't think it would hurt either iykwim.

HTH

[AngelPunks]

just a quick warning with ANY citrus based essential all (ie lemon, mandarin, bergamot etc) is that they are photosensitive so you need to make sure they are FULLY washed out, it is more for the contact with skin - for example if you make up a moisturiser with a citrus oil you shouldn't use it during the day because it reacts with sun and can lead to skin damage

[rufalina]

I am just loving washing with the vinegar and bicarb. Makes for sensational laundry. My towels have never been better! I am still working with a small scoop of Omo sensitive, but hoping to one day, work up to ditching that too. Thanks for all the tips.

But, even with sunshine I cant get the banana stains out of DS bibs, so I am planning on trying the sugarsoap on them this weekend...