I know I can count on you lot to help me - I need some advice on cleaning my laundry. I use either Arm and Hammer or Tide and frankly, they're crap. My wife only ever cleaned in cold water so I've convinced her to let me do it in warm, but nothing seems to get a good clean. I told my wife I'd get a washing line up and she thought I was bonkers - oh how eccentric I must be.
So I would like to know what you use that is reall good, what temp is best (I hate shrinking clothes....grrrrr) and if you even have an opinion, which way to dry is best.
Cheers. grin
In what way are they crap? do they leave stains? or just not as white as white? More info.
The clothes label should tell you what temp. and how to dry.
I add "Biz" or Chlorox2 about every second time through.
I have never had a problem with Tide. I have tried the cold water one and I like that too but I always put colour safe bleach in with the clothes, on hot or cold wash. If I have nasty stains I use Melaleuca spray and wash type stuff, my bro in law sells their stuff so I get it for next to nothing, that's the only reason I use it. I love the clorox bleach pen for whites and white bits too. (God I sound like my mother!) I miss Daz (brought up on that!) and I found some Ariel powder in a store the other day but I don't like powders...
I love hanging washing out on the line and how it smells when you bring it in...drier is great for if you need something quick or in the winter...
A lot also depends on the water...we have well water here that is full of shitey stuff and in our first house here I had to add Iron Out to every light and white wash or it came out brown. Water softener system cured that tho.
Good luck, I know how frustrating it is when you're used to city water and detergents that do what they say.
Sarah
I do everything on a cold wash, use Purex (at least I think that's the name), throw in some fabric conditioner and everything gets thrown in the tumble dryer afterwards. Everything comes out just fine for me.
Fraid I can't help. Our house is renowned for it's pink socks and blue underwear.
I do use liquid detergents, the powder irritates my nose, and softner and a dryer.
Maybe you've been staring into the sun too long if you think everything is grubby.
Suggest you put washing in as normal and then sit in a darkened room til it's finished. That way you will be dazzled by it's whiteness. grin
In what way are they crap? do they leave stains? or just not as white as white? More info.
Crap in the sense that if there is a stain (from ketchup to grass) it probably won't come clean. And if it's white then no it isn't white as white. I guess I'm either over packing the damn thing or being lazy and not doing what Hippo is doing.
Widow Twankee here. grin
Oh for the UK style washing labels, eh!
Presumably you sort your washing out into different loads to start with (whites, coloureds, heavy soiled, etc.), and don't overload. Personally, I like Arm and Hammer on a warm setting, but also like Gain. Mind you, we moved a few weeks ago, and the fill on a warm setting over here is much warmer than it was previously, so I'm now half-filling on warm and then changing the setting to cold! Big nuisance!
Something else I really don't like is that in the Uk my clothes never came out of the wash all mangled and twisted. Now they do. Tried to get around this by setting the machine to a shorter and lower spin cycle which helps, but alas...
I like to dry clothes out in the fresh air - something my husband thought was totally off the planet!! I mean the temperature here is in the 90s, why do I need to use the drier! The clothes are dry almost before I peg them out. I will admit though, the drier fluffs everything up nicely and saves on ironing, so I'll often pop stuff in just for 5 minutes or so to finish them off.
Throw in some Oxi-Clean with each load.
A million Billy Mays commercials can't be wrong.
For really drastic stains, I have one of those brush things that squeezes/brushes some gel into the stain and then you leave it for a few minutes while you load up the wash. That takes care of just about anything but I forget the brand name. It would be with the accessories, near the washing powders and liquids in the store.
Washing powder is banned from my house as if you get undissolved powder on your car wash mitt, it leaves some lovely swirls in the paintwork.
I have never had a problem with Tide. I have tried the cold water one and I like that too but I always put colour safe bleach in with the clothes, on hot or cold wash. If I have nasty stains I use Melaleuca spray and wash type stuff, my bro in law sells their stuff so I get it for next to nothing, that's the only reason I use it. I love the clorox bleach pen for whites and white bits too. (God I sound like my mother!) I miss Daz (brought up on that!) and I found some Ariel powder in a store the other day but I don't like powders...
I love hanging washing out on the line and how it smells when you bring it in...drier is great for if you need something quick or in the winter...
A lot also depends on the water...we have well water here that is full of shitey stuff and in our first house here I had to add Iron Out to every light and white wash or it came out brown. Water softener system cured that tho.
Good luck, I know how frustrating it is when you're used to city water and detergents that do what they say.
Sarah
I think that Biz is the same thing as Daz.
I use whichever washing liquid is cheapest, but always add a scoop of oxyclean to each wash.
To get your whites looking white I soak mine for anything from a couple of hours, up to several days in oxyclean and water (1 scoop to 1 gallon), then wash (it's like being in the dark ages, but seems to work!)
My preferred solution is to get a front loader ("british" sized under-counter models now available at Sears for around $500), but have to get the money together first.
I've tried all brands of laundry detergent I could get my hands on and, after 4yrs, I've finally settled on Tide Coldwater. For me, it does the trick - whites remain white and colors don't fade. :smile: As some others have advised, make sure you don't overload the washer. :wink:
For stubborn stains, I've also tried most stain removers on the market and been unimpressed - until I recenty tried Zout Oxy Stain Lifting Foam. Now, I swear by it (even for stubborn stains) and it's readily available at a reasonable price.
I detest top-loading washing machines. :evil: It's my personal opinion they don't clean as well as front- loaders and it has been my experience they knock ten kinds of s@*t out of clothes, regardless of the Programme setting. :cry:
I intend to get a front-loading washer ASAP. Periodically, I've been keeping watch on prices and reviews of front-loaders for the past 18 months, in the hope they'd eventually come down in price. Whirlpool is my preferred choice, however the price of their front-loading washers hasn't decreased significantly in that time, so I've decided just to bite the bullet and buy one. When I weigh up the number of clothes I frequently have to replace (because they've had the crap beaten out of them by the paddle in the top-loader!) against the initial expense of a front-loader, I can justify the investment....and I've managed to convince my husband too! :razz:
I have a Kenmore 80 Series top loading washer. That'd be this fella -
And I have a Kenmore 70 dryer which is so old that I think it is the very same machine that Mork crashed to Earth in. It is a putrid eggshell blue thing but the info on it claims it is white. You can tell it is old because after the words "lint trap" there is an exclamation mark suggesting that you own a machine from the future. It looks very much like this.
I use All which is much cheaper than Tide. So in many ways I'm like Jim and just use the cheapest. However, if I have a shirt that has a stain on it (doesn't matter whether it is ketchup, tea, chocolate, blood etc) all I do is rub the stain with the washing liquid. I wash in hot water just about all the time and it is very rare the stain doesn't come out after being rubbed with the detergent first.
If you do have a stop that has the residues of an old stain and you have tried just about everything to get it out, one thing that does work very well is putting the top in the sunshie. The sun bleaches clothes naturally. )
I start tumbling the majority of our clothes, then the clothes that would be prone to shrinking, I hang up after being in the dryer for 10 minutes. That 10 minutes allows the creases to fall when hung on a coathanger. Once dried they generally don't need ironing )
When we got our house we got brand new Kenmore washer and dryer. The washer has an extra speedy spin cycle to save energy on the dryer in winter when we can't hang stuff outside. It is also a front loader with a sensor that susses out how much load you have and how much water you need. The dryer has moisture sensing so it yells at you when the clothes are dry....it'll also keep spinning without the heat to minimise on wrinkles. Things that dry wrinkly on the line, go in the dryer and then hung as soon as they're dry, that way they don't need ironing.
On the software side of things, we use Purex, some fabric softener when I don't forget to use it.
For stains I use "Spray N Wash" stain stick. It's actually like a giant pritt-stick and is the bollocks of the dog. A soon as you notice a stain, just smear a bunch of this stuff on the stain and you can let it sit for a week if you like before washing it. After it comes out of the wash, I challenge you to find where the stain was. It's not failed yet. A few nights ago, the cat jumped on my elbow when I was in bed and drew blood which got on the duvet cover. The wife noticed it the next day......I applied the stain stuff, washed the bedding....stain gone. Magic.
Are you using a top loader, Bungle? You get much better results from a front loader. When DH was working in the US, most of his colleagues had moved from laundry detergents to his new department and they virtually commanded him to get a front loader - and if anyone knows, it the detergent folks.