Comments on: Reader’s Question: Dingy Clothes w/Homemade Laundry Detergent

By: Recipe: Homemade Powdered Laundry Soap | Frugal Upstate

Recipe: Homemade Powdered Laundry Soap | Frugal Upstate — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:23:45 +0000

[...] Question: Cost Effectiveness of Homemade Laundry Detergent Reader’s Question: Dingy Laundry? Using Homemade Laundry Soap in an HE [...]

By: Jenn @ Frugal Upstate

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Great tips Mary-thanks for adding your input!

By: Mary

Mary — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 01:26:01 +0000

You can soften water by adding Calgon water softner. I don’t have to do this, but I’ve read on other sites people having this work. You can also use less soap or no soap at all. I wash diapers once every 3-4 days. I use 2 T Borax and 1 T Washing Soda. Of course I have to pre-rinse before laundering because they’re diapers, but they come out clean and smelling great!

I do our regular laundry without a pre-rinse. I keep a bar of homemade lemon soap on hand for heavily soiled clothes. I just “wash my hands” with it under the running water to add a bit of soap to the load before the Borax and Washing Soda.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:39:21 +0000

I have used both castile and fels naptha, I prefer the Fels Naptha. I too am having a hard time with dingy whites, I will try the vinegar rinse, because I have heard that this works. Good Luck..

By: Kelly H.

Kelly H. — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:12:24 +0000

I would really like to try making my own laundry detergent with Castile soap. Has anyone tried this?

By: Rachel R.

Rachel R. — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:59:15 +0000

Peroxide is the same thing as Oxi-Clean, just in a different format. (Well, and Oxi-Clean now has that blue junk in it, too, whatever that is.)

Your reader probably has hard water. Hard water doesn’t allow soap to “dissolve” well (that’s not the correct scientific term); detergent was developed specifically for this reason. The soap doesn’t rinse well, so it’s not really that the dirt doesn’t get washed out, but that the soap doesn’t get fully rinsed out. Adding a water softener like baking soda might help, and/or using an extra rinse. But with really hard water, or hard water + tough dirt, it may be necessary to just go back to using detergent rather than soap. (We’ve had hard water in two different homes, and used homemade detergent with differing results. I think that HOW hard the water is has made a difference.)

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:45:03 +0000

I haven’t tried this but I read in another blog that if you soak clothes 24 hours in oxyclean it will take out any stain.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:39:17 +0000

I haven’t tried homemade laundry detergent yet as I have a nice collection of near free detergent from sales and coupons. I too am in NC and red clay is well a pain! For me it is my second hardest stain – the first being marinara sauce on my kids clothes (and always the good ones at that!).

I don’t have any great solutions as I haven’t tried making my own yet, but I do know that before I got a front loader if I let the wash start and then stop it and let it soak overnight and then get going again it worked wonders on some of the stains! That said I can’t do that now with a front loader and so now I’m back to looking for a great way to get marinara stains out without rewashing.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:58:41 +0000

I add baking soda to my laundry detergent recipe… helps remove odors. And of course washing in the right temperature is important. My whites are doing well!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:50:57 +0000

I soak my daughter’s dingy whites in oxiclean or Clorox Ultimate Care bleach before running it through the regular wash. Usually does the trick every time!