| Thread Number: 41793
Bad Laundry habits! help! |
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Post# 616182 , Reply# 1 8/10/2012 at 19:48 (283 days old) by appnut  (TX) |
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 Whites and light colros can be washed in hot. Usually for the longest setting on regular cycle. I recommend POWDER detergent and use Tide with Bleach for these white loads. (actually the new Tide Vivid is all fabric detergent for all colors now). Towels and sheets hsould also be washed in hot. Same with undergarments (I prefer whites myself). Any clothing that everyone sees as your walking down the street (except for denims and jeans) I treat as wrinbkle free/perm press and wash on that cycle with warm water and cold rinse. Dry on medium temp. These "clothes" I also sort into lighters and darker colors. Taht's the basic in my book. I don't believe in washing in cold water. I"m old fashioned. | ||
| Post# 616207 , Reply# 4 8/10/2012 at 21:04 (283 days old) by dustin92 (Jackson, MI) | ||
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I will try out these techniques tomorrow or the next day, we have about a bottle and a half of dollar store bargain liquid detergent, but when that's gone, I will try out a powder. Will warm water cause colors to fade and will the hot water/ longer wash time affect the life of fabrics? | ||
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Post# 616211 , Reply# 5 8/10/2012 at 21:15 (283 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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 Sort clothes based on fabric, ( cotton, permanent press, delicate, etc.). Sort again by color (whites, lights, brights, darks). Pre-treat any stains with Resolve Spray and wash, the aerosol, not the pump type. (Even the aerosol isnt as good as it was before Resolve took over, and the pump type is awful).
For really bad stains, get a stain guide. (cool water soak for blood, alcohol and hairspray for ink, etc etc. ) But for most basic things, the aerosol Spray and Wash does the trick. Hot water, Oxydol Powder detergent, and Clorox for whites, with a touch of Mrs. Stewarts Bluing in the final rinse, along with some generic watery gallon jug supermarket softener. Whites get an extra rinse cycle, because of the Clorox bleach. Hot water, Era liquid detergent, and oxygen bleach for lights, with the same generic softener. Warm water and Era liquid detergents for brights, with the same generic softener. Cold water and Era liquid detergent for darks, with the same generic softener. Rugs and such get a hot water wash with Oxydol powder detergent, no softener. Delicates get a cold water wash with Woolite, and the same generic softener. Permanent press fabrics get washed on the perm press cycle, (though mine isnt a true perm press, its a combination of settings that is equivalent) with Era liquid detergent and the generic softener. Everything except rugs and delicates gets a run through the dryer on the auto setting, with a Bounce dryer sheet. Delicates air dry on a rack, rugs air dry on the line outside. Dont forget to use the permanent press cycle on your washer and dryer for those type fabrics, if you have one, and keep them seperated form cotton fabrics for washing. If you cannot find the old fashioned watery gallon jug type softener, dilute you softener with 1 part water to 1 part softener for regular, 2 part water to 1 part softener for ultra. The liquid softener for me is more to help with rinsing, and I dont want that thick goop they sell now. The Bounce dryer sheet combined with the watered down softener makes everything soft, static free, and smells just like my childhood. (I know many on here hate softener, and I tried to live without it, really I did, but I like EXREMELY soft clothes and towels, and short of washing everything in rainwater or getting a whole house water softener, fabric softener is the only way to acheive that here. Your mileage may vary.) Also don't forget to check items that were heavily stained before putting them in the dryer, if the stain is still there, it will need further treatment and re-washing, as drying it would cook in the stain. Last note, these are the detergents that seem to give the desired results here. Depending on your water conditions, machine type, and general types of soil on your laundry, other detergents may work better in your area, ask around and experiment. | ||
| Post# 616213 , Reply# 6 8/10/2012 at 21:22 (283 days old) by dustin92 (Jackson, MI) | ||
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I also like fabric softener, our clothes are usually fairly lightly soiled to moderate. The water is Jackson city water (which is very hard with calcium or lime and is randomly very heavily chlorinated). | ||
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Post# 616219 , Reply# 7 8/10/2012 at 21:38 (283 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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I"m actually about as picky a sorter as Kevin is, but I was trying to give you basic guidelines to get you started. My mom threw everything together in a load. Ruined a few of my clothes growing up. I vowed I wasn't going to have dingy whites nor ruin garmets with mixingh inappropriate things together. I sort by the Lady Kenmore way-- Cotton/Linens White, Cotton/Linens Colored, Wash'n'Wear (Perm Press) White, PermPress Colored, Delicates. I prefer sorting out lighter colors from dark and keep whites all unto themselves prettyh much. And also by fabric/cycle. I even go as far as keeping slacks and shirts separate. Jeans all by themselves. Towels by themselves and sorted by white, light, dark. Always hot. | ||
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Post# 616220 , Reply# 8 8/10/2012 at 21:39 (283 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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That sounds like the water here, only ours is just hard from limestone, no calcium. They do the same thing with the randomly heavy chlorine too, though not as often now as they used to.
A trick to deal with the heavy chlorination, get one of the cheapy whole house charcoal filters. They are around 30 bucks at the hardware store or walmart, and install in about 30 minutes. They do help, and the water tastes better too. In a neighboring town the chlorine is very often way way too heavy, to the point of causing fading of clothes and discoloration of dyed blonde hair, so I guess it could be worse. | ||
| Post# 616226 , Reply# 10 8/10/2012 at 21:57 (283 days old) by dustin92 (Jackson, MI) | ||
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EDIT: we already have a reverse osmosis system fitted for drinking water and cooking, because the water is completely undrinkable from the tap. | ||
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Post# 616227 , Reply# 11 8/10/2012 at 22:02 (283 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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| Post# 616229 , Reply# 12 8/10/2012 at 22:10 (283 days old) by dustin92 (Jackson, MI) | ||
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I'm guessing the charcoal filter would also help with sediment? I cleaned out the fill screens on the washer yesterday and its a suprise the water could even get through. Packed solid! | ||
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Post# 616230 , Reply# 13 8/10/2012 at 22:16 (283 days old) by vintagekitchen (columbia ky) |
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| Post# 616231 , Reply# 14 8/10/2012 at 22:25 (283 days old) by dustin92 (Jackson, MI) | ||
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Ok maybe I will look into something like that. | ||
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Post# 616240 , Reply# 15 8/10/2012 at 23:35 (283 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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| Post# 616243 , Reply# 16 8/10/2012 at 23:49 (283 days old) by dustin92 (Jackson, MI) | ||
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The dishwasher is cleaning great, but I'm thinking the fill screen on it probably needs cleaned was well, occasionally I have to manually add a jug full of water to the first fill. It is fine after that though. | ||
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Post# 616258 , Reply# 17 8/11/2012 at 01:24 (282 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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You may be advancing the mechanical timer a little bit too far into the first fill for it to have adequatge fill time. Friends here have a very similar Kenmore and one of them turns the knob so fast when they start the machine that a lot of times it only gets a partial fill because it enters the first fill phase to far along on the timer when he turns loose of the knob after setting it. | ||
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Post# 616262 , Reply# 18 8/11/2012 at 01:47 (282 days old) by StrongEnough78 (California) |
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 Dustin, to answer your question about washing in warm water and if it fades fabrics etc..... over a very long period of time eventually yes but that's unavoidable. Warm won't fade as fast as hot. As for items to wash in hot water and a long wash time, as long as it's done right and not overloaded, you'll be fine. To me it seems drying deteriorates fabric faster. I dry my clothes on medium heat with an automatic sensing dryer when I can. When I'm at the laundromat, I'll go medium heat for about 28 mins and everything is dry but not over dry. The only thing I dry on high heat are denim jeans.
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Post# 616369 , Reply# 20 8/11/2012 at 16:29 (282 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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I discovered about 11 years ago after major surgery, Biz powder does wonders on just about any stain. I haven't really checked for stains since then--which used to add considerale amount off time to doing laundry as I was inspecting every garment that MIGHT have stains on it. I simply add Biz to my detergent and off I go. | ||
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Comes to the Rescue!
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