Unless your clothing is completely contaminated, try using half of the recommended amount next load of laundry. I'm willing to bet you won't see a difference in the cleaning abilities, and your wallet will thank you. Honestly, unless I am doing a review, I never use the recommended amount of any laundry product. A 32 load bottle is a 64 load for me these days, and there is no difference in how my clothes look.
When it comes time to line dry your clothing, to get rid of that crunchy filling, either run your clothing through an extra rinse cycle, or use even less laundry detergent. I tried it with a quarter of the recommended amount when I line dry, and what do you know - there was no crunchy feeling! I've never gone back to using - and wasting - the extra detergent. The washing machine's agitating motion is what gets the majority of the dirt out of our clothing, not the detergent.
And save the liquid laundry detergent for loads going in your dryer. If you'll be line drying your clothing, try 1/3 cup of white vinegar instead. You'll get the same soft feeling in your clothing as you would with the commercial fabric softener, but at a fraction of a cost - and it's chemical free. I promise your clothes won't come out smelling like vinegar when you put them away.
Don't forget that sun is the original stain remover - but it's also the original bleach, too. When drying darker colors, be sure to turn them inside out before hanging them on the line to dry. You'll also want to bring them in as soon as they are dry so they won't fade! For solid color whites though, feel free to leave them on the line all day. You'll find that the bright sun works almost as great as adding bleach to your wash - and again, it's easier on your wallet.
4 comments:
I line dry too, so I'm familiar with the "crunch." Sometimes I just give a towel or shirt a good snap when I take it down. Seems to shake off whatever little bit of dried stuff is left. Vinegar does help get the detergent out when you add it to the rinse cycle. I started using it when I couldn't get rid of the sweaty odor in my husband's work clothes. Besides being a rinse aid, it also kills bacteria, which causes the stinky smell when it gets warm and wet under the armpits. Big improvement; maybe not on the first washing, but after a few washings. I buy big bottles of vinegar at Costco. I even reuse the bottles as my emergency water bottles because they're sturdy and rinse clean much better than juice bottles. Between making my own detergent, line drying, and using vinegar instead of fabric softener (which I never used anyway), I save lots over the "standard" wash day routine. Sometimes it helps to rethink what we've been "taught" by advertising pitches.
I have always wanted to line dry but I really don't have the set up for it. Our neighbor does all of her laundry with line drying.
I don't line dry all of our laundry, but I do use 1/2 the recommended detergent, if not less. I have been very pleased with the results. I also rip my dryer sheets in half. Half a sheet works just as well as the whole one.
Excellent post and great comments! I learned so much. I recently read somewhere else about not using so much detergent. I plan to line dry this weekend and will give all of these tips a try. Thanks again!
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