Soap used alone is a bit expensive when one is doing large volumes of laundry and or if the clothes are dirty or covered with stains. Adding a dash of vinegar makes a great difference especially when washing whites. You find that dirt unclogs effortlessly from the clothes and less time and effort goes into the washing.
Before I put all our laundry clothes to the washing machine I soak it first overnight with laundry powder soap and a little vinegar also to take away the dirt, stains and the any bad smell easily. So that the next morning it is quite clean already before you turn on the washing machine. And when it comes to the white clothes I put a little baking soda also and it really makes the difference after soaking overnight it becomes whiter the next day. I do not use fabric conditioner or softener anymore it smells good already afterwards.
My sister in law uses vinegar to replace fabric softener. She puts a cap full in the area of the washer where the fabric softener would go. To get rid of the vinegar smell in her clothes, she soaks lemon peels in it for 10 days before using it and leaves the lemon peels in the vinegar the entire time until it has run out. She says that it leaves her clothes very soft and there is not scent, not even that of the vinegar. I am planning on trying some of it my next load.
Vinegar has a great many uses, and people don't realize all of them. It can be used as a hair conditioner, cleaner, and to remove stains. It is affordable and natural. I think rather than buying green cleaners, just using some of the natural products that people have used for years, makes the most sense actually. It is extremely affordable. Whether it is for laundry or cleaning purposes, it is good stuff.
I love using vinegar around the house, I used it to clean out my washing machine when it is dirty and needs a good scrub! I also use it for a all purpose type of spray for the floors, and around the house to clean up quick messes.
I have used vinegar in the washing machine. I noticed it made our clothes softer and helps get rid of the stains. My only complaint is : I used Tide, and Downy fabric softener, plus vinegar. The vinegar seemed to cancel out the scents from the first two products, and my clothes smelled like nothing, nothing at all, not clean, but not dirty either.
I must admit it's my first time hearing about this use of vinegar so thank you for sharing about it @remnant. I have always used a laundry bleach for stains but now that I've learned about this, i might as well try it the next time I do my laundry. I love anything natural and this is certainly a good new information for me.
Never tried using vinegar for laundry. But on paper seems to work, vinegar is a weak acid anyway, just as citric acid. So there is not risk of corroding your laundry machine rubber hoses and seals.
Well I think it's the fact that you leave them sitting over night which helps make them cleaner because the dirt is being removed over a long period of hours. I used to think that leaving your clothes in waster and detergent starts to do the opposite of clean. I might start doing that myself because I don't like how they clean when I do now. It's like the detergent washes out, an there is no clean smell like I washed them in water.
