Yesterday after washing and drying my laundry, I discovered that the liquid detergent was still in the dispenser. My clothes do smell better than if they'd been exposed to detergent. Should I wear them as usual? Should I use detergent in the future?
Sawney Beane wrote
If they are clean enough.
They'll get rather smelly if you never use detergent again and you'll find that they dont get as clean without the detergent.
Corse how dirty they end up depends on whether you do your own work on the car etc or just laze around as a couch potatoe in front of the TV on a clean couch etc.
There's usually so much soap still in the clothing after the rinse cycle that you could wash them again without soap and still get some benefit.
If you don't believe me, just try putting your wash through a second rinse cycle and see how foamy the waste water is.
However, tests by folks like Consumer Reports seem to indicate that you do need to use the recommended amount to get the most benefit from the detergent.
Shaun Eli
I believe it....we have a water softener and can only use a fraction of the recommended detergent or I would never get all the soap out. I use white vinegar in the water softener dispenser and still have left over soap...
As another poster said, doubtful that your clothes were truly "dirty" and if you go heavy on the detergent it HARDLY gets rinsed out completely.
On another laundry frugality off-shoot.... I wear my over-shirts and pants at least 3 or 4 times before washing, and they're still not really "dirty" unless I spill something on myself or get dirty somehow else. I mostly just wash them to get the wrinkles out from wearing them.
A couple years ago I found out that fabric "softener" is really a fatty/oily waste product (animal fats i think) that is emulsified to stay suspended in a waterbased carrier. When you add softener to your rinse cycle, the oils/fats bind onto the fibers of your clothes, thereby making them feel "soft" when in fact they're just "greasy". Haven't used softener since the day I read that and haven't really noticed a big difference in softness when drying completely with a dryer.
After doing some more research on detergents I switched my detergent to Arm & Hammer powder. SUPER CHEAP ($2.99 for 30 loads) at Target, and low impact. It also truly gets rid of odors (with baking soda) instead of masking them with some perfumy smell.
Just my 02.
-Tom
Agree with you, Tom
Consmer Reports listed Arm & Hammer as a best buy when compared to several other detergent brands. It is an excellet choice and can be found a bargain prices too. I generally buy liquid because I do most of my laundry in cold water. JMO, but the bottle is easier to store and the cap makes a handy measuring cup.
use borax
I use detergent with every other load (about 2/3 the recommended amount), and alternate with washing soda. Works fine. In one of the places I lived, the chlorine content of the tap water was so high you could smell it, and I stopped adding bleach for whites, and for colors, I read that most of the large detergent makers add a chemical that neutralizes it. So I would let the washer fill up without clothes, only the detergent and water, and let it sit for 1/2 hour before adding the clothes. The fading of the colors went away.-Jitney
The Tide products all scored the best on the Consumers Reports review recently. A product sold at Costco and one sold by Sears (I wish I could recall the names??... Did it start with King or something??) were cheaper and scored very high also. I believe Arm and Hammer scored quite low, but hey, if it works well for you- go for it! Using less than package suggests is always good to remember when buying the name brands. You get the best product, yet aren't buying more than necessary and cutting cost. I love my new Whirlpool Duet washer/dryer because of the water/detergent savings, even factoring in the fancy HE detergents.
It did? I could have sworn it was low rated? I'm going to have to find my issue and recheck? I like Gain and Tide, and just use less. I LIKE the scents and cleaning power.
I really like A&H detergent. I always use liquid as I rarely wash laundry in anything but cold water. I have very soft water and find that for most things I need only use a scant ounce of detergent per load.
Jessica
There may be more recent articles than the one I read. Consumer Reports didn't say it was the best product. They just said it was a very good product for the price, a best buy. Liquid Tide was one of the detergents listed as the best but was among the highest priced products. I haven't checked recent issues of Consumer Reports because I'm satisfied with what I am using and can find it on sale and get a bargain.
I imagine dear Sawney's clothes would be encrusted with bloodstains and bat droppings.
Some people like to make work for themselves. I can go for a fortnight or more with the same cardigan though I do like to change my underwear frequently. Trousers can be hung in a steamy room to get wrinkles out and all clothes spot cleaned to eke out another wear. When I was a young girl my school skirt was washed once a term but it was always spot cleaned, aired and pressed, nowadays I note the school uniform in the washbin at least twice each week.
I have yet not become a member of the frugal group but must say it looks interesting. I have to ask if it is frugal to use a tumble/clothes dryer? I do not possess one and line dry whenever possible if not then I have an indoor airer and an airing cupboard to finish off. I find I cannot go without clothes conditioner or my washing is as stiff as a board and as wrinkled as a prune, my conditioner does not contain any "animal fats" and it conditions my clothes by reducing static and as you say, making them feel soft but they are not greasy in the way you have come across i.e. they don't feel as though a block of pork dripping was rubbed over them. I do not see a problem in using it ( the conditioner), perhaps you are of a delicate nature.
The Costco brand is called Kirkland, and it's great. I like the scented variety because DH's job produces very smelly laundry. Our water is about as hard as it could possibly be, too, so we go through a lot of it. The Sears brand is good also, but it only comes in powder, which I do not prefer.
We have a huge static electricity problem, which is why I use softener. How can you use a dryer, without a softener ,and avoid static?
So far I haven't found any brand of softener with fats in the ingredients.
The fabrics that generate static tend to dry the fastest. I pull them out first, to save wear and tear. The last fiber to dry is cotton.
Depends on your area's water hardness. Also front loading machines need less soap.
I love that stuff too. I've had 2 kids, not a stain on any of their clothes that A&H hasn't gotten out.
I don't use a fabric softener at all, yet I do not have static issues. It is a question of both chemistry and physics. I remove clothes promptly after drying, or very slightly damp in the case of permanent press. The PP clothes are put on hangers where they completely dry and nearly wrinkle-free within an hour. I have no scientific explanation, but I found that electric dryers produce more static than natural gas dryers. Most of my clothes are 85 to 100% cotton which produce less static than synthetics. You could try putting a damp clean towel in your dryer and tumble that for 1 minute before removing your static-free clothes. No (stinky) fabric softeners are needed.
Arm and Hammer has been consistently rated highly by Consumer Reports for the past several years. For some odd reason, this past year they did not rate all the products.
Arm and Hammer w/ Bleach (powder) is a very good detergent and was rated in the top five at one time. I love A/H and can buy a large box of 63 loads for $7 at my local dollar store. If you prefer regular A/H, you can guy an 80 load box for the same price.
I personally think A/H cleans my white clothes better than Tide.
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