Whitening Your Whites

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SouthCentralUS

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I just did this with my dish towels and thought it would be good to share here.

Fill your washing machine to just over the top of the material you wish to whiten with the hottest water setting. Put in your usual amount of detergent plus about a pint of hydrogen pyroxide and a gallon of boiling water. Let it sit without agitating for about 30 minutes and then run through the cycle. It whitens really well.
 
SouthCentralUS said:
I just did this with my dish towels and thought it would be good to share here.

Fill your washing machine to just over the top of the material you wish to whiten with the hottest water setting. Put in your usual amount of detergent plus about a pint of hydrogen pyroxide and a gallon of boiling water. Let it sit without agitating for about 30 minutes and then run through the cycle. It whitens really well.
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What about getting all the oils grease out of dish towels? I never use dish towel fro oils or grease but they always seem to build up some kind of sticky feeling. I tried Borax, Baking Soda,always bleach without the first two..
 
Front loading/water saving machine here so that's not an option. But I am going to give it a whirl in a bucket with some wash cloths that were stained by hibiclens.
 
For grease I would try soaking in really hot water and some Dawn dish detergent in a bucket. DO NOT put it in your washing machine :) way too many bubbles :) (BTW, don't ask how I know) :p

There is a disconnect between theory and practice that must be acknowledged :)
 
Meerkat said:
What about getting all the oils grease out of dish towels? I never use dish towel fro oils or grease but they always seem to build up some kind of sticky feeling. I tried Borax, Baking Soda,always bleach without the first two..
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Try vinegar in the rinse. That cuts a lot of build up


I've found hanging things outside in the sun does a good job bleaching them but since the invasion of the stink bugs I can't hang things out anymore ( grumble grumble)
 
We also have a front loader here too. Peroxide is really good to use I know as well

Here is what we use and it pretty much removes every stain and grease mark apart from tree sap of which I am yet to find a magical cure on how to remove. This works on coloureds and whites and is safe for septic systems too.

In an empty 4lt plastic container mix in a well ventilated area -
1lt of ammonia
1lt of dishwashing liquid
8 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda (known as baking soda in most countries overseas)

Shake before each use as the bicarb settles to the bottom of the bottle.

For spot stain removing ( shake the bottle of solution) -
-Pour a little on the stain and grab an old toothbrush and scrub the stain both front and back and leave it to sit for about an hour and then wash as usual.

For soaking clothing overnight including underwear, t-shirts, sheets towels etc -
- Lay one layer of clothing in a bucket, bath tub or laundry tub, pour some solution over the top, next layer of clothing pour more solution over the top until you have finished with the clothing you are working with. Fill with warm water until it covers the clothing and let sit overnight. Rinse clothing and wash as usual.

Your whites will come up magnificently white, coloureds clean, tea towels won't have that manky smell and all your grease stained clothing will be clean for a grand total here of about $2.50 you have enough stain remover for a few months. It works far better than the stain removers in the shops (which don't work in my experience) for a fraction of the cost.
 
Oh my bad, I thought this was some kind of racist thread.
smiley_laughing.gif
Just kidding.
 
They are sunbeds. I am fair, too. Just had two precancerous spots removed by the dermatologist last month, one on my face, and one on my arm. We live at a high elevation and I wear sunblock every single day. I was raised by a single mom and had lots of sisters. Every summer she'd tell me to get on my swimsuit and go "lay out in the sun" so I wouldn't scare people. Didn't have the patience for that. Am very fair like you, and also freckled.
 
zoomzoom said:
No mention yet of Oxyclean? We found that stuff works great.
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would that be considered frugal? I guess it could. It does work well.

I've never done a cost comparison between peroxide/ bleach/ oxyclean to see which is more frugal
 
WVDragonlady said:
would that be considered frugal? I guess it could. It does work well.

I've never done a cost comparison between peroxide/ bleach/ oxyclean to see which is more frugal
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The nice part about Oxyclean is you don't need hot or boiling water as referenced in previous posts. It takes a lot of energy to heat the water for a clothes washer. As I recall, our washer uses about 50 gallons per load so what's it cost to heat that much water?
 
@zoomzoom yes the most frugal way would depend on what you have available to soak things in. For us for water savings we mostly use a smaller bucket or mop bucket and soak in batches that fit in there as we see dirty items need a good soak.

@WVDragonlady we use the ammonia and dishwashing combo in the recipe above which cost us $2.49 and we have enough stain removed to last our two person family a month or more. Depends on what you pay for the other soakers and ingredients over there compared to Australia, our peroxide here is pretty expensive to buy as are other commercial clothing soakers.
 
masterspark said:
I was thinking teeth myself:D:D
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Me too. Same thing tho I wouldn't use oxyclean on my teeth, (that was a joke since yall dont "get me" or my sense of humor yet), but they say rinsing your mouth with peroxide works to whiten teeth over time.
My dental hygienist told me the dental whitening strips work ok for some people.
Off topic maybe so back to whitening white laundry.
 
I wonder, for those of you who use gray water for your garden, how does the bleach affect your plants?
I know it is not good for septic systems and that a lot of energy is consumed to get it out of the water in treatment plants.
 
marlas1too said:
I have 6 wringer washing machines and I found the longer the washer stays on the whiter the cloths gets and then I hang them on my solar drier/cloths line and the sun helps them to whiten even more JMOR
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I have heard this before, that hanging stained clothing in the sun helps to remove stains. I have never tried it, but some of my friends have told me that it worked for them.
 
Meerkat said:
What about getting all the oils grease out of dish towels? I never use dish towel fro oils or grease but they always seem to build up some kind of sticky feeling. I tried Borax, Baking Soda,always bleach without the first two..
Click to expand...
This happens to me as well. I tend to use paper towels for grease, but my kitchen towels do tend to feel greasy after a while.
 
SheepDog said:
I wonder, for those of you who use gray water for your garden, how does the bleach affect your plants?
I know it is not good for septic systems and that a lot of energy is consumed to get it out of the water in treatment plants.
Click to expand...


It doesn't bother them at all. Bleach is used to treat water, why would they try to get it out?
 
It will kill the bacteria that cleans the water. Bleach will also kill the bacteria in a septic system. Then you have to add new bacteria to get it working again.
 
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