How to clean clothes with a subpar washing machine?

Move.

Yeah, not an option at this point r1

Go to a laundromat or aChinese laundry.

Take your clothes to another laundromat.

How far are you from a laundromat? I used to spend 2 hours there every 2 weeks and get it all done at once. I'd bring my phone to text or chat with friends or family and have coffee while I waited. I looked forward to laundry day.

Buy a mini-washer for your apartment. Either that, or a manual washing machine that people use when they're living off the grid.

[quote]I looked forward to laundry day

You will too,OP

r6 how exactly do mini-washers work?

Portable washers

Use Febreze like I do!

Manual washer

Beyond hand washing clothing, and hanging it to dry or ironing it dry, does anyone have experience trying to get their sheets/blankets washed "off the grid"?

Spray febreze on the sheets. Use the allergy formula.

Vinegar

R12- When my apartment machine broke - the building has no laundry room- I put my portable clothes rack in the bath tub. I hung the sheets over it, sprayed them with liquid detergent and turned on the shower. Then I just let it hang there to dry.

Go old school....beat them on a rock.

Christ. At $4 per load, just send your laundry to a wash/dry/fold service.

What R17, use a local laundry service if you don't want to go to the laundromat yourself.

Bubble Bandit. Google it. Phosphorus is the magic ingredient. Shit is amazing. It will take care of not just clothes, but any surface. It is technically illegal in many states, including mine (California), which is stupid as it does the job using far less water, and, speaking lazily, far less elbow grease.

If it doesn't work for you, they will refund it. Yeah, I sound like a shill. I'm not. You will love me later.

That sounds like a kind of fun way to hang, r5.

Add TSP along with your laundry soap.

I. too, wash my clothes at a Laundromat - I actually prefer it, since I do laundry ONCE and it's DONE until next time. And,. I fold everything before returning home, so I just put everything away..

The machines are old and tired and I often had soap residue left on my clothes and sheets - after having many "complimentary" extra rinses, the attendant told me to try washing EVERYTHING in HOT water; I tried this and I no longer have those problems, so maybe try hot water OP.

Thanks 22. I wash stuff like socks, underwear, and gym clothes in hot water; jeans and shifts I wash in cold water and line dry.

[quote]hen they complete the cycle, many times clothes still smell and are clearly not adequately laundered.

Mildew and bacteria build-up in the machine. You have to, in fact, clean the insides of washing machines and dryers.

Buy some washing soda and run the full bag/box through the machine that you are going to use at the highest temperature before you do your laundry.

You could even work your way through all of the machines and clean all of them.

Pretty much everyone here in the UK has their own washing machine (very few laundromats) so you have to learn shit like this.

I have had good results with the Gain detergent pods that have Fabreze.

I tried using powdered detergent and didn't like it b/c of how it doesn't dissolve. I now use Kirkland (Costco store brand) liquid, the non-scented one. I do recycle the container.

Complain to building management or the board and have them use Affresh in all the machines.

Use a wash and fold service. Who has time to do their own laundry?

Add some borax to the wash.

Laundromats recycle water.

I just searched on a laundry service and found this. Now you can see it, too.

Wash your own clothes!! Goddamn!

"Who has time to do their own laundry? "

Stay off Grindr and stop doing your 50 load weekends, Dawson. You'd be surprised at the amount of time it takes being a professional cumdump.

It’s important to wash clothes and dishes for your mental health.

Completely agree with R30. Add boorax, like 20 Mule Team. It’s cheap as hell. Solves the problem of stinky machines, water problems and long-standing stink in clothes. Add about a cup to a load of clothes with your detergent. Goodbye stink, goodbye most common stains.

Stuff is a miracle.

If you have your own machine, it has to be cleaned at least monthly, otherwise you get problems with buildup and many machines develop mildew issues, which causes stink.

Try borax.

How "dirty" are your clothes? I only ask because, for myself, except for socks my clothes aren't really ever that dirty. I get if you work a physical job but there are days I come back from the office, and my shirt can still "stand" from the starch alone. I live in a very dry environment, so maybe that is it, but while I wash all my clothes after every wear, I really don't think it is necessary.

Don’t wash your socks or underwear if you’re hot. Sell em!

I discovered borax when my son was an adolescent. He had that puberty/teen boy smell in his clothes and bedsheets. Like a stinky locker room. Added borax to the wash and no more smell.

Can borax and washing soda be used together? I've read that they offer slightly different benefits, but not sure if they cancel each other out.

I’ve forgotten most of my chemistry, R39. I think though that mixing borax and washing soda which can contain peroxide can result in paracetic acid. This is intentionally created by some industrial cleaners and used for sanitation. It can result in respiratory inflammation if used without serious ventilation.

I think I would hesitate before using this in my washing machine.

r33 wins threads

I used to wash a lot of my clothes in a bucket in the bathtub and it worked just fine. It's not like they are super dirty after one use.

You can hand wash in a sink with Wool-lite if you need to.

Sorry for thread hustling Op, but I have a question for the others.

My white clothes have taken on a dingy grey color lately, even when I use Clorox and hot water. If I soften the water with baking soda, will that help?

R25, what a technologically advanced country. Impressive.

R44 Sorry I cant answer your question, but I use the OxyClean powder and it helps. Soak stained clothes in a tub of OxyClean and very warm water for about 2 hours then wash as usual. It brightens clothes, especially white clothes.

Homemade laundry soap is one part borax to one part washing soda plus fels naptha or zotz bar soap. I bought a box of washing soda and another of borax over five years ago and I still haven't gone through it all. Brilliant stuff and you can make it smell of whatever you like.

In addition, you can supplement it with vinegar, TSP, or bleach as needed.

Powdered soap is a bad idea.

i just bought a new washing machine this weekend at home depot. my old one finally died this weekend. It flooded my kitchen and i spent 30 minutes sweeping water out the backdoor.

OP I switched from powder detergent to liquid. Powder never rinsed out properly and left a residue on my clothes. Also harder on washers, or so I've been told. I found liquid OxiClean at Target and it works well in my apartment machine. You need to find out if you can use one of those tabletop washers you hook up to your bathtub or kitchen sink and stop using the ones you have to pay for. It may be a better option.

[quote] i used to wash a lot of my clothes in a bucket in the bathtub and it worked just fine.

Yes bu we don’t have to do that in our first world countries, Natasha.

r49 interesting -- I've heard powder is more effective ...

Do not waste your money on R19's overpriced butt bandit detergent. The magic ingredient in there is TSP aka trisodium phosphate. You can get it at any home improvement or big box store in the hardware/paint aisle for a few dollars. If you can't get it in local stores, it is available online. A mere tablespoon or 2 per load of laundry will help a lot.

r52 but is that really safe for clothes?

I’ve been making my own detergent for the last eight years. I do not add water to mine, instead I make the powdered version. I make year’s worth at a time. Takes me about two hours. Great detergent.

Yes it's fine for clothing R53. I use it in my laundry frequently when things are grimy or greasy. I used to use sulfur on my plants outside and the only thing that got the smell out of my clothing was TSP. TSP is weird shit. Versions of TSP are in all manner of things, including instant pudding - it's what makes the pudding thicken. I use it on my vinyl flooring too. Two things you shouldn't use it on are aluminum (discolors it) and painted surfaces (removes the glossy finish).

There are some stupid websites out there telling you to wear gloves and breathing protection. This is b.s. TSP was popular for so long because of how safe it was while being effective. It will dry your hands like any detergent can. It has no fumes.

More b.s. is how we were told our use of phosphates was causing all the algae to grow and the fish to die. Most of the phosphate runoff that did this was farmers using phosphates as a fertilizer - yes, TSP can be used as fertilizer too.

Homemade laundry detergent guy, you might want to read this blog entry. It discusses the chemical difference between soap and detergent and notes that you are leaving soap scum on the inside of your washing machine (just like soap does in your bathtub if you don't scrub it out each time...) Also without sufficient agitation, that soap is staying in the fabric of your clothes (whereas detergent bonds with dirt molecules and rinses out)

Stripping is recommended and it's basically borax, washing soda, and Calgon (basically three water softeners?), very hot water and letting it soak for a few hours. That's to get all the soap residue out of your clothes. Worth a try anyway.

Oh, r56, at some jack ass propaganda put out by Procter & Gamble, Lever Brothers, and Persil.

Fuck them all! U2.

Find a laundry service that picks up and delivers.

I got news for you — people who pick up your laundry do the same thing you do — wash it in machines with recycled water.

Doesn't anyone use Biological (enzyme based) detergent in the US?

I read somewhere that they aren't popular in the US because of the way your top loading machines with agitators wash, too much water, too fast and very little control over the temperature.

I don't really understand the concept of 'wash days' in any case, if I have 3 or 4 things to wash I throw them in the machine, it weighs them, adds the water it needs, washes them and spins them until they are almost dry (1400 rpm) in about an hour. They take about 30 minutes in the dryer after that.

Your lives seem so complicated.