Vinegar - 1001 uses!

sparkycars

White vinegar in water and clean your windows and mirrors with newspaper they come up very clean

diamondsky

Hi,

I have been using vinegar in the washing for final rinse for quite some time. Only recently am I now noticing that all the black clothes have really lost their colour. Has anyone else noticed this with their clothes? I am tempted to revert back to conditioner.

Pooky

I can't say I've noticed that at all - I've got mainly black tops that I wear for working in and they don't look any different.

Could be your powder - have you changed that at all?

squiggles

Most of my clothing is dark and all mine is fine

Ticklemouse

I use vinegar in all my washes as a final rinse and sometimes in the wash too (if DS2 has been prone to potty training accidents) I haven't noticed a colour change in anything.

How much vinegar are you using? Maybe cut down if you are filling the conditioner tray. I always use less than half a tray - probably about 2-3 tbsp per load on average.

Gingham_Ribbon

No, mine is fine. I only use about 2 or 3 capfuls though. That seems to be enough. But if you're using a washing powder with optical whiteners, then it will slowly be bleaching your clothes. Anything for coloured clothes should be fine.

Otherwise can't help. Sorry.

Ember999

Just noticed this thread earlier today and went and bought 3 bottles of white vinegar. I presume it is the white stuff you are supposed to use rather than the dark stuff I put on my chips

So, I am ready to go with this Old Style Stuff.....what do i do with it? Put three capfuls in my fabric softener tray and no fabric softener and that is going to make my clothes smell nice and they will be soft? Are they not going to smell like vinegar?

Lydia_2

when I saw the title I thought you were talking about hair conditioner. Lucky I read more or I could have ended up with vinegar on my hair.

Gingham_Ribbon

Ember, yes that's how you use it. The benefit is (apart from the cost) that your clothes will be softer without a layer of chemicals clogging the fibres in your clothes. It makes them more breathable so they keep fresh for longer in my opinion. To me it's a bit like the difference between using an antiperspirant and a deoderant. (The conditioner being the deoderant that doesn't stop the smell coming but tries to mask it!)

From what I can work out, and so,eome please correct me if I'm wrong, if you use too much washing powder (and by too much I generally mean as much as the manufacturer tells you to) the powder doesn't wash off completely. So you need a fabric softener to stop your clothes ending up hard from the excess powder. It adds a fragrance too but it does just put layers of stuff on your clothes. One from the excess powder, and one to counteract the affect of the powder, by covering it up and making it all smell nicey!

I use about half the recommended amount of washing powder, which is enough except in the dirtiest loads. (I cut down gradually until I felt that it wasn't quite as clean, then increased it slightly.) I use a small amount of vinegar which does make the clothes nice and soft but not chemically soft like conditioner; there's no film on it. It doesn't smell like vinegar except maybe for a second after the washing machine door is opened. Then the clothes just smell clean from the washing powder. They don't have a strong fragrance of anything really. I suppose you could put lavender or something in the tray with the vinegar? Or put an essential oil in your ironing water if you iron things? I've never felt the need but I was never a fan of the smell of fabric softeners in the first place.

Sorry I rambled here!

Gingham_Ribbon

Lydia I was wondering the same thing! :rotfl: