make me smell nicer

missminx007

allybee101 wrote: »

I use vinegar instead of fabric softener too!

The white stuff, not malt vinegar. Very cheap - 44 p for a bottle in local supermarket.

It's great - leaves washing smelling very clean and fresh, and it keeps clothes soft - towels are lovely and fluffy (not that you should use fabric softener on them anyway - makes them less absorbent).

Well I never, I've neverr heard of this.....Im def going to give it a go, I've got lots of essential oils left over from my daughters birth so I can chuck a few drops of those in. Im going to give the machine a wash out too now. I love this site Is there anything else I should know? I feel like I've been missing out all these years!

cat4772

If your WM has a filter, check it is clear and not clogged up!

We did the hot wash with milton powder once and bleach twice and the smell returned a couple of washes later. When we checked the filter it was clogged with hair, slime and other washing debris and really, really smelly_pale_. Now we clean the filter every three weeks and don't have to do the hot wash thing for a couple of months!

pigpen

And leave the door open between washes especially if you do not wash every day (laundry not yourself)

Empty and cean filter and detergent drawer too.. and wipe around the door seals with lemon juice on a cloth.

essential oils left horrid greasy marks on my laundry which were grey on white garments I wouldn't use them. Vinegar (about a tabespoon full) made my clothes smell like a chippy.. and my house and washing machines and dryer.. all of which are regularly cleaned.

value wash powder and a small glug of lenor in my house.

Seakay

I use vinegar instead of fabric conditioner - either brown malt or white spirit, whichever I can get cheaply. Niether will stain or leave a vinegary smell on dry washing. I get a 1 litre screw top bottle, quarter fill it with vinegar, add perfume oil (like your vanilla oil probably, something used for pot pourri or similar) or aromatherapy oil about 5-10 drops, top up with tap water. Shake before using and pour about a cup of the mixture into the conditioner compartment. Vinegar helps to get out soap so that clothes seem less faded and softer, it also keeps down the scale deposits so that your machine will function better, especially in hard water areas.
The cheapest aromatherapy oils will be eucalyptus or tea tree, often available from small chemists etc and both of which are cleaning agents in themselves.

[Deleted User]

I squirt a bit of lemon juice on a cloth as well as it keeps the machine smelling fresh plus leaving to door slightly open stops it getting whiffy.White vinegar is all thats needed instead of the gloopy fabric conditioner.I can't abide the smell of vinegar, but its suprising that the clothes never smell of it and always come up nice and soft a fresh,plus of corse its cheap as chips

phizzimum

I've found this a very interesting little discussion - it made me think that all those people who [STRIKE]waste[/STRIKE] oops choose to spend money on highly scented laundry products probably have smelly washing machines but they're masking the smell so don't realise!

Alison_Funnell

allybee101 wrote: »

I use vinegar instead of fabric softener too!

The white stuff, not malt vinegar. Very cheap - 44 p for a bottle in local supermarket.

It's great - leaves washing smelling very clean and fresh, and it keeps clothes soft - towels are lovely and fluffy (not that you should use fabric softener on them anyway - makes them less absorbent).

Why not malt? It would be highly diluted so wouldn't stain and is no less smelly than othe vinegars. It's also cheaper.

BitterAndTwisted

Oh, I've used the malt vinegar coloured with caramel when I've run out of the white stuff loads of times. As Alison said, it's diluted so cannot possibly stain anything. It's so satisfying to feel how lovely and soft things are when they're dry. I wish I could get all the money back that I wasted on highly-perfumed fabric conditioners.

missminx007

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Oh, I've used the malt vinegar coloured with caramel when I've run out of the white stuff loads of times. As Alison said, it's diluted so cannot possibly stain anything. It's so satisfying to feel how lovely and soft things are when they're dry. I wish I could get all the money back that I wasted on highly-perfumed fabric conditioners.

Im far too excited about this, I'm almost looking forward to putting a load on when the wash out of the machine has finished

BitterAndTwisted

Expect the laundry to smell of vinegar when it's wet but that will disappear once it's all dry. The only caveat is if you like your laundry to be highly-scented. I don't care for it at all in case it clashes with my cherished, expensive and lovely perfumes so vinegar is great for me. As others have mentioned you could always put a couple of drops of scented oil in with the vinegar.