keeping white laundry, white

[Runningmommy]

what do you do to keep your white laundry looking white? thanks !

[hibana]

Hang it in the sun!

[MommyErin]

I've been experimenting with Mrs. Stewart's Bluing as well. I've also been trying peroxide. Sunning is probably the simplest and the best especially with the Summer coming.

[Peony]

: because my whites look nasty.

[mgilleran@earth-co]

We have hard water with a lot of iron in it. Nasty! I just use vinegar in the rinse to help eliminate soap residue. That is what causes grey clothes over time. I also use oxyclean periodically to whiten them up. It works really well. I only use it once every few weeks.

[lilylove]

I just bought and tried Ecos's Oxy-Brite a couple days ago.
It's basically powdered hydrogen peroxide. I love it! It did a great job on my very dingy clothes.

[Boobs]

Wash them in hot water and hang on the line in the sun. (we wash everything else in cold water to conserve energy)

[Runningmommy]

we dont' have a clothes line outside, so that's unfortunatly not an option for us.

[PugMom4Now]

I add baking soda to the wash - it seems to brighten the whites. I would really love to have a clothesline to dry my clothes.

[Runningmommy]

are baking soda and vinegar both okay with HE washers? it may sound like a dumb question, but we just got these (our old one broke) and Idont' want to mess it up. thanks!

[momto l&a]

Over night soak in the hottest water and oxygen bleach with some borax and Calgon thrown in.

Washed in Tide with bleach.

We have pure white whites which is amazing considering we live in the country with 3 busy girls.

[MommyErin]

Originally Posted by Runningmommy

are baking soda and vinegar both okay with HE washers? it may sound like a dumb question, but we just got these (our old one broke) and Idont' want to mess it up. thanks!

Yup, I have an HE front loader. I use my homemade laundry soap (Ivory soap, borax, washing soda & oxyclean). I use just a tablespoon per load. I then put a healthy slosh of vinegar in the fabric softener compartment.

I know with mine, I had to move the laundry soap dispenser further back to accomodate a powder rather than a liquid but that was the only change I made. I would check and see if yours needs to be moved before you switch to BS. I think it has something to do with getting enough water flow to push the powder through.

[srain]

Other than using bleach or Tide, which I'm not willing to do, we've tried all of the above suggestions before and nothing worked! So now I try to avoid white clothing altogether.