My husband and I were recently THROWN UP ON at a concert by a very drunk idiot. I washed the contaminated clothes immediately after, but they were still stained / reeked. I searched the sub and bought some FEBU to soak the clothes in. After a 6 hour soak the water was brown and smelled like puke 🤢.

I then did the longest wash I could (we live in an apartment building with communal Speed Queens in the basement) with Tide Free & Gentle and more FEBU. I almost cried when I took the clothes out - perfectly clean and odorless. My top was from Poshmark and it feels cleaner than it did when it arrived. I also used FEBU on my regular laundry and some old oil & blood stains came out of clothes that have been washed and dried at least a dozen times.

Thank you for helping save my husbands favorite jacket and my limited edition Trader Joe’s Halloween mini tote! I did NOT want to pay $25 to replace a $4 bag.

I bought this coat on Depop and it smells a little weird so I want to wash it but unsure how

Advice on how to wash pee from this weighted stuffy that says spot clean only? Potty training toddler had a nighttime accident and the entire bottom of this stuffed Dino soaked up a bunch of it. Tried spot cleaning with Dawn and water but still smells like pee

USA, renter, top loading communal washer on a timer

So I have been lurking on here for months and finally have the perfect selection of detergents, and enzyme boosters. I thought I had it all figured out until I read one post that changed everything.

Living in an apartment I realized I don't have TIME! Time was the missing element.

Since my husband and I are currently not homeowners, fingers crossed hopefully within the next year or two, I am stuck with the apartment washing machine that everyone must use, an ancient Maytag that uses dials, and more importantly a TIMER. The timer continues regardless if the lid is left up. So if I were allowed the clothes to soak, it would automatically go to the rinse and empty cycle.

So with all the fancy detergents and enzymes I have, what I don't have is the proper time for these enzymes to work. The ancient Maytag does an entire load in a half an hour. Laundromats aren't that much better, with paying extra I might get 45 minutes in total.

So I'm literally just dumping money down the drain for what my needs are. Those enzymes not only need the proper temperature, but also time, the proper duration for them to finally work and break down sweat, oil, and other DNA in my towels and laundry.

I know I could do this in a bathtub, but I honestly don't have the strength to lug around wet clothing. What clothing is heavy, and honestly lugging it around would wipe me out.

So I decided to get a cooler so that I can let clothes and stay in there for several hours, allowing the proper amount of time and temperature for the detergents and the enzymes to do the work they were intended to.

I can put this in my bathtub and then drain the water out and then with the wheels and the handle wheel it to my communal Maytag to just rinse out the clothes and towels and to use the Downy runs.

What do you think?

So I’ll try to keep the rage low key as to not distract from my main question. But our brand new (purchased in July) whirlpool 4.2c top loader has broken for the second time with the same spin cycle issue. Both times the repair technician cancelled day before the repair because of “parts” and that was already after waiting a week for the appointment. So now we wait another week for a reschedule … for the second time… FOR A NEW MACHINE.

Deep breath

So I decided to take out some of my anger on some clothes in a 5 gallon bucket. I purchased a screw on lid and was expecting to just fill it with hot water and roll it around on its side until I had enough.

I figured I’d just glance at what the laundry YouTube community had to say about washing in a 5 gallon bucket and everyone’s using this plunger technique … which to me seems way less efficient than just rolling the bucket around like a front loader.

From anyone with experience, is there something I’m missing for why so many people suggest the plunger method? I don’t get it. Thanks in advance.

Is there anything that I can add to a load of laundry that will remove breastmilk stains? I use Tide Free & Gentle and FEBU.

Right now, I’m spot treating but it’s very tedious and this new mama ain’t got time for that 😭

I was recently gifted a very fancy very expensive Margaret Howell wool sweater. I want to make sure I take proper care of it. I did initially wash it in the washing machine on a wool/hand wash cycle at 20 degrees, but is that best avoided? How often should one wash a sweater like this to begin with? I expect I'll wear it a fair bit but doubt I'll use it much without an undershirt. Is actual handwashing better? If so how does one best go about that?

Just doing a drive by (a quick look at wool and borax) and I notice a number of recommendations for using cheap vodka for odors.
Why?
Is the assumption that everybody has cheap vodka laying around?
Is there a particular reason not to use rubbing alcohol?
rubbing alcohol = isopropyl alcohol,
70% is ~$0.10/oz
90% is ~$0.15/oz
The cheapest vodka at Walmart is $0.185/oz. 80 proof 40% ethyl alcohol,
quite a few vodkas are priced at ~$0.23-$0.28.
Everclear at Walmart is 75% ethyl alcohol
$0.71/oz

Please help me save my towels. I have cotton Imabari towels from Japan. I normally use Nellie's powder which leaves them feeling incredibly soft and smelling really clean. They were starting to look a little dingy though.

I washed them in hot water on the towel setting of my LG HE front loader with level 1 of Oxyclean and level 2 of Tide powder hoping to brighten them up.

After washing and drying, they are no longer soft and feel like they have a sticky residue.

Please tell me I can fix this.

First pic is with flash, second is without. I have no idea what this stain is from, but I have not been able to get it out of this shirt to save my life. I've used normal Dawn, Dawn power wash, an enzyme-based stain remover more than once, and oxygen bleach with the load.

I'd like to try once more to get the stain out but my last resort will be to tie-dye it. Any ideas? Thank you!

Are there any credible eco friendly alternatives to colour catcher sheets? I've started using Dr. Beckmann colour collector all in 1 sheets. I use 2 per wash and they always come out grey and horrid looking; which makes me think they are working at catching loose dyes. But I worry about throwing away synthetic fibers needlessly.

I'm looking for opinions of others who use colour catcher sheets. Do they actually work? Or am I being tricked? If they do work, have you got recommendations for eco friendly varieties?

My current wash (in a UK front loading Smeg):

I sort into whites, lights, and blacks.

My clothes are all natural fibers .

40 degrees wash

Waitrose bio detergent+ vanish

Citric acid rinse.

I'm getting a rotten fish smell in clothes loads. It's noticeable even just a few minutes into the cycle if I open the door. It's putrescent if opened 30-60 minutes into the cycle, but the clothes come out at the end of the cycle smelling like basically nothing. I tried once with a load of kitchen towels, and they smelled like wet towels about 30 minutes into the cycle, so I think it has something to do with the clothes. The towels come out smelling slightly like wet towels, and I'm ok with that, as long as it doesn't get worse or indicate a potentially larger issue down the line. Primarily cotton, but not exclusively - for both towels and clothes.

Is this anything I should be concerned about?

I'm using febu (1 scoop), tide (4-6 tablespoons depending on load, scant bubbles), citric acid (in wash-1 T and rinse-1.5 T), and washing soda (1 oz). Clothes are washed on normal, stain cycle, extra rinse, extra dirty, extra fast spin. Towels are washed with the same settings, except towels instead of normal.

Preface: My husband has a tshirt that is akin to a baby blanky for him (has had it for 15+ years) he likes to use it to cover his eyes at night. Before we got together he washed it maybe once a year. I wash it every few months when I think about it, but with the age and how worn out the shirt is I wash it in the sink multiple times in a row.

How often SHOULD it be getting washed? Is there a safe way to wash in the washer? I’m scared to use a garment bag and potentially ruin it.

Small edit to add: before I started hand washing it he was running it through the washer every few months with the bedding but it started getting a lot of holes in it - which is why I started hand washing it in the first place. It’s been getting washed regularly since we moved in together.

I’ve cleaned the washer both where you deposit the detergent and softener I’ve cleaned with soap and white vinegar. I’ve cleaned the inside with white vinegar as well as different types of cleaning solutions. My detergents are Tide clear and tide detergent very little and now and then the Lysol sanitizer I don’t mix them together just one or the other but the detergent is always the same. But when they come out of the washer they have this either dark blue or black stains. They don’t have anything in their pockets or new clothes that may discolor and stain other clothes we usually wash those separately for the first time. I’m not sure what else to do.. does anyone have any tips to get these stains out and to avoid this in the future?? TIA!!

I know there’s been discussion around the formulation change from Everyday Care to Triplecare, but now that it’s been out for a while what do people think about the new formula? I’m still on my first bottle and it seems very watered down compared to the old formula. I’m wondering if the viscosity is unrelated to the actual concentration of active ingredients, or if this just more enshittification.

Hi all

First time posting here

I have some clothes that needed whitening and cleaning and some that had lost their shine, so I found out about oxiaction from this sub. I am from Pakistan, and its difficult to find authentic imported products here.

I bought the Vanish white oxi action and vanish pink oxi action from reputed stores, but I am worried they might be fake. This is my first time purchasing these so I’m not sure what to expect.

1. There was no outer shrink wrap
   
2. There was no seal inside the cap
   
3. There is no seal over the bucket
   
4. GPT told me that the :
   - white one should have white powder with blue oxygen beads, whereas the one I have is just white plain powder
   - and the pink one should be pink powder with oxygen beads but its white with some peachy coloured beads
   
5. The buckets have stickers pasted on them. I had thought that they would be printed.
   
6. They are also not supposed to have a strong scent, but the pink one’s scent is very strong.

The issues I have:

I have stains on cream coloured clothes. The stains are from sitting on rose petals, and they did not come out after being washed with a local regular washing detergent. They are yellow and look like oil stains but are actually stains from flowers, not sure how. There is also some mud stains like not blobs, but in lines, like for example you sit with your back against a seat, and the lines in your clothes that form at your back, those lines are visible with brown dirt stains on them, also didnt come out after a wash. What should I do to clean them and which vanish should I use in this scenario? The wash mentioned above was with a regular local washing powder at the most basic washing machine settings, no warm water or something like that.

The washing machine doesnt have a water temperature setting. It is an automatic washing machine front load, and i usually wash clothes on the 15 min cycle with 1000 spins to dry. The clothes material in question is cotton or similar natural fibres, no poleyester. And i have other cream coloured clothes that have lost their shine and texture. What method should i use to revive them? Also, i have male vests, the ones worn under clothing and they are pure white when new, which is how they should be, but some of them have caught some colours from other clothes in the wash and have yellowed. How to refresh them?

Please let me know if I bought fake detergent. If they are, please suggest some other brands that may be more widely available or other acids and cleaning methods I should use to get my clothes clean.

Thank you!

New to the sub and also detergent stuff in general. I've always just used what my parents used. I'm not typing it here because I have pretty bad ocd and would rather not go through a crisis thinking about how unclean I was.

All free and clear seemed to be the most recommended through googling but no one in this sub likes it so I suppose I'll steer clear.

My specific needs I'd like to get met:

1. Unscented

2. No boosters (I'm audhd and struggle really badly with laundry, so I'd like a one and done step)

3. Canadian friendly. We don't have many US products

Tide free and clear seems to be the most reccomented, but all I can find is free and gentle. Are they the same? Do they work equally well? And also, is liquid, powder, or pods best? Are there better options?

Sorry if these are commonly asked questions. I did browse around but frankly couldn't understand most of the explanation comments, I'm not very bright.

I have a laundry-related question, I swear!

My male cat is adorable and I love him so much, but he refuses to pee in the litter boxes we have in our carpeted basement. He’ll poop in them just fine, and he tends to pee in the same spots. He’s ruined an antique curio cabinet—I didn’t notice right away. The basement smells like cat pee, and it can sometimes waft up to the first floor. Lately, I’ve noticed that when the HVAC comes on, the smell will come through the upstairs vents—the intake is near one of his favorite pee spots. I have a very sensitive sense of smell, so I notice it more than my partner.

Kitty is fine and has a clean bill of health. The vet said this is behavioral, but we can’t seem to catch him in the act to try and fix the behavior.

We’ve covered up any furniture we don’t want to get peed on with plastic sheeting, and we use both disposable and reusable pee pads for his chosen pee spots. I recently had to buy replacement reusable pee pads, because they’re hard to wash with one side being waterproof.

I have two questions:

1. What can I use to get out the urine smells/urine from the reusable pads? We use powered Tide in our top loader (no agitator) and try to “line” the drum with the fabric parts of the pads facing into the machine to try and get the fabric in contact with the water and detergent. (I hope I’m describing our method in a way that makes sense). Without lining the machine, the pads get stacked on one another and don’t get as clean.

2. Any tips for getting the urine/urine smell out of the carpet? I’m prepared to eventually replace the carpet and the pad and likely have to clean/seal the concrete, but it’s not in the budget right now. I just don’t want to smell pee everywhere.

We’ve tried Nature’s Miracle spray and carpet foam, My Pet Peed spray, and another kind of enzyme carpet spray made for pet urine. Shampooing the carpet helps temporarily. Do I just use Nature’s Miracle or something similar in the water tank in lieu of water? I’m at a loss.

TL;DR: Cat pees outside the box in a carpeted basement. Reusable pee pads are used where he pees the most. This is a behavioral issue, not medical. Struggling to get cat pee out of both the pee pads and the carpet. HALP!

Recently (rather stupidly) washed my blue batik skirt with a red shirt so the original white accents are now pink. I’ve tried rewashing with oxiclean and soaking in vinegar/cold water but it’s still pink. Is there any hope in fixing it or am I screwed.

I have this (not so) fluffy jacket which I really really love, but over time of wearing it the Fabric turned like clumpy :(

Is there any way to save my jacket?💔
I don’t care how time consuming the method may be as long as its successful

Title should read: Tide or dad mode

Which is “better” the dad mode deep stain remover or the “new” tide enzyme stain remover?

I hate spending the money to have silk scarves dry cleaned, but when I hand wash them in the correct detergent and gently press them using a pressing cloth, they don't come out all shiny and resilient like they do after dry cleaning. Is there a way?

I’m putting my bike away for the winter and want to wash my bike bag. Grease and grime and tire markings. I don’t want to put it in washing machine but I have a laundry sink with hot/cold taps. I also have a cooler (used for spa days). Also it could be possible (depending on how cold it gets) to rinse with outside tap. I have tide original powder , tide liquid free and gentle , resolve stain remover, and both types of resolve oxi action jars (red/gold and white/gold). I’d prefer not to buy other products but will consider if it means a clean bag. Thanks