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Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you find some helpful hints for organizing your time and space. My passions are to help you make home a refuge instead of a crisis center, and to help you function in peace rather than chaos - at home or at work. I have switched my main blog to 1-2-3 ... Get Organized on WordPress, so please visit me there.



Monday, May 11, 2009

Vinegar - 10 Ways to Save Your Clothes!


Hope you had a great weekend. I had a wonderful Mother's Day - my daughter Sara surprised me by showing up on Friday and staying throughout the weekend! She joined right in the activities we had planned for the weekend. And lovely talks with my other daughter Comfort. I love being a mom!

Over the weekend we were trying to get smoke smells out of a comforter given to one of our foster girls. So Sara did a little research and she found these enlightening laundry tips from Angela Cisco, many of which I had never heard before. Who knew vinegar was such a value? Here's Angela's article:


10 Ways to Use White Distilled Vinegar You Never Heard of Before

"For a long time, you've heard that distilled white vinegar can be used in the laundry but you aren't sure how. If your mom or grandma were asked, I'm sure they wouldn't be able to list all the ways vinegar can boost the power of your washer and dryer without breaking the bank. Distilled white vinegar costs $1.49 for 128 oz at my local grocery store.

Here are 10 ways you can work distilled white vinegar into your every day wash and rinse.

Prevent lint from clinging to clothes
by adding 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the wash cycle.

To brighten colors and remove soap residue that makes black clothes look dull
use white distilled vinegar in your final rinse.

Fluff up wool or acrylic sweaters
(hand- or machine-washed) and rid them of soap smell, with 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar in the last rinse water.

Remove smoky odors from clothes
by filling the bathtub with very hot water and 1 cup white distilled vinegar. Hang the garments above the steaming water and shut the door so the steam can penetrate the fibers.

Remove musky smells from cotton clothes
by sprinkling them lightly with white distilled vinegar and then pressing them.

Get cleaner laundry!
Add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse. The acid in white distilled vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics, yet strong enough to dissolve the alkalis in soaps and detergents. Besides removing soap, white distilled vinegar prevents yellowing, acts as a fabric softener and static cling reducer, and attacks mold and mildew.

Before washing a mustard stain
, dab with white distilled vinegar.

Attack spaghetti, barbecue, or ketchup stains
with a white distilled vinegar and water solution.

Forgot that you left wet laundry in the machine and it now smells moldy?
Pour a few cups of white distilled vinegar in the machine and wash the clothes in hot water. Then run a normal cycle with detergent.

Remove perspiration odor and stains on clothing
, as well as those left by deodorants, by spraying full-strength white distilled vinegar on underarm and collar areas before tossing them into the washing machine.
"

Do you have additional laundry tips using vinegar? We love to hear them! If you receive this via email, comment here.


Similar topics:
Organizing Laundry
Laundry tip - color-coded laundry bags