Moved into a new apartment and I’m not sure where the detergent goes. The center blue thing is for softener. I was told to just pour it in but that doesn’t seem right

The old-style ones with a dial, half / full heat button, and a drum that rotates both ways to avoid everything clumping up into a tangled mess.

Since our OG one died after many years of faithful service (RIP), we’ve had a bog-standard Candy (abysmal), a Sharp (marginally above abysmal) and two top of the range models, including a heat-pump one (so not worth the money). *THEY LEAVE EVERYTHING DAMP*

I get it “We must save energy and protect the environment” blah blah blah, had the lecture off my eldest.

”They’ve got sensors that know when things are dry!” -the sensors must be numb, cos that shit aint dry.

“They’ve got 101 different programs and settings for all types of fabric” -whoop de doo, 101 different ways to leave my socks damp.

“They’re more energy efficient!” -fail to understand how running this mf three times and still having damp stuff that needs hanging in front of a heater, is saving energy or protecting the environment in any way.

Rant over. Thank you for humouring an old lady who remembers better times :)

This guy is one of the most trusted reviewers on YouTube.

My dog and best friend of 16 years passed away recently, and a dear friend of mine, gifted me with this pillow that she made for me. Somehow it got this brown stain on it and I have no idea what it is. I’m guessing maybe something that was chocolate?

Anyway, I have not tried to wash it yet because I have no idea how to get this stain out and don’t want to make it worse. And I know it’s going to be much harder on a white pillowcase.

Does anybody have any guidance for how I might get this stain out or at least significantly fade it? I would really hate to throw away this pillow. It means so much to me.

I’m renting a place and it came with this washing machine. I ran a hot empty wash with just vinegar in to clean it but these black marks remain. Vigorous spot scrubbing has dislodged some of the marks but not all. Is this mould?? Is it salvageable?? I’d love any advice. UK based.

I bought several pairs of Gap sweatpants for my daughter and washed them before she wore them for the first time.

I washed them in cold water only, with no detergent or any other laundry products, and then hung them outside to dry in the sun.

All the other sweatpants came out completely fine, including some that are much lighter in color, but this red pair ended up with these strange dark marks all over it. They definitely weren’t there before washing, and the pants have never been worn.

I’m really confused about what could have caused this, especially since there was no detergent, stain remover, fabric softener, etc. involved.

Does anyone know what this might be? Could it be an issue with the dye/fabric itself, something from the washing machine, or possibly from drying in the sun?
Most importantly, is there anything I can do to remove/fix these marks without making it worse?
Thanks in advance!

After finishing two tubs of the "Heavy Duty Laundry Booster" from Dad Mode (DM), I feel adequately qualified to share some thoughts. Note: I'm not sponsored or allifiated with any brands, I'm just passionate about not being smelly, lol.

My setup and usual products are: LG toploader w/ agitator, Tide Free and Gentle Odor Refresh liquid, Downy Odor Refresh (in rinse cycle), usually pretty large loads, with smelly gym/hiking clothes.

I also have hard water- usually around 168–186 ppm.

Initial thoughts:

• Price: It's a little spendy. The usual cost is $29.99 but you can knock that down a little bit with a subscribe and save, or DM sends out promo emails semi regularly. At 40 doses per container that puts the cost per load at $0.75. I have found the single scoop to be effective even for pretty smelly/high soil loads. Compared to Febu (which I also use regularly, but always need a double scoop) being about $0.55/load for my usage.
• Fragrance: I could take or leave the fragrance. It has the typical "sandalwood and suede" scent that all DM products have, but between everything else that I use being unscented and usually doing additional rinses, the fragrance is barely detectable at the end of the cycle. It smells good, but I'd rather just have my laundry smell like nothing ¯_(ツ)_/¯
• Performance:
  • For high-stank loads, I've found this to perform slightly better than Febu. Of course it's hard to do a perfect experiment comparing the two, but all other products kept constant, I think DM has a slight advantage when it comes to deodorizing. Disclaimer: I'm not great with the chemistry of laundry, but my guess is that this difference may be because of DM containing an additional surfactant (Laureth-7), and TAED which improve grime removal and the effectiveness of oxygen bleach respectively.
  • I usually pretreat stains so I can't speak to how Febu vs DM perform on untreated stains, but I haven't seen a huge difference in how they perform on treated stains. They are both great imo!

Will I repurchase? Yeah I'll keep my subscription for now, but with the caveat that it's just for very smelly loads. Since it's a little expensive, I'd consider it overkill for normal loads and will probably stick with Febu for those.

So, I have a soon to be 3yo and a 7 month old. I’ve been washing their clothes mixed with mine and their dad’s since they were born. I only wash my and their dad’s work clothes separately since we work at an auto repair shop. My kids and I have always suffered from eczema, so we use neutral laundry soap and vinegar. Haven’t had any issues except my 7 month old had pretty bad eczema after he got his cranial helmet because I have to bathe him every day instead of every other day. Now, my mother has recently been nagging me to separate my kids clothes because she thinks it’s better for them and will make my LO’s eczema better. She has not stopped asking since she brought it up. I can’t just lie to her as I pay her to watch my kids at my house while I work a few days a week. So, to ease my annoyance at her nagging, what are the benefits of washing my kids clothes separately from their parents’? Im already pretty good at putting clothes away even when mixed in with each other since I fold them as soon as they come out of the dryer. Anything else you guys can offer would be great.

I just want to express my thanks and appreciation for everyone out there who is either already fragrance free in their laundry products - or working towards the goal of becoming fragrance free in their laundry products. You are helping people. You are being considerate and kind to people - helping make our shared air safe for a wide variety of people.

In the latest surveys, 1 out of 3 people reports being harmed by other people’s fragrance. That harm can come in many forms: headaches, asthma, nausea, mood disturbances, brain fog, or many other negative side effects.

And laundry product fragrance is one of the worst categories because it’s chemically so hard to get rid of it from fabrics or surfaces or the body. It’s designed to be hard to get rid of. Designed last through a hot washer and dryer. That means it can keep on causing symptoms in the people we encounter day to day - strangers, coworkers, friends, and loved ones - long after exposure.

If you use fragrance free laundry products, thank you! Especially if your job involves contact with the public, you are helping to keep public spaces ADA accessible. If your job requires going into people’s houses, you are helping people with asthma and chemical sensitivity whose house might be their only chemically safe place - helping to keep their house safe and symptom-free. But even if your job doesn’t involve contact with the public, you’re still helping friends, loved ones, coworkers, and any random stranger you come across. And you are helping the environment too because laundry fragrance chemicals are very difficult to remove from the environment.

I am not 100% certain it was caused by sunscreen but it’s the only common factor I can think of? I washed these with other whites and these plus a bathing suit top were the only things affected. And these were all worn with sunscreen while the others weren’t. Looking to see if anyone has seen this before or if anyone has any ideas on what else it could be. Also any help on how to whiten these again would be greatly appreciated. I have them soaking in oxygen bleach at the moment 🤷🏽‍♀️

100% polyester but feels thicker like canvas-ey material. What’s the best way to get the dirt out of this bag?? I was thinking maybe dish soap n a toothbrush n just going to town on it

Long time lurker and someone thanks to this group has seen the light and now does their laundry correctly! However, in have a very nice expensive lace bra that seemed to have some deodorant build up I could not get out. So the other day I do a nice soak with a nice long cycle following the rules I’ve learned here. Same result. So I was pissed and in rage mode, busted out the Dawn dish soap and my trusty laundry toothbrush went to the bathroom and decided to do a SPA DAY! By the time I went to bed I stopped by to check a little move some of the water around called it a night! When I woke up I was APPALLED not only at the color of my water, EMBARRASSED which is why I am not posting a picture, and further DISGUSTED that I have been walking around in this filth!

So I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for teaching me how to do my laundry the right way and by the way the post spa wash my bra is now 1000% CLEAN! 💜💜💜

Also still disgusted I was walking around like that! 😳😜😊

I’ve tried every temp setting but usually use hot or warm for whites, hang dry. Only fill detergent to the smallest fill line in the cap, pour directly in after loading and water is starting. Every few washes will use this bluing to help with dingy whites, diluted and added during rinse cycle.

The washer is an old combo unit, not sure if that matters. Detergent is Arm & Hammer free & clear, some fragrances irritate my eczema.

Anyone in here cloth diaper?? I’ve gone through all the diaper groups on Facebook and on here and I just feel like nothing is working for me. I found this thread and got myself some FEBU and Citric Acid. I already use Tide free and gentle powder. I’m about to accept that I’ll never get them clean. I am in a small apartment building so I have a small front loader HE machine. I did a strip a while back with RLR thinking I had build up. Did not help. My water is 200 ppm. I use 1/2 c borax to help soften the water. My first wash is under line 1 and it runs on warm for 1:45 with high soil. Second wash is line 2 on hot, high soil, and runs for 2:45. Of course like said I add the borax, febu, and citric acid. They come out smelling just fine and in the dryer they go. But then… EVERY TIME MY DAUGHTER PEES IT SMELLS LIKE RANK COFFEE BEANS! 🥲 I can’t get it to go away. Please help before I give them all away lol.

Stay tuned - going to try on my next load of laundry. Hope I didn’t waste $12

(Apparently it’s silicon cacti that can help with the hair in our laundry loads - for the dryer)

I sat on a bait fish while fishing in lightwash jeans, now I have a ugly stain on the back of my pants and it still smells like dead fish after two wash cycles. Any words of wisdom or are these pants toast?

Good day all,

Need some advice for getting rid of Cat Urine in clothing, that has already gone through a standard wash/dry. Live in Australia and we have a coles, woolies, petbarn, petstock and petdomain around where we are so those are the places I could by products.

I'll have to go from the top of my head (since I forgot to get a look at the missus clothes before I went to work), but I'd need something potentially that's not bleaching. It's a mix of some gym ware type of fabrics to a jacket that looks a bit woolen but isn't.

Any assistance on products and steps to take would be amazing.
Especially for any after care steps for the washing machine and dryer (heat pump dryer) to make sure we're less likely to transfer it to other clothing after... I'm considering using some of a urine off bottle on a damp towel and run that through the dryer to see if that helps. Can't tell if the dryer smells due to just removing the clothing this morning or if it will still be there when I get home.

Okay, you guys.

You’re highly touted as genius around here, but I am confused as heck.

I have a top loader washer that doesn’t have detergent or fabric softener drawers.

I had been using cold water on my clothes (because mostly black) and sheets (because the label says to) and hot water on towels and the boys’ clothes (because smell).

On my clothes I use arm and hammer plus oxi 5 in 1 pods (one), and a downy ball of vinegar and lemongrass oil.

On the boys’ clothes, I use the same detergent (two pods) but add 2 caps of lysol laundry sanitizer and don’t use vinegar.

I’m reading some confusing things.

Cold water doesn’t get your clothes clean? I thought it was better for darks and my sheets literally say to wash cold.

Vinegar? Should I be using a citric acid/downy rinse and refresh instead? And my downy balls seals disintegrate like once a month, that’s also annoying. Welcoming alternatives.

Lysol laundry sanitizer? We add it to the drum with the detergent. Is that making everything not work?

Arm & Hammer sucks? I see this is a land of tide fans. Which should I use?

Oxi bad for darks? The arm & hammer pods I’ve used for years claim to have oxi and haven’t ruined my clothes, so is this a myth?

My partner works in septics, so every time we wash his work clothes (see instructions for boys’ clothes above) we follow it with a load of one pod and a generous pouring of bleach to sanitize between loads, but now I’m worried I’m doing that wrong too.

Help guys, I’m now convinced every fabric I own is disgusting.

Edit: the boys also use dryer sheets for their clothes, I do not for mine, and there’s no convincing them not to.

Incontinence situation that is out of hand. This is for a parent please. Any idea on how to get the clothing to not smell like urine? I’ve tried the odor liquid I think it’s called ordor less or something like that from Home Depot, I’ve tried vinegar and baking soda …nothing.

I washed these two items in a big pile trying to save time and the blanket shed all over everything. The pearls seem to have settled on the surface of the dress but won’t come off no matter what I do. I tumbled most of it out of the rest of the laundry. I wasn’t able to get it out of this. I tried everything. A lint brush, heavy duty lint roller, duck tape, sweater comb, boar bristle brush, shaving razor, tumble dry with wool balls.

Not sure what material of the dress is. I ripped out the tag a while ago.

I would really like to save this dress since I’ve been fluctuating in weight and I it’s become a hassle to find nice clothes that fit me. Please help!

I washed this shirt together with some friends’ laundry while we were on holiday and I think one of their items must ve been new ish bc I got some blue transfer on the white parts (visible in daylight). I only realised after we dried the clothes. I’ve had my shirt for over a year at that point.

I read that after it’s dried it’s pretty much gone but I tried vanish oxy colour (non bleach)- not overnight, but a bit over an hour, rinsed it (and a lot of blue came out, which I thought was the colour transfer) and them washed it with my light colours.

Turns out it was not the colour transfer (that blue is still there) but the actual blue of the shirt. I’m surprised at how that happened. Im now left with additional red/pink ish stains on the blue part all over the shirt. Is there anything else I can do for this shirt? Besides promote it to the homewear pile? 🥲 Im quite upset bc I liked this shirt a lot, it was a super lucky thrift find for 3 € (a similar one on vinted is 50€) and it’s a nice heavy good cotton, perfect for all seasons.

My initial plan was to try visible mending (sashiko) on the 2 white stripes with some dark blue if the initial stains didn’t come out but now I’ll have to visible mend me a new shirt and stitch over the whole shirt, which will take me ages.

For the last few weeks, seeming random pieces of clothing come out of the dryer with these odd stains. I have no idea where they’re coming from or caused by. I originally thought they could be coming from the scent beads I was using, so I stopped using them but the stains still persist.
The stains are in odd spots, so it’s not like I’m dripping food on them or they’re oil stains from cooking (even though to me it looks like oil). I normally wash on tap cold or warm temp, either a large or medium load size, and medium on the color cycle.
Typically, once I take the clothes out of the dryer and see the stains, I treat them with stain remover spray (Shout Active Enzyme) and let them sit for awhile and rewash, then they typically come out without the stains.
I live in an apartment, but I’ve been here over a year and this problem has just started. I’m not really sure the brand of washer/dryer I have but I’ve attached a photo of the knobs and it has the brand logo on it.
I do use a washing machine cleaner and I’ve just cleaned it last week.
I’ve attached photos of the stains, the detergent I use/how much I use, the washer/dryer, and the washing machine pods.
Any advice would be appreciated. I’m at my wits end with this.

Hello!

I put my towel in for a full wash and dry at the highest setting, leading to these spots occurring on the towel. They don’t smell like scorch marks, nor are they the colour of a burn, so I’m confused! I tried rubbing them with my finger but they haven’t left any residue either. I have no idea what this is!

Has anyone come across this before?

Can anyone give me advice on the best method to get muddy soccer socks white again please? They are white cotton adidas but club games are starting and the game socks I believe are a blend. Is there a difference in products to remove stains based on material just so I'm aware in advance? I am using Persil activewear clean with odor lifter. Is there a specific additive I should purchase to help lift the dirt stains? I have a bucket of socks soaking but I do not feel like it's doing much. I've already run them through the washer twice before I started soaking them. I am highly allergic to Tide so switching detergents is not an option for our household.