Where is the laundry tips forum?

[Curmudgeoness]

I am so tired of my dishrags getting stiff, and after they are washed, they are still stiff. I know, I know, change them more often. Duh, it is a little late for that suggestion.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Curmudgeoness...

I wonder how you are drying them...

I put mine in the dryer after machine washing, and they come out soft and fluffy.

They do remain stiff after normal dishwashing use...I don't think there's anything that can be done about that...

Sorry.

:hi:

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Oh, I would just love soft and fluffy. I use the dryer.

Maybe I don't use them normally. I will be throwing a bunch of them out if I can't get soft and fluffy again. And I just hate throwing things without holes away!

Thanks anyways.

[grasswire]

2. do you mean dish towel?

Or a cloth you use for washing things?

I never heard of this happening. Maybe you ought to rinse them in vinegar and microwave for a minute at night.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. I mean dish cloth, for washing.

I will try soaking in vinegar, that sounds like a good place to start. At first the microwave made no sense, but at least it would kill bacteria. But I think the stiffness comes from probably wiping up grease and all that other crap off the stove. Like today, I have spaghetti sauce stains all over it. It's always something.

[grasswire]

5. yeah, kinda scary

At least giving it a good rinse and microwaving it will kill the germs that are no doubt proliferating in your sink area!

Even sponges can get really awful and should be microwaved periodically.

[hedgehog]

6. I find that washing fabric in soap results in soft fabric, while washing in detergent

results in stiff fabric. I don't think you can buy soap powder any where any more. I grate 3 bars of Fells Naptha (using the coarse side to get 1/4" curls) and mix them with 1 box of borax and 1 box of Biz or washing soda. I get good results using about 1/2 cup of this in my HE washer.

Some people go to much greater effort, boiling the soap in water then stirring in the other ingredienats, but I get along fine just mixing the dry powders.

You could experiment by washing your dish cloths by hand with some castile soap to see if that helps.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Sounds easy enough to try. In fact,

if I remember correctly, my mother always had Fels Naptha soap in the laundry area. I didn't know why, but maybe this was what she used on certain things.

[Inchworm]

8. A li'l off topic, but a question for the forum

I noticed the center of my agitator in the wash machine pops off. It almost looks like I'm supposed to put something in there like bleach or something.

:wth:

:hi:

[Curmudgeoness]

9. Where is your manual?

You want us to guess about this? I did have a machine once where you put the fabric softener in a little container attached to the washer so you didn't have to make a special trip just at the right time to add it. Maybe that is what you are supposed to do.

Or maybe not. Sure would hate to put crap in there if you aren't supposed to do it.

Sorry I couldn't help.

[marzipanni]

11. We have a Kenmore with a fabric softener dispenser in the agitator

and a bleach dispenser in the right front corner. I never use fabric softener.

[Inchworm]

13. After about an hour of hunting a manual online

You are correct. It is for fabric softner. Thanks!

:woohoo:

[Curmudgeoness]

17. Well, I'll be dipped! I have never heard of a dispenser for anything

in the agitator. I don't know if you use fabric softener, but if you do, that would be really nice. I use it since I hate to have all may laundry sticking together and shocking me when I pull it out of the dryer, and running down to the basement at just the right time is a pain.

Oh, and I just LOVE to hear those words "you are correct". :bounce:

[gvstn]

15. I never use the bleach dispenser

I am convinced that a little bleach ends up in the next load when I use the dispenser. I can't figure out how else I used to occasionally find small bleach spots on dark clothes when I used the dispenser.

[Curmudgeoness]

18. I can believe that. I had a fabric softener dispenser once and

I found out that it dumped too early, into the stupid wash cycle instead of rinse. Never trusted it, and will never trust any dispensers. But bleach is easy to put in, I don't even understand the dispenser. Mostly fill the washer first, before you put any clothes in there. Not much of a big deal to me.

[snagglepuss]

12. It could be a lint/hair catcher like my Mom's machine. If so clean it every

time you use the machine.

[madmom]

10. I was told ions ago, that the stiffness is from not getting all the soap out. When you wash

dishes you use soap, when you wash the dish cloth, you use soap. Rinsing in vinegar a couple times should help. ;)

edited to add, I also believe cold water cuts soap better than hot.

[Curmudgeoness]

19. Thanks, I will be trying the vinegar. And...

I am rather shocked about the cold water cutting soap better than hot. That is a new one on me.

[CottonBear]

14. Use a Clear & Free type of detergent and then do a vinegar rinse.

This is how I wash all of my family's clothes and the baby's cloth diapers. You can add some borax to the wash for extra cleaning power.

For cloth diaper wash loads and for baby clothes only loads I do a separate (plain white) vinegar rinse with cold water after running a full wash cycle with clear and free detergent and borax. The real secret is the separate vinegar rinse (after the initial wash and rinse, rinse again with vinegar utilizing a short wash cycle) and not using too much detergent. The vinegar removes excess detergent residues and makes the wash very soft and fresh. Use about 1 cup of vinegar per load. (Tip: the cloth diapers are run through an initial hot rinse cycle with borax only prior to the hot wash with detergent and borax and then rinsed again with cold water and vinegar. It seems excessive but it is what you have to do to get them really clean and fresh. The diapers are soaked in borax and water in a 5 gallon diaper pail when accumulating for the wash. The pail is emptied into the tub and the water drained off prior to the initial rinse in the washer. I know this seems like a lot of work but it beats buying disposable diapers!)

I think that you could put vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser and not have to run a separate wash/rinse cycle for your dish towels and bath towels. I must stress that most people use too much detergent!

Good luck!

[Curmudgeoness]

20. Good advice. And vinegar seems to be the solution of choice.

I am just very glad that I am not at a diaper stage of life! But I commend you for not using disposables and finding a great solution to cleaning them.

[CottonBear]

22. Washing diapers is a bit of work but good for the environment & wallet! n/t

[MicaelS]

16. Over here....

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/laundry/

[Curmudgeoness]

21. I am baffled. How exciting. I was making a joke about

a laundry forum. I should know better. But.....on the garden web??? Kinda makes it more of a joke.

Thanks.

[Crystal Clarity]

23. Too bad you and Texanwitch live too far from each other

To exchange domestic duties. She'd do all the laundry and provide you w/fluffy dishcloths, and you'd do all the dishes.

Oh well, good luck w/your dishcloths Curmudgeoness! Sending fluffy dishcloth vibes to you my friend. :hug: