When washing whites, use borax rather than bleach to whiten. Bleach can cause yellowing if used a great deal and will eat holes in your clothes after a number of uses. I find borax is a better whitening agent for the fabrics I wear.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
What can I use in a laundry load (besides bleach) to disinfect colored clothing after a child has been ill and has soiled underclothing and bedding?
By Sherri Lile from MO
Borax, you should be able to find it (powdered) in the laundry section of your store.
I'd use borax too. Maybe wash twice, with hot water, or if not hot water, twice on longest cycle, and dryer dry. I forgot; since it's summer, hang the garments/bedding in hot sun.
I've used Dettol for disinfecting loads of colored laundry.
White vinegar is a disinfectant. Just pour some in where your fabric softener would normally go. The vinegar smell will go away when the clothing is dried in the dryer. Hotels even use vinegar for cleaning purposes. It is an economical disinfectant.
Ditto on the distilled vinegar.
In my opinion, hot water and detergent are all you really need clean your household laundry. With this last go round with the H1N1 virus, it was found that regular handwashing with soap and water was the single most effective thing to do to prevent the spread of germs.
Heat kills germs. Hot water,detergent and a dryer set on hot is all you need. Medical instruments are sterilized by HEAT. Don't need any thing fancy. Hope this helps.
I buy a 40 oz. bottle of Pine Glo from Dollar Tree to use as a disinfectant/cleaner. Just pour about 1/4 - 1/2 cup in with original wash cycle along with detergent.
I have tried using hydrogen peroxide as a non-chlorine bleach. But my whites were not as white as I thought they would be. What else can I try?
By glenda from Arlington, TX
There are some answers in the archives below ;-) I will also add that other things I've learned since then by reading various ThriftyFun posts is drying whites on the line in the sunshine and using Oxiclean. Hope this helps :-)
My whites were getting very dingy I was using chlorine bleach and I used 20 Mule Team Borax 1/2 cup in a large load made a huge difference and it is $3.00 for a 4lb box.
For years people have used Mrs. Stewart's bluing to make whites look whiter. I have just recently started using it & it does seem to help. BJ
