In this day and age of more products to clean everything; stains, whiteners, brighteners, etc., who can afford it? I remembered a tip given to me from a friend years ago.
We are nurses and had to wear white. Bleaching your whites leaves them dingy and yellow after awhile. She recommended Cascade dishwashing detergent - the plain ole white powder stuff. Put your clothes in the hottest water they can stand, add 1/2 to 1 cup of the Cascade powder, and let soak for an hour. The enzymes break down the stains and whiten up the whites.
I recently had a grease/oil stain on a white jacket. I poured some of the white Cascade gel on it, rubbed it, and let it set for 5-10 minutes. The stain came right out! Other cleaning agents that you would normally buy for that were not working.
There you go, no need to run out and get 14 products to do your laundry. Look under the kitchen sink.
By Annlee from Newport, NY
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Can I use dish tabs on laundry?
Dish washing products are very different than clothes washing products. There are significant differences in the types of chemicals used and this grossly affects the end result on your dishes and clothes.
Dish washing detergents and the newer tablets contain chemicals that break up food waste left on dishes-what does this do to cloth?
They are not designed to remove clothing stains.
Depending upon ingredients, use may result in large volumes of suds that do not break down and will certainly affect your clothes and, perhaps, the machine.
If your washer is under warrantee and is damaged by use of a product not designed for the machine, the company may void the warrantee.
Etc.
You can use dishwasher detergent without putting it in the washing machine. Just soak your clothes in the dishwasher detergent to remove set-in stains, rinse several times by hand, then wash in washing machine as usual.
I have been using dishwashing liquid like Dawn, Sunlight (Canada), Palmolive and any other good brand, (when on sale), for years. I add vinegar (degreaser) and use less soap. We tend to over soap, anyway. I use it on Cotton, polyester, wool (handwash in cold water) and every fabric that I use.Dishwash detergents are grease cutters... so?? For gentler fabrics, use less.
I use it also. I figured it out one day when we attended a campfire and our jackets smelled like smoke when we returned home. A regular wash with clothes detergent did not get the smokey smell out. I don't know why or how I thought of it, I guess I figured I may as well try the dish detergent, it wouldn't hurt cause I'd have to throw the jackets away they were so bad smelling. So I used a little dish liquid in the washing machine (top-load machine) and POOF! the smell was gone. It is awesome.
My one suggestion is use only original Dawn. The other cheap dish soaps are oil based soaps and will eventually clog your drains. If you ever seen a cross section of an old pvc drain pipe, that built up gunk is liquid soap that cling to the PVC.
Liquid dishwashing products, such as Dawn, are frequently used to hand wash clothing and remove stains. In a pinch if you are out of laundry soap, dishwasher detergent can be used as well as other products.
