to think that when clothes come out the washing machine they should be clean?

[glasjam]

Yeah, I know I could have put this in Good Housekeeping but I wanted a wider audience.

Yet again I have started off to iron a few things and item after item has had to be chucked straight into the washing basket again because it is stained with miscellaneous food stuffs, general grease or deodorant marks.

It's driving me fecking mad!! I use Fairy Non-Bio (yeah, wimp's stuff I know) because my ds is prone to excema and I use Bold Biological if I am just doing an adult's wash. I had eco-balls for a while but they didn't cut the mustard.

I think I have only noticed the extent of this problem since I had kids because I like wearing alot of dark colours myself. Now my kids have lovely white, pink, pale blue t-shirts, dresses etc... I realise just how crap the washing powder is. It took three washes to get the smell of salmon out of my son's trousers (I have since educated him to stop wiping his hands on his trousers while eating it and have resorted to having a wet flannel at the table to wipe hands the instant they've finished eating)

Or do I need to leap like a lunatic the instant my child drops food on itself and dib-dab away with some magic solution rather than just chuck it in the washing pile?

Or maybe I should just dress my children and myself in wipe-clean vinyl?

Isn't that the stuff the Victorians painted on their bedframes to get rid of beasties?

Bio Tex Stain Remover is my best friend.

Aerial bio plus oxy clean powder def the best.

You could be loading your machine too full so that the washing doesnt get a good soaking the same. I alos add a scoop of oxy action type stuff if heavily soiled.

I would wash at 40 degrees, not stuff machine full. Also line drying in the sun if you are able to gets everythihng out; even curry stains!!

I use Shout spray before chucking in the machine. I occasionally use Vanish in wash stuff but never noticed any difference.

Like the OP my ds has very bad eczema and I was told to use non-bio. In fact, for the vast majority of eczema sufferers, it doesn't matter which detergent you use, but you must make sure it is thoroughly rinsed.

I try not to load the machine too full, use a full-length wash with an extra rinse, but I only ever wash at 40 max. But I always dry clothes outside in the sun. The sun, and even brightish overcast days, is amazing.

Thank you everyone - glad it wasn't just me! And Spidermama, I hear what you're saying - I don't feel like I want to throw a whole bunch of chemicals at my washing but I haven't been very successful at the whole eco-balls and bleaching in the sun business (especially living in Scotland!) Perhaps I just haven't tried hard enough?

But plenty of ideas here to try - like Fairy Liquid (would ecover work as well [doubtful emoticon] but worth a try, Borax (is that a hazardous chemical or fairly benign )and Soap crystals. It would also appear that the old-fashioned, time-consuming methods work a treat, like pre-soaking or boiling furiously on the cooker top with a heap of bicarbonate. A bit of bio in the pre-wash is also quite a tip.

My children look lovely in black by the way and I do have to steer myself away from dressing them in it too much because I feel they should have a wider palette available to them. I am also guilty of sometimes overloading the machine but have been more careful about this recently and it hasn't made any difference so far. But I shall proceed with renewed vigour now

Maybe your pipes etc need a clean? Do a wash without clothes, and with a huge handful of soda crystals in the dispenser, on 60. I have just used some Dr something or other washing machine cleaner, cost £2.50 from sainsburys, think it is probably soda crystals for suckers! It has worked a treat but I will tell you properly in a few minutes when I take my whites out after using the machine for the first time since using it yesterday.

But I use soda crystals once every 6 months or so.

But YANBU, of course you are not!

Thanks readyfornumber2and3!

Ds3 has gone through 18 white polo shirts this year! between markers and his lunch they are just good to be turned into dusters (I have a very large collection of dusters now!)

I must buy the wrong prewash soap because in my house it does not make a blind bit of difference!

no problem gorionine, I have a dp who loves to spill everything down his work shirts and its the only thing I have found that works lol

I've tried this drying in the sun malarky and it doesn't make a blind bit of difference to my ds stains - particularly on bibs

gorionine - your DS sounds much like my 2 - 2 weeks ago I bought DS1 (in year 6) 2 new white polo shirts in Asda to last the final 4 weeks of term, as I was so fed up with all the others having pen marks/unremovable stains etc.

They are both already as bad as the others, one ruined by a nosebleed, the other a rogue marker pen

my mum used to get stains out of EVERYTHING but they she used to wash all our clothes by hand. Sadly I am too busy lazy for this, so will be following you in the dash for Borax!

I use MagicMo for all my stains and also for clothes with holes in.

Non-bio is crap for most stains and was dreamed up by manufacturers so that we would buy twice as much washing powder

Most people with skin complaints can tolerate biological cleansers just fine, as long as they are well rinsed.

Don't overload the machine, use biological powders for food and body fluid stains and I agree with those that say you can't get stains out washing at 30 degrees!

I'm with you spidey.

I second household soap. Cheap and it works.
Give stain a quick scrub with soap before washing with bio. Works best when stain is fresh. If a greasy stain use fairy liquid before wash.