sigh-whites not really white. what do you do?

[booyhoo]

i use formil washing powder and when i wash whites i use the dylon white sachet thingy in the wash. today i washed them again with a scoop of vanish white oxy stuff because the first wash still had some marks on it but then they were still there after the second. the marks are suncream stains, food, grubbiness on the soles of socks from ds walking out side

oh yes i wash at 40

treat (with oxi white) in wsh and line dry in the SUN! which always removes my washing with stains especially orange baby sick

I would say to try ariel or persil, the proper biological version. Use the full amount that it states on the box.

Suncream is terrible for leaving stains, they may be permanent. also some of the other stains you mention e.g soles of socks.

Stained stuff needs washing almost immediately (or at least put it on a prewash)

60 if the fabric allows (cottons etc)

never tumble dry stained items or iron over them. Wherever possible hang in direct sunshine, ime this can be almost miraculous for terrible food stains like tomato-based pasta sauce or similar. Sometimes a stain seems permanent but eventually goes after 2-3 washes (as long as you don't "set" it with the iron)

I use a vanish pink solid stick to rub over stains before washing. (dampen stain first)

get some of the stuff designed to clean net curtains (its dylon i think) it works wonders

I send all my really stained stuff to my mums! She "treats" stains by rubbing them with washing up liquid before putting them in the washer. Works wonders and is very cheap.

i always line dry.

the only thing i have ever found to be good at properly removing stains is a good pelting with rain, but unfortunatley i have no control over that and tbh would rather my clothes came in drier than they went out

what about the vanish pre treat stain spray? any good?

nancy is that the sachets?

i think that is what i use already

Have never used the stain spray. I use the solid version (looks like a solid deodorant and lasts for months)

pantaloons please let us all have your mother's address.

they do one for whites and a stronger one that is just for nets, its the one for nets you want ( i wash all the school shirts/socks ect with it). for actual stains i agree with pantaloons - fairy liquid (washing up liquid) gets stains off better than any of the vanish oxy stuff

Onepieceoflollipop - you sound like a girl after my own heart, laundry wise (ie. freakishly anal obsessive about it). Would love to have a proper chat with you sometime .

Atm I am battling with my heart because dh is going away on a long trip overseas and I am concentrating on getting almost all of his clothes washed before he goes. Trouble is, this will inevitably involve mixing some washes ... tomorrow I am going to have to wash some of his dark cotton shirts in with pants, and "medium" coloured cotton shirts. Together with, possibly, a pair of lightish grey/green trousers. Its all wrong, WRONG, this mixed up washing.

ooh bibbity i could jump onboard with you there, i am so very particular about what goes with what in the wash.

thanks nancy, i am shopping tomorrow so will see if i can grab some of that. i think i will wash it all again till it sparkles

In my dream house I will have a ginormous utility room with 2 washing machines, a large tumble dryer, a drying cupboard a door leading to a courtyard with a rotary dryer in it. My ironing board will be permanently set up and I will have cupboards for freshly folded linen and rails for hanging clothes on.

oh alouise don't!! i know i will never have it, teh pain is too much

ok, just for future reference i cannot type the word 'the'. (except for just then)

bibbity (my laundry soul-mate! )

Someone once mentioned on here that they have several dds (I have two) and they occasionally do a "pink" wash. I just thought how lovely that sounded, ooh and pegged out with pink pegs too.

I hear you re the mixed washing. Sometimes I look at dh's pale grey boxers (for example) and I have to make a decision. Should they go in with the black and navy, or should they go in with the girls' light coloured items?

If I am feeling very very daring I may put the odd pale pink item in with white clothes. (not the best whites though you understand)

Oddly enough I find most housework tedious, but I love the smell of clean laundry and do kind of enjoy the whole process.

We didn't have our laundry done "nicely" as children (long long story) so I love to do it properly now. I have had a washing machine for years now but I still see it as a luxury.

onepiece re: the grey boxers, I do this ALL THE TIME. Sorting my laundry takes hours. I come over all OCD and fret about whether something white with tiny bits of colour is white enough fot eh whites, or should go in with the lights.And when I've got loads and loads, I'll colour code the whole lot and walk round with a turquoise towel, trying to decide whether to put it in the green or the blue pile. SO SAD. REALLY MUST GET JOB OR HOBBY.

tiggy and bibbity we need a support thread.

Worse still I have a job and really don't have time to fret over the laundry!

Dh would do the laundry and do an adequate job I am sure.

Also can I ask, wrt to new clothes. Do you sometimes hand wash them first time round just to see how they "behave". I had some awful trousers from Primark which leaked black when washed, could never trust them in the machine.

The sad thing is, I gave them to the charity shop and felt guilty that I didn't pin a little note on them confessing that the colour in them ran all the time.

I hope some poor lady didn't buy them and put them in with new white babygrows or something.

If whites have gone a bit grey, will line-drying them on a sunny day make them whiter again?

No, don't do that! I don't worry too much about dark things, but I am obsessive about whites. Can't bear it when people have a grubby yellow/grey tinge to their white clothes. I have to restrain myself from telling them off! It's just so unsightly. All my bedlinen and towels (apart from the kids' ones) are white as well. The biggest nightmare for me is when I am faced with a top that has a deep coloured body and a white collar. I need valium.

Sorry, crossed posts. I don't mean 'don't do that' to you, lido, I meant 'No, I don't do that' to onepiece

Tbh onepiece, if one puts black trousers in with white babygrows I think one deserves all that is coming to one .

Every morning I go in to my dc's room to get them up, open the curtains, look down in to my neighbour's garden and judge, yes JUDGE, her washing.

(its usually a shocking mix of underwear, jeans and towels of all different hues all pegged out together ).

My MIL does this. She thinks she's being economical, but it's just plain wrong, I tell you. Drives me bonkers. When she comes to stay or I go there she'll always try to sneak a couple coloured teatowels and a pair of beige knickers in my white load while I'm not looking. But I'm onto her, and frisk the machine before I start.

I have a pink wash - with 2 ds in the house! Dh has a mantra that it takes a confident man to wear pink, sadly all males in this house are over confident!

My DH and DS2 wear alot of pink as well - they are blonde and blue eyes so it really suits them!

Well, DH is bald and blue eyes, but anyway...