What do you add to your washing machine besides powder?

Users often believe that the only household chemical needed for effective washing of clothes is washing powder. Unfortunately, this isn't true, as detergent manufacturers rarely include all the necessary ingredients in their washing powder. Therefore, in addition to washing powder, fabric softener is often added to the washing machine to give clothes a pleasant scent and make them soft and pleasant to the touch. Other household chemicals are also often added to this "home helper," which we will discuss in this article.

Refined salt

First of all, we should note purified salt, which washing machine users sometimes add along with washing powder to help clothes retain their color and prevent fading. To do this, you need to add five tablespoons of salt to every tablespoon of powder.

The best choice for this purpose is industrial salt, specifically designed for dishwashers. Regular table salt should not be used, as it contains impurities that can damage items.

To save your family budget, you can buy tableted pool salt, sold in large packages, and then crush several tablets for one working cycle.

You can add the salt to the powder dispenser along with your detergent, or pour it directly into the drum onto your dirty laundry. The salt will keep your clothes looking fresher and will also help rinse out the detergent better. If you add salt to your washing machine's cycle, be sure to activate the extra rinse cycle, which is necessary to remove the salt from the fabric.

Sodium bicarbonate

Baking soda can help remove all types of stubborn stains and unpleasant odors from clothing. It also works as a bleaching agent, helping restore the natural whiteness of shirts, sheets, and other white items.

Simply add two tablespoons of baking soda to your laundry detergent and set it to an extra rinse cycle to thoroughly clean your clothes. Don't skip the rinse cycle, as this will leave white streaks on your clothes.

When items are extremely dirty, you can add five tablespoons of baking soda instead of two along with the washing powder.

Because baking soda effectively eliminates unpleasant odors, it can also be added to the washing machine to prevent musty odors from limescale and soap residue. The higher the water temperature during the washing cycle, the more effective the baking soda will be.

Acetylsalicylic acid

This point often surprises users of automatic "home assistants," but aspirin can actually be used as an effective cleaning and bleaching agent. To do this, crush six to seven aspirin tablets and add them to your laundry detergent or directly to your clothes in the drum. Then run a standard wash cycle at 40 degrees Celsius for at least 60 minutes. This amount of aspirin is only necessary for heavy soiling.

If you simply need to bleach your laundry, but don't need to remove ingrained dirt or old stains, just two or three tablets along with your laundry detergent will suffice. Use the cycle appropriate for the load.

Acetic acid

Regular acetic acid can also be used to remove stains, as well as as a bleach and fabric softener. To do this, buy vinegar with a 9% purity, but no higher.

Using it for washing is very simple: just pour 200 milliliters of acid into the detergent dispenser. You can also add just 100 milliliters of vinegar to the fabric softener compartment, effectively refreshing your clothes and removing odors.

After a vinegar cycle, your laundry will temporarily have a sour odor, but this will completely disappear after drying. It's also worth noting that acetic acid can be used instead of fabric softener, as it softens the laundry during the rinse cycle. Finally, this product effectively removes fungi and harmful bacteria, ensuring effective disinfection of your clothes.

Lemon and oil

Regular citric acid works well for removing yellow stains from cotton and linen items. To do this, simply add one teaspoon of acid to the washing powder and then start the normal washing cycle. Instead of citric acid, you can use regular lemon juice, which can be squeezed from several fruits into the powder compartment and bleach compartment, if your “home helper” model has one.

Aromatic essential oils are also great for washing machines. Add just six to eight drops per wash cycle to leave your clothes smelling pleasant. It's best to mix the oil with sea salt, then add a spoonful of the essential oil to your laundry detergent.

Do not use dyeing oils for washing, as they may stain items – buy only transparent oils for washing machines.

These are far from all the additional products that can improve washing results and replace specialized household chemicals, but these are the most common methods for increasing the efficiency of your washing machine's cycle. Remember to take precautions when adding these ingredients to your laundry detergent, and be sure to soak your laundry before washing to ensure perfectly clean items every time.

   

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