The best laundry whitener
June 14, 2014Do you have any laundry that’s supposed to be white but is instead yellow or gray or off-white or another non-white color? We did! Until we found “The Best Laundry Whitener”!
After doing some research online, I’ve come up with a wonderful recipe for really whitening and brightening those whites! This works better than any other method I’ve tried. And I’ve tried a lot of them!
If you want to really take the stains out of those white clothing items, or the yellow/gray tones out of those white bedding pieces, or just make any white clothing item as white and bright as possible, thenĀ I implore you to try this recipe!
The best laundry whitener
- HOT water
- 1 cup of liquid laundry detergent
- 1 cup powdered dishwasher detergent
- 1 cup bleach
Simply throw all these ingredients into the washing machine and make sure they all dissolve. I used the hot water setting on the machine and then also poured in a large pitcher of boiling water to raise the temperature of the solution a little more. After the mixture is homogeneous, throw in the clothes and let soak for a few hours. I left mine in the machine to soak for 4 hours. Then wash as usual.
The results are wonderful. Like new! This is my favorite laundry hack ever!
Thanks for the tip. I sometimes throw baking soda into my whites, but I don’t know that I really gets them much whiter. I will have to try this too.
Yes, it totally worked for me! Good luck and have a great day!
I have a front loading machine, so I can’t add the clothes later. Will this work for me as well?
Thanks for your comment Sally. If you have a front-loading machine, it would probably be best to soak the clothes in this solution in a large, plastic bucket/tub in warm water for several hours. Then when soaking is complete, carefully transfer it all to your machine and wash as usual.
Good luck!
Thank you for this yet-untried whitening recipe! I need all of the help I can get! Pinned to my “home” board on Pinterest.
Thanks for your comment! Hope you love this recipe as much as I do. Thanks so much for pinning!
Great tip! I love household ideas like this where you’re using things you already have around the house. Thanks for sharing- I’ll be pinning this!
Thanks for pinning! I love reusing things I already have in the house, too!
You should know that bleach will dissolve wool and silk fibers and over time will significantly weaken cotton fibers, I am sure it has impact on other fibers as well. This is why most washing machines have a separate compartment to add bleach, it is not put into the wash water until near the end of the cycle. i was taught to put in the bleach when the wash cycle had reached the 6 minute mark. It is also important to know that the hotter the water the better bleach will work. This has to be kept in mind when trying to get yellow stains out of clothing and bedding – the stains are usually from sweat and if you wash in hot water it will cook the sweat stain and make it much harder to get out. Bleach can make sweat stains look better but they will eventually tuen yellow again because it does not remove the sweat, it just takes the color out.