Comments on: post-off: what are your laundry room secrets?

By: olya

olya — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:14:02 +0000

Great advice! Thanks for the great post.

Incidentally, its spelled “voila”, not “whalah”.

By: Marianna

Marianna — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 03:30:11 +0000

OK, I got those brown stains that looked like burn marks or deep impeded rust spots and thought it was the wahing machine getting old – oil from the transmission or rust spots from the where the porcelain had been chipped. So we bought a new washing machine, a front loader and we still have the same problem. We didn’t replace the dryer, but perhaps the culprit is the dryer. These spots don’t get on all fabrics, but seem to love our sheets and white t-shirts. Any other suggestions? Thanks

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 06:36:33 +0000

Katie and Jan – those little dark spots could actually be oil from your washing machine’s transmission fluid. If the transmission of your washing machine is at the end of its life, it will most likely be leaking oily goop under the machine, and some can leak out onto your clothes, too. This happened when I was little and my mom finally figured out what was happening – it was disgusting to have these little brown spots on supposedly *clean* clothes. If your washer is really old (say…20 years or so), this could definitely be the issue. Washing machines wear out after that long.

By: Margaret Brigham

Margaret Brigham — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:38:56 +0000

Please help me. After years of waiting ,we have put on an addition and the one thing I wanted most was a laundry room. Now I want to make it appealing to be in. I too would like the “Laundry” box that Restoration Hardware used to sell. I can only find sources out of the US and the shipping fees are outrageous. Does anyone have a resource? I want the laundry room to be clean and inviting. I want some unique decor and need resources. Thanks so much

By: Lucy

Lucy — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:22:55 +0000

Katie and Jan — I experienced oily stains like that and tracked them back to fabric softener (liquid is more likely to cause stains, but the sheets can do it too). The internet-provided solution that finally worked for me was to scrub the stain with a plain bar of soap. You do have to involve a bit of water in order to do the scrubbing, which will eventually hide the stain (once the fabric gets too wet and soapy to tell where it was). Throw it in the wash at that point — the extra wash/dry cycle won’t make the stain worse. Then you can do the soap process a second time if the stain didn’t come completely out.

By: annie

annie — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:52:55 +0000

I have been finding what looks like little burn marks on some of the things coming out of my dryer. Has this ever happened to anyone? I can’t figure out what it is!

By: jan

jan — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:41:00 +0000

I have this same problem. I thought it was from lip balm going through the dryer, but have been very careful about checking pockets, and it is till happening. For the most part, I have found that washing the stained clothes on hot will get rid of it, but I still would like to know what is causing it! I have been using dryer sheets, but I think I will switch to dryer balls now that I have read this.

By: katie

katie — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 17:57:22 +0000

I have a laundry mystery perhaps someone can help solve. Occassionally after I finish a load of laundry there will be oily looking spotted stains on some clothes. I’m not sure what causes it and I can’t get it out. It is most noticable on my husband’s lighter colored work shirts, but it is not limited to that (I’ve seen it show up on a dark brown t-shirt). I’m not sure what is causing it or how to prevent it. I don’t use fabric softener, but my upstairs neighbors who share the washing machine do. I do use dryer sheets and after reading the comments I’ll stop now. Could either of these be causing the stains? I have a feeling it is more of the fabric softeners fault, but that is just a guess.

By: stevie

stevie — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:37:28 +0000

I’m in love with Tide, I use it for stains and for detergent. I wash all of my clothes in cold so that I dont have to seperate them because I live by myself and usually only have one load. I dont dry most of my clothes because they fade and shrink. Good topic!

By: Ashley

Ashley — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 03:58:21 +0000

I didn’t really care for/understand laundry until I started cloth diapering my son. Then, I found out all those little additives are actually really terrible for your clothes and may be even more terrible for your body.

For instance, fabric softener just coats fabrics, making it less absorbant and actually increases the time it takes to dry. Also, fabrics, especially cotton, are more likely to stain and stain badly.

Many detergents have optical brighteners, which are nothing more than miniscule crystals that supposedly reflect light but instead just create a cruddy, nasty buildup on your clothes that can hold in stains, smells and other yumminess.

Also, some detergents have active enzymes, which when mixed with certain solutions can actually be toxic–for instance on my son’s diapers if he were to pee the enzymes that were in the detergent I used would cause him to break out in a horrible, nasty rash. Gross.

Basically, you should try to very little (less than half of the required) detergent that is ideally fagrance, enzyme and brightener free with no fabric softener. If you are addicted to the fs, try Seventh Generation brand. It’s slightly less evil.