Laundry and Dishwashing Additives to Help Combat Hard Water

Have you ever done a load of dishes in the dishwasher only to have them come out spotty and with bits of food still on them after using your favorite dishwasher detergent?  Or have you done a load of laundry only to discover that your items just were not as clean as they need to be?  It's not a problem with your dishwasher or your washing machine.  It's also not a problem with your favorite dishwasher soap or laundry detergent... well, not technically.  

In 2010, a ban went into effect prohibiting the use of phosphates in dishwasher detergent.  It began in 17 states.  The phosphates were getting into the water supply and causing the growth of algae, so they were banned.  (Link HERE.)However, because of the expense associated with trying to manufacture one type of detergent for some states and a different type of detergent for other states, the manufacturers made the decision to just make one type of dish detergent:  phosphate free.  Phosphates were removed from laundry detergents in 1993.  

It's a win for the environment, but it's a loss for trying to get your dishes and laundry clean. Trisodium phosphate is a degreaser, soap scum buster, and left sparkling clean dishes and fresh laundry.  Unfortunately, once that was removed from these soaps, things were not good.  Pans came out dingy, aluminum turned black, fingerprints and lipstick were still present on dishes and glasses.  Some laundry soaps left clothes looking like they'd not even been washed.  Water could have done as good a job.  What's worse, if you live in an area of the country that has hard water, your dishes may have begun showing a filmy, milky, powdery residue, and your whites may have begun to be dingy.  

What can a person do?  Short of adding trisodium phosphate to these soaps, there are other options for combating these problems.  They are additives that can combat the minerals, metals, and other compounds found in water, allowing the detergents and soaps to do their jobs.  Here are some of them. 

 

Citric Acid -Citric acid is what makes lemon juice tart.  It has many uses not only in cleaning but in food and food preservation.  For cleaning, it serves as a chelating agent, binding to minerals and especially metals in hard water.  It makes an excellent additive to both the washing machine and the dishwasher.  It is the main active ingredients in dishwasher rinse aids such as LemiShine (If you want to read a fun chemist's breakdown of LemiShine, read the link HERE.)  Add 1-2 tablespoons to laundry to help laundry get cleaner, or add 1-2 teaspoons to your dishwasher for crystal clear glassware and spot-free dishes.  You don't have to buy LemiShine.  Instead, you can buy straight citric acid from places like Amazon.com, or find it in the canning aisle of your favorite grocery store, although buying it that way is quite expensive.  You can also buy it in bulk from Soap.com.  

Lemon Juice - Nature's own citric acid. (See note above.)  Add 1/4 cup to your laundry or dishwasher. 

White Vinegar - Acetic acid in water.  This is an excellent mild acid that dissolves calcium and makes it water soluble.  It is excellent for adding to laundry to increase the water's acidity.  It breaks down minerals contained with hard water, and it also helps to dissolve any residual soap scum left from laundry.  It is an excellent substitute for a fabric softener by adding it to the final rinse of a load of laundry.  Use anywhere from 1/2 to 1 full cup.  It is also a wonderful substitute for spotfree treatments in your dishwasher.  Just fill the rinse compartment with white vinegar and use as you normally would the rinse solution. 

Washing Soda - Sodium carbonate or soda ash.  Not to be confused with baking soda, which is sodium bicarbonate. Sodium carbonate bonds with magnesium and calcium ions in hard water and prevents them from bonding with detergent.  This allows the detergent to do its job and for your clothing to get cleaner.  It also raises the pH of water.  If you're a pool owner, you are familiar with The pH Plus product sold in stores to raise the pH.  Raising the pH also allows detergents to clean better.  (Link HERE.) Add approximately 1/4 to 1/2 cup to your laundry to help soften water and achieve better detergent results. 

Borax -  Sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate.  Prevents calcium and magnesium from binding with detergent and rendering it ineffective.  (Link HERE.)  However, unless you use hot water, borax can be difficult to dissolve and can leave powdery granules in your washing machine, so it may not be your first choice to use if you have hard water.

Oh no, I'm out of dryer sheets!

Have you ever uttered that phrase?  Especially during a marathon laundry session?  White vinegar and an aluminum foil ball are all you need to achieve soft, static-free laundry. 

I use about 1/2 cup of white vinegar in the rinse water for a top-load machine.  Use 1/4 cup for HE machines.  For both machines, place the vinegar in the liquid fabric softener dispenser for your machine.  Your clothes may or may not come out with a vinegary smell to them, but that will disappear in the dryer.  

If your clothes have static, this is where the aluminum foil ball comes in.  Tear off an approximately cookie sheet size piece of foil and roll it into a ball.  I wait until the clothes are dry or nearly dry to see if they are sticking together.  Then I throw in 1-2 balls of foil and restart the machine to finish drying.  I know some people place the foil balls in at the beginning of the drying cycle, but I have a fear of the foil abrading the inside of the machine, so I wait until the clothes are almost dry. The foil balls will last for up to 6 months and can be reused over and over again. 

This is really neat trick for people who have allergies and are allergic to commercial scented fabric softeners.  It leaves no scent whatsoever, except what remains from your laundry detergent, and it has an added benefit of making any towels you may have washed super soft, fluffy, and more absorbent.  The white vinegar removes hard water deposits and soap residue from prior washings, making clothes brighter and softer.  

This method is also environmentally friendly and "green" because it does not use harsh chemicals, dyes, or fragrances to achieve soft and static-free clothes.  I use this frequently with my loads of white towels and wash clothes to make them soft and more absorbent.  While I like the smell of fabric softeners and use them most of the time, this is a wonderful and economical alternative to store-bought softeners.

Homemade Glass Cleaner

I rarely, if ever, buy glass cleaner.  Actually, I can't remember the last time I bought it.  Instead I make my own.  It's much more economical, and it's easy to make a batch whenever you want.  Every time I make glass cleaner, I am baffled at how expensive it is in the store compared to how inexpensive it is to make at home. 

You can either use an old glass cleaner bottle that's been rinsed out or pick up a couple of spray bottles at the dollar store. I have two different recipes I use.  One is for harder to clean stuff (like doggie nose slobbers), and the other is for mild cleaning just to freshen up the windows. 

Here are two recipes: 

Fake Windex 

2-3 tablespoons nonsudsing ammonia*

1/2 cup (4 oz). rubbing alcohol 

Water

1 drop dish soap, no more, no less (can omit but solution doesn't clean as well)

Put ammonia and alcohol in a spray bottle.  Fill almost full with water.  Leave about 1/2 inch of space below the top, then add the 1 drop of dish soap.  Put sprayer on the bottle and tighten.  DO NOT SHAKE.  Instead, tilt back and forth about 20-30 times to mix.  It might be temping to dump all this in the bottle, but if you begin to add water, the dish soap will foam up, and your ingredients will start spilling out of the bottle.  You will recognize the smell of this, as it will smell just like Windex.  You can even add a drop or two of blue food coloring, just for fun.  

Window Cleaner Recipe #2

Approximately 1/2 cup white vinegar*

Water

That's it!  Put the vinegar in a spray bottle and add enough water to fill the bottle.  Cap with the sprayer mechanism, then shake to combine.  This works great but can smell like vinegar while you're using it.  The vinegar smell leaves once everything dries.

I currently use the vinegar solution with microfiber cloths.  These work great because they only require a small spritz of cleaner to clean a whole  window, and they're very absorbent, so you only need one cloth to clean many windows.  Combine the two, and you only need a small squirt of cleaner, and the windows come out clean, shiny, and streak free. 

*Keep in mind that if you have hard water (i.e., water that contains a lot of minerals or metal particles) you may need more ammonia or vinegar.  These recipes are flexible enough that you can adjust them for your cleaning needs.