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.

Best Homemade Stain Remover

Ever been tempted to throw away a perfectly good article of clothing just because it has a stain?  There are times when clothes get grungy looking, or you find yellow armpit stains, or there is a ring-around-the-collar issue.  Maybe you dropped a dollop of tomato sauce on your favorite white shirt.  Or maybe you have a grease stain on that pretty turquoise blouse.  Rather than buying expensive stain removers, you might have everything you need right in your kitchen cabinets. 

I had seen this post at One Good Thing by Jillee for armpit stain remover.  It works great for whites and takes out more than yellowed armpit stains.  BUT, if you have colored clothing, hydrogen peroxide is not the ideal thing as peroxide can bleach colors.  Never fear!  There are alternative solutions.  

Here is the recipe for the original stain remover for white clothing:

• original blue Dawn dish soap
• hydrogen peroxide 
• baking soda

Mix the Dawn dish soap and baking soda to form a paste.  Using an old toothbrush or other type of brush, work the Dawn/baking soda mixture into the stain.  Let it sit for a bit.  Then saturate the area with hydrogen peroxide.  This will bubble like crazy.  Allow this to sit, again, for about 10-15 minutes.  Throw in the washing machine with other whites and launder on the hottest setting the fabric can tolerate.  Stains should be gone.  

I also keep a mixture of equal parts Dawn and peroxide in an opaque spray bottle to use as a pretreatment prior to washing.  An opaque bottle is important, as peroxide begins to break down or deteriorate if exposed to light.  That's why it comes in a dark brown bottle in the store.  

Now, for the color-fast stain remover!

Color-fast stain remover: 

• original blue Dawn dish soap
• white vinegar
• baking soda

Make a paste with the Dawn and baking soda.  Using a toothbrush or other bristled brush, work into the stain.  Allow to sit for about 10-15 minutes.  Once time is up, saturate stained area with white vinegar.  This will bubble considerably.  Once bubbling has stopped, launder clothing as directed.  

There you have it!  These are two inexpensive and easy ways to get stains out of clothing without resorting to expensive laundry pretreatments at the store! 

How to Get Liquid Fabric Softener to Stretch Further

I love liquid fabric softener.  I especially love the scent of Gain, but there are two things I don't like.  First, it's expensive (even with a coupon).  Second, the way it is manufactured, sometimes it is a little too much scent.  I've found a way to not only decrease the scent while still having soft clothes, but also make it stretch much further.  

I love white vinegar, and I like to use it in my laundry.  It is an excellent fabric softer alone, and while the vinegar doesn't leave a scent, that can sometimes be the problem:  It doesn't have a scent!  However, if you combine both Gain and white vinegar (plus a little water), the problem is solved, and the liquid fabric softener can be stretched to give you more uses.  This decreases the overall cost of buying the liquid fabric softener. For me, I like the fact that it's a frugal alternative while feeling I'm not skimping on something I like. 

Here is what you'll need: 

1 empty bottle (this one is from Purex crystals; I removed the label and washed the inside). 

1 bottle of your fabric fabric softener 

1 cup white vinegar

Enough water to fill the new container.  

Fair warning:  This will be VERY liquid/watery, so it will pour quickly, unlike regular fabric softener which has thickeners, so use caution with pouring or you might get a little more than you wanted!  

 

Start by putting 1 cup of vinegar in your container. 

Add enough liquid fabric softener to fill the container halfway. 

Fill the remainder of the container with water.  Place top firmly on bottle, and shake to combine.  

Use as you normally would, about 1/4 to 1/3 cup per wash load.  

I love to use this for towels and other clothes because it leaves a clean, light, fresh scent, and because there is white vinegar in the mixture, it makes towels extra fluffy and soft!  We used to live in Colorado, where the city had very hard water, and I used this.  Guests would say we always had the fluffiest, best-smelling towels, and this is why!