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Vinegar Tips – Laundry, Day 2

Yesterday we learned 5 great ways to use vinegar in the laundry room and today I have 4 more great vinegar tips for you!

#1 Shrunken Wool Clothes
Wash shrunken clothing items “in a solution of 1 part white wine vinegar, to 2 parts water for 25 minutes.”  After washing the item(s) stretch it back to it’s original size.  After stretching it let it “air-dry”.  Let me tell you, I have a very long torso so throughout my life I have given away a lot of clothes that shrunk in the wash!  I can’t wait to try this!

 #2 Whitening Sports Clothes
Do you have a drawer full of dingy sports socks like we do?  If so here’s a great way to get the stains out!  “Add 1 cup white vinegar to 2 1/2 pints of tap water in a large pot.  Bring the solution to a boil, then pour it into a bucket and drop in your dingy socks, [uniforms, etc.].  Let them soak overnight, then the next day wash them as you normally would.”

#3 Removing odors
Vinegar is great for getting odors out of clothes!  Recently my daughter got food poisoning and threw up all over everything {yes, I mean everything}.  Unfortunately the smell of vomit will stick to anything it touches, and linger, even after being washed.  Fortunately adding 1 cup of white vinegar to a load of laundry will get rid of a number of offensive smells, including vomit!

Here’s another great tip for getting rid of odors.  “To get the lingering smell of cigarette smoke out of [a] good suit or dress, you can remove the smell without having to take [the] clothes to the dry cleaner.  Just add 1/2 pint of white vinegar to a bathtub filled with the hottest water from [the] tap.  Close the door and hang [the] garments above the steam.  The smell [will] be gone after a few hours.”  Yay for saving money on dry cleaning!!!

#4 Stain Removal

There are lots of ways to remove stains from clothes but today I want to tell you specifically how to get stains out that have already dried.  Often times “older, dried-in stains” will make you get rid of clothes you love, but now you won’t have to!  To get stains out “[pre-treat] with a solution of 3 tablespoons white vinegar, 2 tablespoons liquid detergent and 1 liter warm water.  Rub the solution into the stain, then blot it dry before washing.”  After pre-treating the stain wash as normal.  This is a great tip for not only getting to keep some of your favorite clothes, but also saving money on expensive stain removers!

See you tomorrow for tips on how to use vinegar as a natural pesticide!

This series is based on a book I received from my mom at Christmas. All items in quotations are referenced from Vinegar: 1001 Practical Household Uses.

 

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About Anna

"Hi, I'm Anna! Wife, mother, child of God, and the founder of Ask Anna. I have always enjoyed cleaning, organizing, decorating and helping people, so I've put that all together on the pages of this blog. I truly hope my tips help you in your home and make sure to contact me if you have a question!"

Comments

  1. Shayna says

    Anna,

    I have a sweaterdress that I LOVE from Victoria’s Secret, and somehow it was stretched out while drying, one of my roommates hung it over a rod rather than laying it flat, so now it goest nearly to my ankles. If I just rewash and lay flat will that fix it? I don’t want to make it worse, it’s one of my favorite dresses and I splurged to buy it. Thoughts? Thank you in advance!!

    • Anna says

      Yes I think rewashing it, reshaping it and laying it flat should do the trick. If that doesn’t work then try hand washing it in warm water. I wouldn’t run it through the washing machine on warm/hot water because you don’t want to shrink it too much but hand washing it should do the trick if just reshaping it doesn’t work. Good luck!

    • Anna says

      I’d be happy to. Would you mind if I kept it up if I added a “source” with your link under the image?

  4. Rosemarie says

    Hi. I’m a mother of three super kids. I also am a wife of 20 years to my loving husband Joe. His Mom gave me a sweater (which I love) but where I live we have hard water. So when I washed this sweater it got some iron / rust stains on it. Just wondering will this vinegar solution work on it. If not I will take any other suggestions. Thanks

      • Rosemarie says

        Thanks. Now I have an even bigger problem. If you can give me any advice I would be truly grateful. My husband is wonderful in most things but he loves to build rooms tear them down and rebuild. Now this has been going on since I’ve known him. So I am so disorganized I wouldn’t know wear to start. We are on a tight budget. I could show you pictures of what I’m talking about but I wouldn’t know how. I also homeschool so I am a little bit organized with that, but with the rest I wouldn’t know where to start. I let him do this because it made him happy and I had the kids. Now it is starting to bother me. HELP PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Rosemarie says

    We moved into a trailer on a foundation. When we moved in the kitchen was in the front of the house and the master bedroom was in back. 1 year later it was switched a year after that it was switched back. He built a deck on the front of the house then the back then back to the front. Let’s see my bedroom was moved 5 times. My kitchen was moved 3. He built me a classroom and then moved me out to it to make the kids two bedrooms. Like I said I let him do it because when it came to the winter time he always need a project to do. I was teaching the kids. So that kept me busy. So to tell you the truth I really have up on really cleaning the house up. It’s decent but not neat and tidy. There was so much saw dust or drywall or something I just gave up. Now that he stopped changing everything I want my home to be neat and clean. Hope this answers you question or even makes you laugh. He is a super guy and if this is all I have to put up with then I’m okay.

  6. VICKI says

    can distilled white vinegar be used in place of white wine vinegar to re-stretch wool?
    Thanks in advance for your response.

    • Anna says

      I have never tried it but I would say it’s worth a shot! 🙂 Let me know how it works, I’m curious to know.

  7. mina says

    thank you very much for the tips, i found them very useful, just a small question and i am sorry for that, in tip number two what is the meaning of pints tap

    • Anna says

      It means 2 1/2 pints of tap water. I guess I should go back and add the “of”! Thanks for making me aware of it. 🙂

    • Anna says

      I’m sorry I’m just seeing this comment, I’ve been WAY behind on answering questions in the comment section. I honestly don’t have a great answer for you. I would try using oxi clean and maybe a baking soda paste. I always wash my hats in the dishwasher because it gets them clean and helps them keep their shape. 🙂

  9. Shelly says

    You may have answered this type of question already (if so I apologize). My husband washed his light gray sweatshirt with my son’s red t-shirt (he also dried it in the dryer not realizing the stain). Hence, he now has a light gray and pink sweatshirt. Will the vinegar solution work to remove this or if not do you have any other suggestions?

    • Anna says

      I don’t know if you will be able to get the stain out, I’ve never had good luck with that unfortunately. :/ However in the future adding vinegar to the wash will definitely prevent it from happening again. Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you.

  10. Mrs. Gallagher says

    My husband drives an hour each way to & from work and smokes both ways. Ick! Now the car reeks. I’m wondering if a vinegar/water solution could be sprayed to take the smell out. Thoughts?

  12. Judy says

    Hi I have a shirt that has printer ink on it and I have tried to clean the ink off of it with alcohol and tide but it didn’t work . Is there anything else you could suggest. The fabric is a knit polo shirt from either Penney’s or kohl’s. Not sure where but I love it and it wears nice with my blue jeans. It is mint green with a collar and two buttons in front. Thanks for any thing you could suggest. I washed it but haven’t dried it so I could try something else.

  13. Sonya says

    Since this is an old post, I may be too late to ask a question, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I got a henna tattoo on vacation and got some on my clothes before it was dry. The girl doing the tattoo said henna will not come out of clothes, but I have seen some recipes on the web. Do you have any advice? Thanks.

  14. Annie Murphy-Jones says

    Hi Anna, this is not really related to housekeeping, but just wondering if using vinegar to rinse my little poodle after shampooing would help with her dandruff?

    She is constantly scratching herself and we have taken her to the vet and used what he has suggested, all to no avail.

    Cheers,

    Annie

    • Anna says

      I’ve never tried it but I know lots of people, including my cousin, that use vinegar in their hair to prevent things like dandruff. I think it’s definitely worth trying! 🙂

  15. Emma says

    I hand washed (per washing instructions) a black and white zebra print knit blouse in cold water with wool lite and was surprise to see that the black bled into the white. What can I use to get rid of the bleeding color to make the white bright again?