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Daily Dose of Thrifty: Use White Vinegar In Your Laundry

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August 31 by Cassie 11 Comments

bath towels folded small

Have you ever thought about using white vinegar in your laundry?  I hadn’t until a while ago when I heard that you can add vinegar to your towel loads to fluff them up instead of using liquid fabric softener! Who wouldn’t want fluffy towels?

So, we started to put 1/2 cup of vinegar in a full load and a 1/4 cup in a smaller load of towels.  You just pour it in at the beginning in the fabric softener slot or during your rinse cycle when you would normally put in your liquid fabric softener.  We have found this to be immensely beneficial to our laundry and to our budget! And it is a natural alternative!

  • Not only does the vinegar “fluff” the towels, it actually takes smells out too! So you can have fluffier, fresher smelling towels.
  • We also use it with our sheet and blanket loads for the same reasons.
  • We also use it in our white loads.
  • Vinegar is very cheap especially in bulk or gallon size bottles. This will save you an incredible amount of money not needing to use liquid softener.  You will not need to purchase special or expensive odor removing laundry products.
  • We still use dryer sheets as needed to reduce the static – but we use the sheets in the dryer. The vinegar does help to reduce some static.
  • We also read somewhere that the harsh chemicals in fabric softener actually breakdown the threads whereas vinegar will not break the towel threads hardly at all – so your towels may last longer as well and save you money on towel replacement.
  • It is also gentler on the skin and perfect for those with sensitivities to the ingredients in common household laundry products.

Have you ever used vinegar in your laundry? It was a weird concept when I first heard about it – but it really works and hardly costs anything!

Filed Under: Daily Dose of Thrifty, Frugal Living, Homemade Products, House, Natural, Savings

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Katherine F.

    I had to chuckle when I saw this. I think vinegar is a great idea and I know that it works because I used to help a mom with her housework and babysitting. They used vinegar and it worked great except that their house had a vague vinegar smell always. I am sure that they never noticed it because they lived there and you don’t know your own family “smell” but I have a pretty sharp sniffer and I wasn’t a fan. I think it would be fine for just towels, though. I do love suggestions like these!

    Reply
  2. Tami Montgomery

    I stopped using fabric softener several years ago. I like the feeling of my clothes without it – they just feel cleaner (I don’t mind a little static). Besides, using fabric softener on towels actually prevents them from being able to absorb water after a while (and if you tend to use too much).

    I’ve used vinegar in the rinse cycle for a while now, but not in every load. Just in loads that are particularly dirty or if I leave a load in the washer too long and forget about it (I don’t usually do laundry on the weekends, sometimes that comes back to bite me). 🙂

    I only smell the vinegar when I put it in the washer – and only very faintly when I take the clothes out. It gives such a fresh fragrance to the clothes and helps rinse out the soap.

    I love vinegar in my wash, and have told friends about it who have told friends…it’s a good thing. 🙂

    I’m so glad you discovered it!

    Reply
  3. Colleen

    Vinegar is also great if you live somewhere with hard water — you can add it to the wash cycle and it will help your detergent to be more effective.

    Reply
  4. Kuuipo

    Just curious. Is it ok to use in a front loader HE washer?

    Reply
  5. Linda

    If you have never used vinegar (white) in your rinse before, I challenge you to put the towels in without soap, add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the load and see how much soap residue comes out of the clothes. It works with all the clothes. I always though I was somewhat frugal until I now have to live on a not very big disability income. As for the fabric softener you just want not static, so I put 1/2 half cut of liquid fabric softener in a container and put at least 2 cups of hot water to dissolve.After it is mixed, then use and old wash cloth, soak the cloth until saturated. Ring it out just so there is no drip. Put the cloth in the dryer with your clothes, no more cling.And a lot of money saved especially if you do lots of laundry.

    Reply
    • Megan

      I do that with my liquid softener also! I keep a container of my liquid (1 cup softener, 2 cups water) and keep 2 sponges in it. Ring one out, toss in the dryer with laundry. Love it when needed!

      Reply
  6. Desiree Hausam

    I’ve done this for years – and haven’t purchased fabric softener in years, either. 😉 I use it in the rinse, mainly for the purpose of removing odors. I use homemade laundry soap, and it does the job fine unless I’ve got something really smelly – then it needs a little help. A vinegar rinse takes care of it. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Regina

    I’ve used vinegar in laundry for years. People think I’m crazy when I tell them. It is especially beneficial when potty training to remove the urine smell from accidents.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Shout Color Catcher FREE Sample | The Thrifty Couple says:
    September 1 at 10:25 am

    […] even more tips on color catching in a thrifty way? See our previous post about using vinegar in the laundry and make sure to catch the comments on Facebook for this post for many more ideas from our readers! […]

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  2. Target Deals 10/13 Week With Coupon Match Ups - Lots of Deals | The Thrifty Couple says:
    October 13 at 10:25 am

    […] .49 Heinz Vinegar 16 0z. (see our previous post for a laundry usage for vinegar) […]

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  3. Non-Toxic Reuseable Dryer Balls: Get Two of Them for Only $6.39 Shipped says:
    July 28 at 11:40 pm

    […] the shipping.   We deal with a lot of allergies and have one brand of dryer sheets we can use, or even the use of vinegar exclusively.  But we have wanted to try something like this before.  Have you tried something like this […]

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