Use Vinegar and Baking Soda as a Laundry Detergent Alternative. When you wonder what you can substitute for laundry detergent for your heavily stained or soiled clothing, reach for the vinegar and baking soda. Baking soda is also great for smelly clothes like your kids' sportswear.
Yes, you can use shampoo as a laundry detergent. However, you shouldn't make a habit of washing clothes like this, and you should never, ever, put shampoo into a washing machine. If you plan on using shampoo to clean your laundry, you should only hand wash the items with shampoo.
Even products that are made for laundry may be unsafe when combined with other ingredients. Sure, it works for removing stubborn stains, but you shouldn't necessarily use it in a homemade detergent recipe as doing so could reduce its effectiveness or lead to clothing damage.
DIY laundry 'detergent' can RUIN your washing machine:
But, in the long run using a DIY can cost a lot more money and create a lot more waste. The same soap that builds up in your textiles is also building up in your washing machine. This can cause in mold or mildew to grow inside your machine.
While store-bought detergents have added chemicals to prevent those minerals from interfering with the cleaning process of the soap, homemade detergent doesn't; this means your clothes won't be as clean when washed in hard water, and they may feel stiff or have a filmy residue.
By paying only 1 cent per load (not including equipment costs), homemade laundry detergent is at least 10 times cheaper than buying cheap store-bought laundry detergent (11 cents a load).
Instead, go to your fridge and pull out your trusty box of baking soda. Just one cup of baking soda will get your load fresh and clean. Bypass the soap dispenser on your machine and just throw it in with your clothes.
If you've found that regular laundry detergent isn't doing the trick when it comes to cleaning your clothes, we have a solution: white vinegar. The product can brighten clothes, remove stains, eliminate odors, and even act as a natural fabric softener.
If you're DIYing a laundry detergent and you want it to be really potent, then washing soda might be the way to go. If you're looking for a gentler detergent, baking soda is a great option. Oxiclean becomes just peroxide and washing soda once it hits liquid.
By using a detergent for washing our clothes, you can help prevent any breakdowns and keep your machine running for a long time. This is because modern laundry detergents typically have components that can remove limescale deposits.
Powder can leave behind chunks of undissolved detergent that can build up in your washer's drainage system and cause blockages. On the other hand, an analysis by Consumer Reports found that liquid detergent measuring caps are rarely marked with clear lines, so it's all too easy to use too much.
Use Vinegar to Substitute for Laundry Detergent
To do this, use a half of a cup of distilled white vinegar during the washing cycle. This'll knock out stains and smells nearly as well as the best-smelling laundry detergents. Once dry, you won't even remember you added vinegar in the first place.
Pro-tip: Baby shampoo is an effective, inexpensive detergent substitute for hand washing. Baby shampoo makes a good substitute for detergent, when you're hand washing some clothes.
Don't mix baking soda and vinegar.
pH is a scale used to measure acidity or basicity in chemistry. Since vinegar has a low pH and baking soda high pH, they will neutralize each other when used together. What you want to do instead is to use baking soda first mixed with water to do your laundry.
Due to the high pH in baking soda, it can make certain dyes fade, particularly with natural fibers like wool, cashmere, and silk. For these fabrics, vinegar is a better option for a natural detergent booster.
Baking soda whitens, freshens, and softens fabrics. Add 1/2 cup of baking soda along with your regular laundry detergent. For spot stains, make a paste of baking soda and water and apply it directly to the fabric. 2.