Remove Old Stains
Clothes with old stains might end up in the back of your closet, but you can use borax to remove them quickly. Add borax to a bucket of water and soak the stained item for at least 30 minutes before turning on the washing machine.
While the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies borax as being noncarcinogenic, it does pose some risks, including: skin, eye, and respiratory irritation. digestive problems. infertility.
Unlike bleach, borax is safe to use on colored fabrics without fear of dye removal or other damage. This general rule applies whether borax is used as a laundry booster in the washing machine, as part of a pre-soak solution, as a spot treatment for stains or as an ingredient in homemade laundry detergent.
Drain the tub and place the sheets and towels in the wash on a rinse-only cycle. You can then dry them by running them through the dryer, avoiding using dryer sheets. Overall, Borax is a fantastic natural cleaning solution for laundry. It can be used to whiten, remove stains, and disinfect your clothes.
Oxiclean powder is essentially washing soda with sodium percarbonate, which turns into hydrogen peroxide. It's color safe and works great to get rid of stains and keeps whites white and colors bright. It's also much safer / less toxic than Borax. Borax works well too, helps get rid of stains, and whitens clothes.
How to Use Borax to Whiten Dingy Laundry. When borax is added to water, it converts some molecules in the water to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), a mild oxidizing or bleaching agent. Just as other oxygen-based bleaches, hydrogen peroxide breaks down safely into water and oxygen.
Pour ½ cup of borax powder to every gallon you used. Stir to agitate the borax and dissolve it. Soak your clothes for 30 minutes. Transfer clothes to your washing machine and wash them like normal.
Add your clothes to the bucket, making sure that they are submerged in the water. You want the whole garment to be wet with the Borax and water mixture. Leave the laundry items to soak for about 30 minutes in the solution. For tougher stains, soak for 45 minutes to an hour.
While borax is a great sidekick to detergent in small amounts, it can be used to loosen stains and brighten up clothing on its own. If you have them, adding a few other ingredients to borax will make it much more effective in the wash.
Borax: Helps to clean and deodorize. Use on wallpaper, painted walls and floors. Use it with your detergent to remove stains and boost cleaning power. Vinegar: Helps remove stains, wax build-up and mildew.
Kill Boxelder Beetles and Other Pests
Ants aren't the only thing borax will kill. In fact, many companies make borax insecticides designed to get rid of household pests. Sprinkle borax powder along the edges of your sidewalk, foundation, and driveway to get rid of boxelder beetles and cockroaches.
Instead of sprinkling borax in the bottom of your trash can, try baking soda or used (or fresh) coffee grinds, which all work wonders. You can also use baking soda and water to clean your trash can. Throw in some vinegar for extra odor-fighting action.
OxiClean Max Force Laundry Stain Remover
OxiClean's laundry products are incredibly popular with consumers — and for good reason. This particular laundry stain remover spray from the brand effectively lightened some of our toughest stains in cold and warm water.
1. Toilet Cleaning. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of Borax and ½ cup of white vinegar into your toilet bowl, ensuring you reach all areas (including under the rim). Leave for at least 8 hours (or overnight) then scrub thoroughly with a brush before flushing.
Borax can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea if you ingest it by itself, and large amounts can lead to shock and kidney failure. It's banned in U.S. food products. It also can irritate your skin and eyes, and it can hurt your nose, throat, and lungs if you breathe it in.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup borax into the empty washer tub before adding the dirty laundry. Be sure there are no lumps in the borax powder if you are using cold water because they may not dissolve properly. Borax works as a water softener and deodorizer.
If you're looking for a substitute fabric softener, all you need to do is add ½ cup of distilled vinegar onto the rinse cycle. In case you're looking to neutralize odors and whiten your clothes, then add ½ cup of Borax and ½ of vinegar.
In your washing machine, borax helps absorb dirt. In your kitchen and bathroom, it's great for cleaning rust, grout, and even mold and mildew. Borax helps laundry smell better and is also extremely effective at fighting pet urine odor because it combats the ammonia.
On Household Management 101 it was suggested to mix half and half of Oxiclean and Borax into an empty container, and then use one scoop (about 1/2 a cup) of this in all loads of laundry when you don't use chlorine bleach. This helps with both laundry odors and stains.
Baking soda won't strip your laundry as well as borax or washing soda (more on that shortly), but it's also gentler on fabrics, and you're more likely to have it on hand! When used one after another (or together, in certain situations), baking soda and vinegar can be useful for cleaning.