Washing machine and vinegar

Washing Clothes With Vinegar – How to Use Vinegar in Laundry

/ Laundry and Ironing

Using vinegar to clean your laundry is a great alternative to using a specialised cleaning product. Vinegar has an acidic nature which is great for removing odours and stains, softening fabrics and so much more.

Here’s how to use vinegar to clean your laundry!

Don’t Do This When Washing With Vinegar

Just before we dive in, here are a few points to consider:

1. Don’t go overboard

There is no need to go overboard with the vinegar – you should only ever use the bare minimum amount of vinegar when washing clothes.

Why? While vinegar is a pretty epic cleaner, it’s still an acid. This means that over-using the product will eventually damage and weaken the fibres in your clothes. You don’t need to wash your clothes in vinegar every single time you run a cycle. 

2. Don’t pour it straight on clothes

Don’t think about pouring vinegar straight onto your clothes.

Why? The acidic nature of vinegar, in its undiluted state, will ruin your clothes. When using vinegar to clean clothes it must be diluted (unless you are instructed otherwise).

Your washing machine will dilute the vinegar by adding lots and lots of water to it during a cycle.  

3. Don’t use any type of vinegar except for white

Only use white vinegar, don’t use any other vinegar.

Why? White vinegar is the best vinegar when it comes to cleaning. It has a strong acidic level, is colourless, and is readily available to buy and use.

Other vinegars are full of colour, so they will stain your clothes if you use them.

4. Don’t assume that your clothes can be washed with vinegar

Check your clothing’s tag first. And if you’re still not sure either do a patch test or don’t use vinegar. 

5. Don’t mix large amounts of detergent and vinegar together.

Why? You may get oily clothes if you mix large amounts of these products together. If you use detergent to wash your clothes, wait until the rinse cycle to add the vinegar.

And if you do need to add a small amount of vinegar to water that has detergent in it, only use a little amount of vinegar as instructed. Additionally, you could use less detergent too (half your regular amount). 

 

Should You Wash With Vinegar?

Before you start cleaning your clothes with vinegar you need to decide what you want the vinegar to do to your laundry.

Vinegar can clean your clothes in various different ways, so choose what you want it to do, then follow the instructions on how to add it to your wash.

Vinegar can:

  • Brighten your clothes/reduce fading
  • General cleaning
  • Be a fabric softener
  • Remove stains
  • Remove soap
  • Remove mildew and odours
  • Reduce static (lint)
  • Make clothes feel like new

Now you know what vinegar can do for your clothes, let’s check out how you actually go about using the vinegar safely.

 

How to Wash Clothes With Vinegar

Brighten your clothes/reduce fading/general clean

As you may have noticed, white t-shirts and shirts start to go a yellow-like colour as they age. Similarly, colourful clothes can start to fade after years of being worn out and about in the sun. These are fairly common problems and can be sorted out by using white vinegar.

Interestingly, method 1 below can also be used to perform a general clean of your clothes too.

Method 1

What you need:

  • White vinegar
  • Washing machine
  • Detergent

Steps:

  1. Pop half a cup of white vinegar into the detergent compartment in the detergent drawer.
  2. Run a hot cycle.
  3. You don’t need to put detergent into the wash.
  4. When the cycle is done you can wash your clothes with detergent, if you like, but they should be fine.

Method 2

What you need:

  • Bucket
  • Boiling water
  • Cup of white vinegar
  • Long spoon

Steps:

  1. Grab a large bucket.
  2. Pop the kettle on and boil a bucket’s worth of water.
  3. Add the water to the bucket – be careful.
  4. Pop a cupful of white vinegar into the bucket.
  5. Stir gently with a long spoon.
  6. Add in the clothes you want to brighten – keep and treat colours and whites separately.
  7. Leave to sit like this overnight.
  8. Rinse clothes under warm water the next day.
  9. Wash clothes in the washing machine with detergent the next day.

 

White vinegar as a fabric softener

If you live in a hard water area you may find that your clothes are a bit rough. White vinegar is perfect at making tough clothes feel soft again.

What you need:

  • Quarter/half a cup of white vinegar (one/one and half cups – heavy goods)
  • Washing machine
  • Detergent

Steps:

  1. Add a quarter of a cup to half a cup of white vinegar to the fabric softener compartment in your detergent drawer during the rinse cycle.
  2. Allow the cycle to end as it would normally.
  3. For heavier items, like throws, and one to one and half cups of white vinegar into the fabric softener compartment.

 

Remove stains

If you need to remove a nasty stain from an item of clothing you can use white vinegar. However, you should be careful because vinegar is so acidic that it can ruin clothes. So, only do this if you really need to.

What you need:

  • Stained clothes
  • Cup of white vinegar
  • Bucket
  • Washing machine
  • Detergent
  • 4.5 litres of warm water

Steps:

  1. Grab your stained item of clothing.
  2. Get a bucket.
  3. Pop half a cup’s worth of white vinegar into the bucket.
  4. Add 4.5 litres of warm water to the bucket.
  5. Pop the item in.
  6. Leave the item to soak in the white vinegar for 10 minutes.
  7. Remove the item.
  8. Rinse the item.
  9. Wash the clothes as normal.

You may need to add half a cup more of vinegar for older stains. And you might need to leave the clothes in the bucket for longer, if the stain is particularly hard to remove.

 

Remove soap from clothes

Clothes from time to time can get a little too soapy for their own good. While you may not necessarily notice extra soap stuck in the fibres of your clothes, they can sometimes irritate your skin and can make your clothes feel different.

Method 1

What you need:

  • Cup of white vinegar
  • Washing machine
  • Detergent

Steps:

  1. Pop a cup’s worth of white vinegar into the fabric softener compartment in your washing machine’s detergent drawer during the rinse cycle.
  2. Continue the cycle as normal.
  3. Allow the cycle to finish.

Method 2

What you need:

  • Sink/bath
  • Detergent
  • Tablespoon
  • White vinegar
  • Warm water

Steps:

  1. If you wash your clothes by hand, wash your clothes as you normally would with water and detergent.
  2. Add one/two tablespoons of white vinegar to your warm water and continue to wash your items.
  3. Rinse clothes well when you’re done.

 

Remove mildew and odours from laundry

If clothes are left in a washing machine for too long, they will start to smell of mildew. This isn’t a very pleasant odour and it can linger for a very long time. To get rid of this stench, all you need to do is add some white vinegar to your laundry as it’s being washed.

What you need:

  • Two cups of white vinegar
  • Washing machine
  • Detergent

Steps:

  1. Add two cups of white vinegar to your washing machine’s detergent compartment.
  2. Do not add detergent.
  3. Wash your clothes on a hot cycle.
  4. Remove the clothes to see if the smell of mildew has gone.
  5. Wash again, if need be, or run another cycle without adding any products in. 

 

Reduce static in your laundry

Nobody likes wearing clothes that are full of static. In fact, it can cause a nasty shock! One way to eliminate this problem is to use white vinegar in the wash. Plus, if you do this you also be able to stop pet hair from sticking to your clothes too.

What you need:

  • Half a cup of white vinegar
  • Detergent
  • Washing machine

Steps:

  1. Add half a cup of white vinegar to the fabric softener compartment in your washing machine’s detergent drawer during the rinse cycle.
  2. Continue the washing cycle as usual. 

 

Make clothes feel like new

It’s safe to say that some of our clothes take a hammering. We wear them every day and they’re continuously in the wash! Yes, I’m talking about our delicates.

Washing items like this can make them look quite weathered and in need of some TLC! But all you really need is some white vinegar to bring your worn clothes back to life.

What you need:

  • Warm water
  • Sink/bath
  • Tablespoon
  • White vinegar

Steps:

  1. Add warm water and detergent to your sink/bath.
  2. Wash your clothes as normal.
  3. Add a tablespoon of white vinegar to the water.
  4. Continue your washing session.
  5. Make sure that you rinse the clothes under warm water when you’ve finished. 

 

Conclusion

Washing with white vinegar is very cost effective, it’s not too harmful to the environment, and it is sometimes nicer to use than shelf-bought products.

 

Washing With Vinegar FAQs

Can I use white wine vinegar instead?

My advice would be to use white vinegar.

White wine vinegar and white vinegar are not the same, so you shouldn’t expect to get the same results from cleaning with white wine vinegar.

Here’s an overview of the difference between white wine vinegar and white vinegar. 

How can I get biro off my clothes?

There are lots of ways you can try to get biro off your clothes, from salted butter to rubbing alcohol. Read more about each method here.

How do I get rid of the sweaty smell on my clothes?

There are many ways you can try to remove the smell of sweat from your clothes. You can try using anything from aspirin and cream of tartar to mouthwash – the choice is yours. Read more about this here.

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