Boost Laundry Detergent

Optimize the power of your laundry detergent with these natural enhancements.

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Baking Soda
It may sound like a cliché, but adding 1/2 cup baking soda to your usual amount of liquid laundry detergent really will give you "whiter whites" and brighter colors. The baking soda also softens the water, so you can actually use less detergent. Adding 1/2 cup baking soda in top-loading machines (1/4 cup for front-loaders) also increases the potency of bleach, so you need only half the usual amount of bleach.
See more uses for Baking Soda.


Lemons
To remove rust and mineral discolorations from cotton T-shirts and briefs, pour 1 cup lemon juice into the washer during the wash cycle. The natural bleaching action of the juice will zap the stains and leave the clothes smelling fresh.
See more uses for Lemons.


Mouthwash
Smelly gym socks are often full of bacteria and fungi that may not all come out in the wash -- unless you add a cup of alcohol-based, sugarless mouthwash during the regular wash cycle.
See more uses for Mouthwash.


Vinegar
There are so many benefits to be reaped by adding 1 cup white vinegar to your washer's rinse cycle that it's surprising that you don't find it prominently mentioned inside the owner's manual of every washing machine sold. Here are the main ones:
  • A single cup of vinegar will kill off any bacteria that may be present in your wash load, especially if it includes cloth diapers and the like.


  • A cup of vinegar will keep your clothes coming out of the wash soft and smelling fresh -- so you can kiss your fabric-softening liquids and sheets good-bye (unless, of course, you happen to like your clothes smelling of heavy perfumes).


  • A cup of vinegar will brighten small loads of white clothes.


  • Added to the last rinse, a cup of vinegar will keep your clothes lint- and static-free.


  • Adding a cupful of vinegar to the last rinse will set the color of your newly dyed fabrics.
    See more uses for Vinegar.
From Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things
 
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“ Use your knuckle to rub your eyes. It's less likely to be contaminated with viruses than your fingertip. ”

Bonus Tip

“ You might be able to soothe your throat and make coughs more productive with licorice-root tea. Traditionally used in Chinese herbal medicine, licorice root can make it easier to cough up mucus and clear your chest. ”


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I was inspecting communications facilities in Alaska. Since I had little experience flying in small planes, I was nervous when we approached a landing strip in a snow-covered area. The pilot descended to just a couple hundred feet, then gunned both engines, climbed and circled back. While my heart pounded, the passenger next to me seemed calm. "I wonder why the pilot didn't land," I said."He was checking to see if the landing strip was plowed," the man replied.As we made a second approach, I glanced out the window. "It looks plowed to me," I commented. "No," my neighbor replied. Read More

-- Lawrence D. Weiss