His Tidy Whites Ain't So White . . .

[lee&lyric]

, I've been doing laundry by hand since we went off grid and ummmm, it seems to me the Fruits of the Loom are drooping as in not white anymore. I've been soaking laundry in bleach water for days on end trying to get them white (the kids stuff are horrendous - that is before going in the laundry, that is, LOL).

One hopeful answer is that we purchased a wash board (and new way cool galvanized tub). A friend told us about "Iron Out" at Wal-Mart. The stuff is over $12 a bottle, not sure WHAT ingredient is in it that would make it work. Oh, I hang laundry out on the line. It's not really in direct sun though (I heard sun also bleaches).

Can you think of anything else I should be doing? I was excited about the whole laundry piece of going off grid, but I want our stuff to look as clean as it smells.

L

 

[sufficientforme]

Oxy clean used in every day washing will help and for needing to freshen up there are several bluing products on the market.
Bluette Concentrated Liquid Laundry Bluing
Mrs. Stewart's Bluing
Rit Dyes 1 oz. box fabric whitener powder

Hope that helps you may need to go to a laundry mat or borrow a friends washer to use them, I am not sure.

 

[Wannabefree]

The Romans collected and used urine to keep their togas sparkling white

Sorry. Guess you won't be doing that huh? A little too SS maybe The active ingredient in urine is ammonia though, so I would think ammonia would be the way to go on those Just a guess.

 

[SSDreamin]

I use Mrs. Stewart's bluing. Just a dab will do ya, so the bottle lasts a long time.

 

[MorelCabin]

try soaking them in Borax maybe...

 

[Old Sew'n'Sew]

My Gramma used a few drops of bluing in the rinse water.
Without modern day detergents the whites continue to go gray over time.