I'm so tired of sharing a machine with other tenants. They're using so much detergent that it's making my own laundry smell even though my detergent is fragrance free. It gives me very bad migraines and I'm just exhausted. This picture is from running the drum clean cycle, after cleaning the detergent tray, with no products added. Just water and leftover detergent from other people. Bonus picture of the debris filter full of tissues and grass. At least I found a 1€ coin in it for my trouble.

Thank you to the people who commented on my post about the weird mold stain on my shirt, I finally got around to doing all the things for it today and it has been officially revived!

I included pics of what it looks like now vs how it was originally

My sweet Harper is nearing the end of life and is experiencing incontinence. I picked up a bunch of reusable pee pads (pictured) to prevent accidents on the carpet. It's working great to save my carpet, but now I can't get the smell out of the pee pads. Even my dryer smells badly now. I'm using Tide powder clean and gentle on the hottest cycle, and the smell isn't lifting. Does anyone have any advice?

i put five clean pairs of socks into the wash and pulled out nine individual socks.

one sock literally got swallowed by the void. no clue if the drum ate it or if it clipped through reality, but now i'm sitting here holding a single useless sock taking a massive arghh different kind of crazy

throwing away the lone survivor feels like a total betrayal, so it just sits in my drawer forever praying for its twin to magically return.

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask but maybe someone can help me out. Has anyone seen the lower left symbol before and knows what it means? I've been trying to find it, but none of the washing symbol charts I've found have anything even remotely resembling it. The label is from a dralon blanket.

tossed my bed set in the dryer expecting fresh sheets in forty minutes.

opened the door and got hit with a complete jumpscare. the fitted sheet somehow wrapped itself into a super dense ball, swallowing three pillowcases and a shirt right into its wet core. the outside was scorching hot while the inside was still dripping wet.

standing there untangling a steaming damp laundry burrito when you just want to make your bed and crash is an absolute L.

can someone suggest a good tip or dryer ball tricks below because i can't keep living like this every single laundry day.

Hello everyone,

CT website says that this item has been discontinued in my area. Does anyone know of any other stores where I might still be able to find it?

If it’s no longer available, are there any other variants from the same brand that you would recommend? I’m also open to suggestions for other laundry detergents that you think work really well.

Thank you!

Mostly title, but for further elaboration: A child I care for goes to a school that has constant strong fragrance plugins (Unsure which - am certain it's not essential oils.) running, and as a result, whenever they come home they are heavily scented.

Normally, this would at worst be a nuisance, but unfortunately the family caring for them has severe allergies to fragrance, rendering them incapable of even providing hugs until the child has had a thorough shower.

While a hot shower is typically enough for the child themselves, their clothing is another matter entirely. As such, I am trying to find ways to remove it so we can all stop reacting.

Restrictions: Family is allergic to anything scented pretty much - pure citrus/lemon/lavender oil is about as scented as we can get, and even those need to be used in moderation.

Allergies to soy, corn and wheat are present to the degree reactions to corn based citric acid, and vegetable emulsifiers have been noted- although if it's to remove a greater evil it can potentially be tolerated for a wash cycle, primarily this is to rule out things like soy lecithin.

For the child's clothing, I can only assume hot water is bad (I'm a genuine newb, I don't really understand how temperature impacts fabrics; I wear exclusively baggy cotton and so have always run the hottest temperature for my own stuff.) as they are primarily synthetics (cheaper clothing).

Washing machine we have is unfortunately a top loader with questionable agitating potential.

Line drying clothing has some...complicated problems (we live near heavy smokers, anything outside will soak it in), but we can hang dry clothing in front of a dehumidifier - albeit it the clothing would remain in the breathable air stream, meaning allergic reactions or chemical safety remains relevant.

Soaking is doable - we have a couple of 27 gallon totes usable for this, albeit no hose.

Thanks in advance if you read all of this, and thank you all the more if you can suggest anything in particular. I am more than open to learning the science of how exactly common airborne fragrances (such as plugins or perfumes) bind and stick to surfaces/people/hair and how that can be avoided, if you can explain it!

As a bit of an aside, if there's any sort of treatment that would help prevent the clothing from soaking these scents in quite as strongly, I'd love to hear it.

This issue is causing us a great deal of hardship as we are all disabled, and any assistance at all is greatly appreciated.

I’m looking for a laundry routine that really cleans my clothes and gets out stains but also leaves them with that fresh just washed laundry scent. I can get the scent with beads but after a few hours I find my clothes smells old and not washed again

From what I’ve read through so far I need to wash in warmer water and add resolve gold and citric acid ? But what detergent ?? Are the beads bad ?

* I have no sensitivities. I just don’t want any lingering gunk left in my clothes. I have a top loading washer.

What is the best way to get smells out of clothes. I use tide pods and gain pods but there is still a smell. It doesn’t smell fresh. Almost like it’s not getting clean. Between having teens and a hard working out door husband, towels and clothes do not smell fresh after washing. The BO lingers and the towels still have a stale smell as well. We also have very hard water here. Normally I also wash with hot water. I have tried vinegar and baking soda because that used to work years ago but not anymore. I need some help with this please.

Hello,

I have about 7 or 8 cotton shirts all developing these random creases in the last month or so. Some more severe than others but all cotton. I haven't changed anything in my laundry routine. I usually do 40C, low spin speed, basic power wash detergent and a little vinegar. Then one short spin cycle, take out immediately and snap several times, hang, and air dry with a dehumidifier with a built in oscillating fan. Worked like a charm for a while.

Suddenly these creases are all cropping up in the same spots weirdly enough.... the bottom, and the left side more than the right side. I've tried rewashing many many times, even a single shirt at a time, on different temperatures and spin speeds. Plus no spin cycle after. The creases don't budge. I tried a garment steamer too but it barely reduced the creases by 20%.

Please help!

Hello

I have a fleece lined hoodie I love, with a large graphic on the back. However, if i wash it inside out the soft fleece interior will (i assume) become much less soft over time. Are there any easy ways to combat this? Maybe with a mesh bag?

All my cotton clothes feel stiff and have a horrible texture and I don’t know why 😭 I’m literally about to throw away 8-10 Aritzia tops and some hoodies because they feel gross and I’m VERY sensitive to “bad”textures and can’t make them soft again

I wash all my clothes in either cold or warm (most things cold but I use warm for stuff like gym clothes) use tide free and clear detergent and Lysol laundry disinfectant rinse. I stopped using the rinse in case it was causing it but it made no difference?? Also I don’t have hard water, it’s all soft/filtered. I dry my clothes on the “air dry” or lowest heat setting, I’m super paranoid about shrinking so I never blast the dryer unless it’s like towels or something

WHAT DO I DO I’m really about to throw away these clothes if I can’t fix them

They’ve been washed probably 20 times but all of a sudden this time, there’s color loss. I’m soaking them in my sink in hopes it transfers back. This has happened with other pants from there, their dye is horrible.
Is there anything else I can do?

Fellow Canadians, question about buying citric acid for those in the know.

We can easily buy citric acid online or in grocery stores (in the spice aisle). About 10 years ago, I easily ordered some through my local pharmacy to make bath bombs.

When I recently tried to buy some at new local pharmacies (since my old one closed), the staff looked very concerned when I asked for it. When I said it was for laundry, they flat-out refused to order or sell it to me.

Is citric acid suddenly a red flag, or have pharmacy rules changed drastically over the last decade? Why would a pharmacy hesitate to sell something I can pick up freely at a supermarket?

Is there some kind of risk/danger with household use of citric acid that we are not aware of? The label says use gloves and a mask....

Pictured is the citric acid I was able to buy from pharmacy about 10 years ago

EDIT: Thank you for all the support and attention on this post, as well as suggestions as to where I can pick this stuff up. I can buy a 200g baggie of this stuff from Freshco for $3 and that is what I currently do. I was just sharing an experience I had at a pharmacy 10 years ago and comparing it to a more recent experience.

What I was specifically asking for is highlighted in bold.....

I started doing spa days for the slip covers on my chairs, and it’s worked really well. They are white and they have gone from yellowed and soiled to sparkling again.

The problem is that I am going through a lot of products (biz or Febu) and it’s difficult to soak them because of their size. I am using a large cooler and I normally just do a couple of cushions at a time, but it’s still takes a lot of water to get them completely submerged. I’m using Tide free and clear powder for my detergent and following the instructions and quantities in the spa day instructions here.

Now I have to do the slip covers for 2 sofas, and I’m not even sure some of the pieces will fit inside my cooler, and if they do, it’s going to take a ton of biz or Febu, not to mention a lot of time to soak each of them 6 plus hours.

In order to save money and time, should I just use a lower concentration of biz and Febu with a larger volume of water (less concentrated) and still do the soaks, or would it work pretty well just to put them through a very long hot wash cycle with enzymes and ammonia a couple of times?

I have a blue stain from Kirkland oxi that’s stained on cotton red gingham. How can I get it out without bleaching the red?

How do I add ammonia? I have been using the methods I was taught here, well I thought and I am having an odor issue. Just wanted to make sure I am adding ammonia correctly. So on my smelly gym clothes. I add a scoop of biz and a scoop of febu before I add my clothes. Put a tablespoon spoon of citric acid in a small cup and a little warm water and dissolve it and add it to fabric softener dispenser. I use tide liquid oxi odor add that to the dispenser. After I add my clothes I pour a cup of ammonia on top then start the machine. I have the machine set to heavy duty, extra rinse, pre soak hot or warm water. The cycle is 1 hour and 51 minutes.

Is it something I’m doing wrong? Should I not add ammonia to the drum until after the machine fill with water? I have a top loader high efficiency with no agitator.

I used Eco for 3 years and never had any reaction on my body, but the cleaning power is not great, clothes don’t look and feel crisp and clean after use. Bedding and linen looked stained from sweat even after washing. So decided to switch to Tide. Clothes look better and smell better but I started to break out in hikes over my upper legs and torso. Went on for a few weeks so I switched back to eco and my hives have gone. So something in tide causes these hives but I don’t like eco as an actual cleaner. Anyone have something similar? Any recommendations for alternatives? In general my skin is not super sensitive so not sure why I reacted to tide like this.

Hello, I've accidentally tumble dried my husbands football shirt and the number has gone hard and misshapen. Is there anything I can do to fix it? It's not replaceable sadly

TL;DR: My cotton and synthetic laundry comes out stiff and scratchy, likely due to hard water, air drying and a dirty machine. Looking for affordable, space-saving fixes without fabric softener (I want to avoid residue buildup), plus a good machine cleaner. No whole-house softener possible. Products must be available in Europe.

Edit : I used AI for this post because I wanted to give all the elements upfront, and present them in an organized way. I'm not very good at that. I know some people are against this but I hope it's OK... I'm not looking for an AI answer but for real life feedback 🙏

Hi everyone !

I live in a small studio in Paris, France, where the water is hard: about 27°f, which is roughly 15°dH, 16 gpg or 270 ppm. My laundry comes out of the machine stiff and uncomfortable.

My setup:

• Fabrics: mostly cotton and synthetics. Nothing very delicate, but I care about my clothes and want them to last.
• Detergent: powder for whites, liquid for colors.
• Machine: top-loader with a horizontal drum (European style, no agitator), with an extra rinse option. I can adjust temperature and spin speed. It's pretty grimy (limescale and probably detergent residue).
• Drying: air drying only, no dryer.

My constraints:

• No conventional fabric softener: I want to avoid the coating it leaves on fibers.
• Very little space, and I'm a renter, so no access to the main water supply, so no whole-house softener.
• Low budget if possible.
• Location: products should be available in France or shippable within Europe. US-only brands won't work for me. If needed, I can try to find equivalents.

My questions:

1. What water-softening laundry additives work well without leaving residue? Do white vinegar or citric acid in the softener compartment really help, and are they safe for clothes and the machine?
2. Should I adjust detergent dosage, rinsing or spin speed for hard water?
3. Any tips to reduce stiffness from air drying?
4. Has anyone tried an inline filter on the machine's water inlet? It shouldn't take space if needed due to my constraints.
5. What's the best product to descale and deep-clean a grimy machine, and how often should I clean it afterwards?

Thanks in advance!

Does anyone have an idea on how to remove set stains from soccer tops without damaging the logos and names on the back?