Friday, June 17, 2011

Homemade Washing Machine Cleaner


My washer gets a workout. With six people and two house dogs (clothes, towels, linens, bedding, oh my) I'm doing at least two loads every day. If I skip a day on weekends then I'm backed up for a few days. I very rarely see the bottom of the pile that lays directly under my laundry chute and if you happen to have thrown something down the laundry chute on a day when I actually got everything washed and it's empty....well it might just sit there for a month until I get close the bottom again.

With just trying to keep up with the dirty stuff, who has time to think about actually maintaining the washer?

Oops.

My front loader can get stinky if those darn kids forget to keep the door open for it to air out in between loads and my old top loading agitator use to get a soap scum build up in the tub that was just plain gross. But no worries. Here's a quick and crazily (yes, I make up my own words) cheap way to solve all the odor, mineral deposits and grime problems that can accumulate in your hoses and tub.


Homemade Washing Machine Cleaner

  • 1 quart chlorine bleach
  • 1 quart white vinegar
For Top Loading Agitator Machines:

Fill your washer with hot water.
Add 1 qt of chlorine bleach. (no laundry, no detergent) Run the washer through the longest wash cycle. When the washer is still wet- this should be immediately after the bleach cycle- add 1 qt of white vinegar and run the washer through the same cycle again refilling the tub with hot water.

For Front Loader Machines:

Put the bleach in the detergent dispenser so it goes straight in the tub and run the hottest, longest cycle you have. Do a second cycle the same way with the vinegar. Tah dah!

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5 comments:

Rachel @ Simple Girl said...

Wow! Sixty dollars a week is quite a challenge! We have a family of six and that's like one meal out! So glad I stumbled across your blog! Thanks for hosting!

Sandy (aka Grannie) said...

Thank you so much for this post; I often clean the surface, but wondered how to clean those drain tubes. Really appreciate these helpful hints; never too old to learn.......Sandy(aka.Grannie)

Unknown said...

I knew their was a homemade washing machine cleaner recipe.
I actually purchased a product several months ago because our washer was so dirty and smelly. It does a great job.
Do you find that the vinegar smell gets into the clothes?

Amanda said...

I pinned this post a while ago on Pinterest and it has been repinned from me soo many times! I don't know if I went searching for this and your blog came up or if it was pinned to begin with. Either way...I finally did it. I cloth diaper 2 kids so can you imagine the sh*t that was hanging around on my machine? I didn't even wipe out the gasket thingie around my door that had some sort of brown goop in it. My machine looks brand spanking new. Thank you!!!

mimis kitchen52 said...

My husband is a repair man and he always tells me to leave the door open on the front loader, it will help get rid of the smell as it isn't closed to breed any moldy/musty smell!!!Just passing it on!