Top 3 Reasons to Use Vinegar in Your Laundry

The Benefits and Uses of White Vinegar in Your Laundry

Have you ever considered using vinegar in your laundry?

If not, you may want to continue reading.

There is potentially a whole host of benefits to using white distilled vinegar in place of those harmful detergents and softeners.

Vinegar is an age old laundry hack that has recently gone under the radar for reasons that are unbeknownst to me.

White distilled vinegar is safe to use and is created from a second stage of fermentation with alcohol which removes that plant dyes that would otherwise potentially stain your clothes. Therefore, white distilled alcohol is typically safe to use on both whites and colors (although I would test a very small spot first if you have any concerns).

Benefits of using white vinegar in the laundry:

• Softens your clothes- the acetic acid is believed to remove the buildup of detergents and removes/prevents hard water stains in your clothing. The general rule of thumb is to use approximately 1 cup during the final rinse cycle of your wash (if you have very hard water and your washer is not in line with a water softener, use slightly more than 1 cup of vinegar).

• Whitens, brightens, and eliminates mild to moderate stains- another magical benefit of the acetic acid is the ability to naturally whiten and brighten clothes (WITHOUT STAINING). Our clothes have a tendency to have color leeched from their fabric or have extensive buildup of soaps, detergents, dirt, etc. which can alter the appearance of the clothing. Again, adding one cup to your final rinse cycle or pre-soaking some fabrics that are largely cotton based ought to do the trick. 

• Cleans your clothes... AND your washing machine! You can mostly thank the acetic acid for these dual benefits.

How to Use Vinegar in Your Laundry
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Method 1: Place 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar into the detergent compartment of your washer. You may also add it directly to your pile of clothes if you have a vertical load washing machine.

• An optional step would be adding essential oils into the detergent cartridge as well. We typically add lavender or peppermint.

Method 2: First place 1/2 cup of castile soap into your detergent compartment

• Then place 1/4 to 1/2 cup of white vinegar into your fabric softener compartment
  • ​If your washer has it, make sure it is set to either deep rinse or fabric softener cycle to make sure that the machine passes water through both compartments in the context of an entire washing cycle. Otherwise you would likely not get the vinegar to wash through your clothes, it would just stay in the compartment in the washing machine.
    

I keep at least a gallon of distilled white vinegar next to the washing machine and it goes into every load of laundry.

The vinegar appears to be safe to use with nearly all colors and we have not experienced any negative effects of using with a variety of materials including polyester. It is of course suggested that you "test" a  small area of material with a spot of vinegar to see how the fabric reacts prior to soaking or laundering with a full load of vinegar.

We have not experienced any running and we even were able to wash reds with whites - it was more of an experiment on our part. Try this at your own risk.).

The vinegar is also environmentally friendly whereas most of your fabric softeners are NOT! They typically contain harmful detergents, dying agents, color agents, acidic compounds, etc. 

​Not to mention they are FAR MORE EXPENSIVE then simply purchasing white distilled vinegar from the store.

We have used several different brands for the vinegar. For laundry, it is recommended that you use the white distilled variety to prevent staining that is common from the tannins in apple cider vinegar.

Using vinegar in your laundry is likely to be a significant money saver compared to your typical store-bought fabric softener. Beyond that, there are health concerns for fabric softeners.
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Store-bought Fabric Softener Health Concerns

Consider this top brand's rating on EWG and please look at the list of ingredients of concern. In addition to receiving an "F" rating (the worst you can get), the following concerns are listed for this product:

• Poor disclosure (uninformative labeling practices on this product)
• Moderate Asthma/respiratory concerns based on ingredients
• High environmental toxicity concerns (acute and chronic water toxicity... bad news for marine and aquatic life!)
• Some concern for developmental and reproductive toxicity

You can find white distilled vinegar on Amazon which can last for up to a year and only put you out about $20 total. That is a price that is hard to beat. ​


That's it for vinegar and laundry for now. Be sure to check back regularly for updates on our blog.

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