Vinegar in Laundry

In my experience with three different brands of high efficiency washers over the years, I have found one thing to be true- they don’t clean laundry as well as the old fashioned agitator machines.  This is especially true with bath and kitchen towels- especially wash cloths.  They go in and out of the washer with soap and a little softener, but still come out smelling somewhat musty and sour.  Currently, I’m using a Maytag Neptune washer/dryer and I must say that it is the worst offender of this problem.  It’s gotten to the point that I set the washer for a pre-soak and an extra rinse and add Oxy Clean to the load along with the soap.  Seems a bit extreme, but when the job isn’t getting done, I do what I have to do.  

Last week, I mentioned this to my mother.  She suggested that I add vinegar to the load.  I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before- I love using basic and home remedy type products and ideas.  So, we added a cup of vinegar to the load in the beginning of the cycle and let it wash all the way through.  Let me tell you, I was quite pleased with the outcome.  There was a very faint vinegar scent after the towels were dried, but no musty/stale smell remained.  It’s quite refreshing! For the towels, I kept it on the longer cycle as I mentioned before.  

I have no doubt that this works on other clothes as well.  From my reading and research on it, other people use it to aid in stain removal, brighten whites, remove odors, and as an alternative to fabric softener.  It would provide relief to those with allergies as well, as an alternative to regular softeners.  

Are you using vinegar this way? Let me know how its going for you.  

-Olivia