Teenage boys are VERY different to girls, in the laundry department. Even the cleanest boys smell different and their clothes etc take a lot more washing. Then you get the boys who come home muddy, filthy etc and they take much more to clean.
Oxyclean - we have a similar product called Oxyaction, ours is a powder and I put a large scoop in the wash with the laundry powder. It makes a big difference to difficult child 3's clothes (and difficult child 1's, although he's no longer my problem!). But for boys, I often need bigger guns.
Here are the weapons in my armoury:
1) White vinegar. I splash it on underarm areas to knock out BO and sweat stains. I've also successfully used it to shift nicotine smells and stains and just about any protein stain or smell. For REALLY bad problem stains/smells it needs to be used in conjunction with...
2) Enzyme soak. I actually have a laundry powder that can double as a soaker. And I also use it with...
3) Oxyaction (or similar). Either as a pre-soak or as a handful in with the wash. Or both. And for spot treatment...
4) A rub with a slightly soggy bar of soap. This is ideal for grubby collars, grease spots, stains from spilled food or muddy stains. I keep a bar of soap in the laundry and every so often I splash a bit of water into the dish to make the bar soggy underneath. I use soggy soap for all sorts of things, including stage makeup. For stained clothes I use the bar of soap like a crayon, and scribble over the stains.
I cold water wash and still can get clothes clean. For REALLY grotty clothes, I will use a hot wash, but frankly, a lot of stains and especially smells can "cook in" if you hot wash. Hot water is only extra good for greasy stains, otherwise with modern detergents there is no difference if you want to save energy and cold wash.
The vinegar - easy child 2/difficult child 2 bought a spray bottle and fills it with vinegar. She took it with her when she moved out. I also buy the cheapest generic brand of white vinegar I can find. You certainly wouldn't use it in a salad! it comes in handy at Christmas time when we have ham. A good ham bag (like a large pillow case) should be rinsed in a mix of vinegar and water (I think it's a couple of tablespoonfuls of vinegar to a litre of water), then squeezed out. You then put the ham (and plate the ham is on) inside the bag to keep it fresh then put it all in the fridge. Well, WE have to because the ham has to withstand an Aussie summer.
All my laundry regime has to be OK for sensitive skins, because difficult child 1 reacts to some detergents. My biggest problem has been to get him to put his clothes in the laundry; he would go months without putting ANY underwear in the wash. We took to calling him Cohen the Barbarian (from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books). Cohen wears leather loincloths as clothing and says they don't need washing or changing because "good leather don't rot for years."
Marg
