No more washday blues!

Well I say no more washday blues, let's face it , tackling a huge pile of laundry probably isn't anybodies idea of fun , or maybe it is? (edges away from you slowly.....) Anyway , as I mentioned in my cruelty free cleaning post , I've been trying to cut down on the amount of chemicals I use around the home. This will be a slow task as I have quite a few to use up and I don't want to waste them, but I have for the last 2 months stuck with something that is cheap, effective and won't hurt the planet or you.

Vinegar as fabric conditioner. Yes. Seriously. I was myself rather sceptical at first but it really does work! I started to use it when I switched to cruelty free products. I didn't realise at the time that Marks and Spencer or the Co-op's own brands were BUAV approved, that said , now I know I wouldn't switch back.

I use plain white vinegar. Just a small amount in the conditioner drawer of your machine, or you can add it to the water for hand washing. It makes clothes soft, the colours are bright and my machine drum is super shiny! I used to have a problem with the drum smelling if I had forgotten to take out laundry quickly , but since using vinegar I haven't had it once. Nowt.

Now then a word of caution........I haven't used it on very delicate fabrics. I probably will because I'm not the most conscientious of washers but if you have your prized vintage silk negligee , I would exercise some restraint or at least spot test first. To be honest, the vinegar can't be much worse than those horrible dry cleaning fluids or chemical fabric conditioner , but use your common sense.

I did try adding essential oils to it , but they seemed to wash out and not leave any scent behind. You may get a very faint odour of vinegar when you take the clothes out but I assure you it disappears on drying.

I get my vinegar at Asda , it cost 45p and does about 20 washes. I'm looking into buying it by the gallon as this will work out much cheaper.

Try it out and see what you think! xx