Dear Home Ec 101:
So, uh, how bad is it if I add a little liquid dish detergent when I’m running out of laundry detergent? I swear my momma didn’t raise me this way.
~Bubbling in Beaumont
Heather says:
Chances are, if you have some laundry detergent to add to a load of laundry you probably have enough. However a very small amount of dishwashing liquid, not dishwasher detergent, would not cause harm, provided you are using a top loading machine..
Anything more than a small amount would cause excess foaming which may spill out of your machine and onto the floor. This may be mildly amusing on a sit-com, but as I don’t have someone else to clean up the mess, I would be less than thrilled.
Laundry detergents have chemicals that act as stabilizers to prevent foaming. Dishwashing soaps lack these properties allowing the mounds of bubbles we are familiar with.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Actually, I have used washing-up liquid in my front loading wachine machine. Usually when I have run out of washing powder and can’t be bothered to grate up some soap mixture. I use the very cheapest liquid (Asda Smart Price) which doesn’t really foam much and just squirt it two or three times into the dispenser. My risk – but so far, so good. Sometimes I just run the machine with washing soda; sometimes with nothing added – depends on what’s on the washing….
I lurk on some cloth diaper sites even though I don’t CD. Many women on there use 1 tablespoon of dawn on there diapers (front loaders) and they say they do not have any problems.
Many times I wash hard to get clean whites in the dishwasher. For years my daughter played softball on the traveling team. They would go to Georgia for many games. Her ball uniforms would come back full of the Georgia red clay. I would put that uniform in the dishwasher. The coach's come up to me one day and asked me how I got her pants and socks so white, when all the other girls pants were so stained. I hung my head and said I wash them in the top shelf of the dishwasher. The whole team started washing them like that then. Also, any hard to clean whites I have go in the dishwasher, along with all my bras. Top shelf of the dishwasher gives your bra's a longer life. Without dish's of course LOL
I'd add that you should also give the food trap a good once over before putting any laundry into the dishwasher. Great suggestion.
Part of the reason this works so well is the heat and agitation provided by the dishwasher.