How To Use Baking Soda In Laundry

It has been known for years that baking soda has countless uses around the home. You can use it to get rid of stains or pungent smells in your refrigerator.

However, you may not be aware that baking soda with laundry can do wonders for your clothes. What’s more, when you do your laundry, baking soda also helps keep your washing machine clean at the same time.

In this guide, you can learn all you need to know about baking soda to wash clothes and what benefits you get adding baking soda to laundry. (Read How To Unclog A Bathtub Drain With Baking Soda)

Can You Use Baking Soda In Washing Machine?

Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate, as it is better known, is a fantastic deodorizer and can serve many purposes around the home.

It is very similar to washing soda and will perform much the same function as you add it to your laundry. It comprises a mild alkaline power to raise your water’s pH levels and acts as a mild antiseptic to combat germs.

There are a couple of ways you can use it when you add baking soda on laundry in your washer.

Brighten colors and whites: Add 1/2 cup of baking soda as you add your regular laundry detergent. Baking soda brightens whites, punches up your colors, and gets rid of smells.

Soften Fabrics: If you want to go natural, you can add baking soda as an alternative to your fabric softener. You may lose your floral scent, yet your clothes will be soft and smell fresh.

Where Do You Put Baking Soda in a Washing Machine?

Much of this would depend on whether you have a top-loader or a front-loading machine.

If you have a top-loading machine, you can wait until you have filled it full of water and then drop 1/2 a cup into the top of the water before running your wash cycle.

A front-loading machine will need you to pour the baking soda into your detergent tray or add it before you place any laundry inside so it can dissolve. (Read How To Unclog A Garbage Disposal With Baking Soda)

How Much Baking Soda Do I Put in My Laundry to Get Rid of the Smell?

While perfumed detergents and washing products simply mask odors, sodium bicarbonate removes many odors and neutralizes the acids which produce the smell.

An average laundry load also looks and smells fresh when treated with baking soda. Add 1/2 cup of baking soda to the washing load of your top-loading or front-loading machine.

You can sprinkle laundry with baking soda as opposed to adding it to the detergent cup or compartment. It will not bubble like the majority of non-laundry soaps, so it’s safe to use in front loaders. (Learn How to Remove Bleach Stains from Carpets)

• Smoky Smells: add 1/2 cup of baking soda to a bucket of water. Add the clothes and stir on occasion and let soak until the smoke has gone. Wash as usual.
• Sweat Odors: Add 1/2 cup of baking soda to a bucket of water and soak your items overnight before washing as usual.
• Oil and Gas: Add your clothes to a bag with a baking soda and water mixture. Let the clothes sit for a couple of days. Hand wash once the smell has gone.

If you are washing a load of particularly smelly sports clothes, you can put 1/2 cup of baking soda with your clothes and add 1/2 cup of white vinegar into your softener tray.

Set the washing machine and wash it on a regular cycle. Be careful not to mix the vinegar with baking soda laundry addition, or it may foam quite violently. Make sure not to add laundry detergent when you wash with this mixture.

How Much Vinegar and Baking Soda Do I Put in My Laundry?

Once you have begun using this great compound to add to your laundry, you will quickly find that baking soda washing machine treatment is as effective in keeping your machine running optimally and not smelling. (Read How To Clean Upholstery With Baking Soda)

Here’s how you clean a top loader and a front loader washing machine with vinegar and baking soda.

Clean a Front Loader

1. Before cleaning your washing machine’s drum, check the machine’s gasket and spray it with vinegar. Clean with a clean cloth as you may find the accumulation of hair, detergent scum, and water. If not cleaned, you may find mold eating into your rubber.
2. Adjust your washer to the maximum level and the temperature of the hottest water.
3. Now add two cups of white vinegar to your detergent dispenser for cleaning.
4. Perform a complete cycle.
5. Perform another cycle with the highest level and hottest water temperature, but this time add half a cup of baking soda to your washer’s drum.
6. Once the cycle completes, wipe the inside of the washer drum with a damp microfiber cloth.
7. Wipe the front of your washer with a damp cloth and some vinegar.

Clean a Top Loading Washer

1. Turn your washer to the highest and hottest setting.
2. Add four cups of white vinegar for cleaning to the wash cycle.
3. When the cycle starts, pause your washer and let it stand for an hour.
4. Clean the top of the washing machine during this time with a microfiber cloth soaked in warm water and vinegar.
5. Use your old toothbrush to scrub the fabric softener and bleach dispensers.
6. Continue the washing cycle after one hour.
7. Then perform another rinse cycle with a cup of baking soda.
8. Once the cycle is finished, wipe the top of the washbowl with a microfiber cloth to remove the scum.

Once you begin using baking soda for washing clothes and in your laundry, you will wonder why you didn’t use it years ago. (Read more: Top 10 Power Washers Guide)