I have found something about laundry that actually makes me happy. I have found the golden (or white in this case) ticket to washing whites and making them bright white! I’ve tried so many things over the years to get my whites white and for some reason they always came out dingier than they went in. They were never crisp white- and to be honest, I gave up on them.

I don’t know if you have the same dilemma as me, but I HATE doing laundry. Wait, no. I hate folding laundry. No…I hate

putting it away. Wait…I guess if I only had one part of the task, I wouldn’t hate it so much, it’s just all of it together that I hate. I tend to throw a load in and then forget about it- You’ve never done that, right? I can never seem to get on top of it or have a break through in the area of laundry.

But now I have had a break through- washing whites and making them brighter has brought some joy to my laundry life! I have been using this new system of washing my white laundry and its coming out even brighter than before! Even my husband has noticed! He said, “It’s like I have a whole bunch of new white t-shirts!” I know it’s a small thing, but that made me so happy. Having ANY kind of victory in the laundry area is a wonderful thing!

I’ve tried all the tips- but nothing ever actually got the white laundry actually white. I finally have a system of washing white clothes that works- even getting old dinginess out of socks, underwear or t-shirts!

I even when through my linen closet (actually my amazing, organized daughter purged my linen closet and I grabbed my old yellowing pillowcases out of the goodwill pile to see if I could save them! Save them I did! She didn’t believe it was possible, but even she agrees that my whitening white laundry method works!

So let’s get down to business!

Tips for Washing White Clothes

This is my exact system that I have been using to keep new whites white and to brightened old dingy whites too! To the point where my husband is loving it!

Wash only whites with whites.

I know this seems so silly. It seems silly to me now that I look back. But for some reason, I just kinda put lots of medium and light clothes in with the whites and hoped for the best. So…just don’t do what I did, and actually only put whites with whites. I have a special hamper in the laundry room, saved for white clothes now and every time there are white clothes that need to be washed, I happily toss them in there and know they will be glowing white when they get washed. I guess i never understood how special white clothes were.

Wash whites on the hottest setting.

Again, I am sparing no expense on this journey of brightening white clothes. If you really want white clothes, then go ahead a splurge on the hot water! I guess I was cheap before, but I never really tried the hot cycle! No wonder my whites were dingy, I know!

Use the special extra cycles, like presoak and stain cycles.

I have had my front loading washing machine for 14 years and I literally never used these extra cycles till a few months ago. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t think I needed them! But when I was looking around at other people with bright white clothes, I was like…there HAS to be a way to keep these clean! So….I discovered the pre-soak and stain cycles. I use them both, every time I am washing white clothes! It’s making a world of difference!

Add Oxy Clean HD White Revive to your White Laundry.

I had never heard of this stuff, but I found it at my local Grocery Outlet and I thought I would give it a try. You can also find it on amazon! I love this stuff. Sold. Totally sold on it- especially when I added all these extra steps to it. It worked much better when I used ALL of these tips that I’m sharing with you!

Add Bleach to your White Laundry

Again, this may seem elementary to all you laundry gurus out there, but using bleach had never really worked for me without all of these other steps!

Add Borax to your White Laundry

Borax is sodium borate,  an alkaline mineral salt. It is anti stain, whitening and an all around great detergent. I know it might seem over kill, but hey, its working for me, so I decided to share it with you in case you were struggling with my white laundry like I have been for almost 16 whole years of marriage!

Well, there you have it! My simple tips for getting whiter whites and brightening your grey, sad and almost tossed in the goodwill pile whites. Washing white clothes can be fun! Even folding them can be fun when you go through the clothes and see how much money you have saved from not buying new socks, white tshirts and white pillow cases!  Hooooray!

Let me know if this process works for you! I have found that the more times the dingy items are washed with this method, the whiter they are getting! It’s pretty exciting stuff.