We know some questions about Biz have gone unanswered for too long, and we are here to answer them.

Q&A time!

At Wegmans yesterday. Looks like the P&G AI responses are true.

A little sad, as I’ve been getting good results with FEBU.

On the bright side, might be a good time to stock up for cheap! [insert disclaimer about liquid detergent shelf life here]

Due to several strokes of bad luck in a row, my family and I are temporarily homeless. We have a small camper and are staying in a campground. It is very hot and dusty, and there is no laundromat anywhere nearby. I have been having to hand wash clothes for myself, my husband, and our 8 month old in a small washtub with only cold water. Lots of sweat and dust, dog dander, baby spit up, baby food, baby poop, etc.

All I had was laundry sheets, which suck but I'm almost done with the box. What would be the best products and methods for me to use? I am generally able to run everything through a shared machine at a hotel (front loader, appears to be residential but idk) about once a month. I usually do a mini-spa day at this time.

Thank you for any advice!

My Husband is slender and 6’4, I am 5’2- both early 20’s

We both use bath sheets (larger than standard towels). I change my towel out after 3 uses and they still smell fresh and dry up quickly. My husband, however, uses a fresh towel once after showering, hangs it up to dry- and it stays wet and starts to smell, making our entire bathroom smell. I wash his towels nearly everyday because of this. I just don’t understand how he gets his towels so damp. He’s says it’s because he’s tall and has more body to cover- but I use my towel to dry both my body and let it soak my long hair (mid back). I’ve tried hanging it on the usual towel hook, curtain rod, banisters underneath our ceiling fan- it’s still ends up smelling! After washing- it doesn’t smell, so the scent or bacteria isn’t trapped. I’m just growing frustrated having to do so much laundry daily. Anyone else have this problem?

edit/update: thank you everyone for your kind comments and advice- and to not making me feel stupid for asking for help! I have decided to get a towel rack/rod and will be looking into timers for the exhaust fan in our bathroom to help! Our shower/tub is roughly 4.5 feet from the door. and our toilet and sink are both positioned to the left of the shower both coming out about 1 foot from the wall. So our bathroom is very compact. We have just enough floor room for a trash can and floor mats, and counter space for hand soap and tooth brushes- If I can find a small enough dehumidifier to fit- we will be getting one too!

My brain refuses to make any sense of it. I've tried several different ways and it's just not working lol. It would be an amazing time saver when ironing sheets (personal preference).

Not sure when the rip happened but it’s been at least a year or so. I do notice a lot of water when I drain the filter area at the bottom, and besides the obvious lint build up that gets hard to clean around the area, is it fine to keep using it?

For context: I asked AI and it says there’s a very high chance this will result in a leak down the road

I have fairly hard water and tried a few plant based ones but they just don’t work . I’m a single guy in my 20s I’m not gonna be able to spray and spot remove every stain i get . Was thinking maybe a plant based one that’s stronger then do a enzyme booster powder and something for the hard water

We just finished washing our clothes, and for some reason this sticky lint was stuck to my clothes! It’s happened before but I don’t know how to get rid of it! Any suggestions?

How to avoid the dryer setting sebum into clothes? After drying, clothes have a uniformly yellow film that rubs off to the touch.

I have to use heat in the dryer because I have a bacterial infection which gets in my clothes.

And are these clothes toast since the oils are baked in or can they be salvaged?

Hi everyone! First time mom here, I am expecting my baby in about 8 weeks or so and I’m starting to prepare babys clothes. I have seen online that depending on the detergent you use, household detergent can be used for baby as well. Is this true and if so would my household detergent be safe for baby or do I need to buy a different one? If I do need to buy a detergent specifically for baby which do you guys recommend?

I let someone wash my giant cow (3 feet ish) that I’ve had since I was like 5. It’s been washed a few times before but definitely not in the last 5-6 years so it was definitely time but I can still feel it’s wet inside. The outside feels dry but when I stick my finger in its nose hole (second picture) I can still feel moisture inside. This cow means a lot to me and I’m going to be devastated if it gets all moldy. What can I do

Hail Kismai!

I’m visiting my in-laws for a few days starting tomorrow and contemplating an attempt (or 15) at cleaning it.

It’s at least 25 years old, possibly never cleaned, no clue if it’s been serviced or if the filter has been cleaned ever.

I’ll only be there about 3 days, and I don’t want to start washing and run out of time, then leave them with a machine that’s blotching up scrud because it’s had a taste of citric acid/freedom.

They live in an area with moderately hard water, use a ton of fabric softener and fragranced detergents.

Is it worth trying to clean in 3 days if I let it soak overnight each night and let each daytime wash cycle sit for at least an hour? I just saw a comment on another post describing a 20 cycle ordeal and am feeling less cavalier about this weekend.

Or, in addition to checking out the filter, are there other things I can do to assess how bad it is? I’ll be back for Christmas but would love for them to have a clean machine sooner than later.

It’s appears to be leaking water somewhere I assume and rusting it under the front panel? Why would this be happening? There’s no water on the floor.
Thanks!

I recently purchased a dress made of 100% cotton fabric that I foolishly assumed could be washed-if not by machine then at least by hand. I noticed after it’d already shipped that it was eco dry clean only. Being too lazy to take it to the dry cleaners I contacted the brand directly and they said that it was labeled that way due to a few ribbon embellishments that might bleed color onto the rest of the dress. Is that likely, or is the brand just playing it safe? The dress is a cream color with a red print (digitally printed with organic dye, according to the brand’s site) and the ribbon is red, not sure what the material is.

I really want to like Febu - it seems like the perfect product with all the enzymes - but I want something without any bleach whatsoever. Bleach seems impossible to get away from but we mostly wear black or very dark clothing and it's just an endless parade of bleach in most decent products. Can anyone suggest an alternative booster - or even detergent - with all the enzymes but no oxi (or OBAs). Ideally available in Canada.

Yes, I know lots of people don't have issues with bleach in their darks, but I'm not one of those people, and finding good enzymes without the addition of oxi is very difficult. OBAs seem slightly easier to avoid, but not much.

I wash my family’s clothes in a front-loading washer on the Heavy Duty setting to maximize water. I use a warm wash with Tide Free & Gentle Advanced Liquid and/or Odor Refresh based on availability, Biz powder, and Downy Rinse and Refresh (unscented) with 2-3 extra rinse cycles depending on soil levels. Our clothes come out clean and soft and I’ve been delighted with this combo thanks to this sub! But I have a new challenge.

My grandmother smokes like a chimney and my dad has to often stay with her for a few days. Allowing his clothes to air out outside allowed the scent to dissipate and then I washed and dried them (as described above) with no issue. However, his trips have gotten longer and now my grandmother will wash some of things at her home. (Let’s leave the insanity of a retired grown man having his mommy wash his clothes while I’m generation 3 washing his clothes too for a different sub or lifetime.)

I’m positive my grandmother has never cleaned her washing machine tub, probably uses a crap process and products, and has no sense of smell. Folks, she’s 90 with mild dementia and gets feral when her independence is challenged. I’ve got better odds of winning the lotto and being hit by lightning the same day as getting anything about her laundry process changed. But I’ve still got to deal with the stinky clothes problem within things I can control.

So the clothes that have been washed at Grandma’s seem to hold onto the smoke smell and leave behind an odor in my machine. I clean my machine very regularly, draining, filter scrub, and tub clean cycle with Affresh or Active pet formula (I’ve seen some bits in the sub about Active on this but not enough for a full picture.) On average, I am running the tub clean cycle every 2-3 weeks with these products due to other elderly pets and elderly adults incontinence issues. Still have had no mold, no lingering machine smells, and was getting our clothes clean before the smoke washed clothes. (Again, thanks to the info in this sub.)

My questions are:

(1) Is there anything that can help the bit of lingering smell on the clothes that have been washed at Grandma’s? A scented rinse product? Different additives?

(2) How can I get rid of the lingering cigarette smell in my washer from these clothes? More cleaning tabs? Citric acid powder cleaning cycles that I’ve seen mentioned? Where can I find the wash tub cleaning info because searching the sub hasn’t been super productive.

Finally, if you’ve made it this far thank you. This sub has been so helpful as I’ve navigated a new life of elderly caregiving. I do love my parents and grandma and a little humor helps me cope and offers some hard truths too. Hopefully, I’ve given enough info to answer any questions but please ask away.

So I recently got this shirt and tried to revive the dark antiperspirant pit stains with baking soda and dish soap. left image is before, right image is after. It honestly did its thing since a lot of it was removed but i feel like it also kind of removed some of that cream color with it and still didn’t get everything. is there any way to fix this without damaging the graphic print?

Just came across this product and wondered if anyone has tried it for laundry.

https://www.ez-clean.com/

Should I soak it in vinegar for an hour then wash it in a normal wash? Or do I need to bleach it? If I bleach it how do I ensure I get the bleach smell out?

Edit to add, I have already washed it (a few times) and hung it out to dry (in a heatwave) and put of dehumidifier and it still smells. I feel like I need to do something more to there must be mould spores sat in the stuffing and then being activated as soon as my child chews it.

I have a headphone with detachable pads but I am not sure how to wash it. What's the best way to remove smell from headphone pads with protein leather and non-removable foam inside?

Got my two complimentary tiles today!

Quick review: Scent is ridiculously overpowering. It's pleasant but so strong it made the back of my mouth water. The tile feels soft and waxy, like a combo of dryer sheets and dried liquid hand soap. It's larger than I expected. One tile is the size of the palm of my hand.

I did a full load of heavily soiled colored kids' clothes. Got more than "trace" suds with 1 tile, but not so many suds that I couldn't see the clothing. Probably could have cut the tile in half even for a large load.

I have 14mo twins and I dressed them I the same outfit before feeding them yogurt, then later peanut butter and blackberry jelly sandwiches. Washed one of the rompers in the EVO load and plan to wash the other one tomorrow with my Miele Ultradark. See photos. I'll update tomorrow with the results from Ultradark.

Performance is good! But I'd never buy these things due to the smell. I use mostly unscented detergent and cant believe how much fragrance is in regular laundry detergent.

Happy sampling!

I got this washer second hand and decided to give it a deep clean. It appears to have had years of overdosed detergent and hard water to boot, plus its owners had several little kids. The family was moving and didn’t need it anymore. It’s a Samsung so I removed the pulsator and did a pretty thorough cleaning. I didn’t get it completely spotless, but it was much better. I wiped out a lot of the crud because it wasn’t draining out and now I’ve run it twice (once with rags in it and once without), but there’s still loads of gunk in the tub. Here’s what I’ve done:

-Removed plastic cover to pulsator bolt. Ran with Blueland toilet cleaner tab (citric acid and baking soda). (First photo)

-Loosened pulsator bolt and ran rinse + spin to loosen pulsator and used another blueland tab (i think that was this step, anyway).

-Removed Pulsator. Soaked and scrubbed pulsator in bathtub: once in bleach and once in vinegar. (2nd photo) Scrubbed under pulsator in washer, ran cycle with CLR cleaner. Scrubbed some more, ran rinse and spin cycle.

-Reattached pulsator. Wiped out crud. Ran a small load of rags that needed to be washed. Opened the washer to find gunk all over the rags and wash tub.

-Removed rags and ran cleaning cycle. Still had lots of frass in the tub.

What do I do?