How to rid washed clothes of LINT!!!?

You don't HAVE to use lots of detergent. You can soften the water by adding a little borax or washing soda to the water. And you can add vinegar to both the washing water and the rinsing water.

Water Softener:
Dissolve 25g washing soda in just over 500ml boiling water. Bottle to store, and add one tablespoon per 4.5 litres of water with detergent or soap flakes. If water is still hard, add another tablespoon.

Make your own detergent:

LAUNDRY DETERGENT

1 cup soap flakes
1/4-1 cup washing soda
1/2-1 cup borax

Use the larger amount of washing soda and borax for hard water. Combine all ingredients. To make a liquid detergent, add 2 tablespoons glycerine and 2 cups warm water to 1 cup of the detergent mixture.

VINEGAR AND BORAX WOOL WASH:
60g borax
1 litre hot water
4 litres lukewarm water
1 teaspoon vinegar

Dissolve the borax in the hot water, then pour into the lukewarm water. Add vinegar. Soak woollens in the mixture for 5 minutes, then rinse as usual.

Both borax and washing soda should be available at your local supermarket, along with other detergents etc.

Thank goodness it's not only me . I get lint, no matter what! I shake my clothes before hanging, after hanging, before wearing and I also use a lint brush or masking tape.

I don't wash towels with my clothes, I think its a combo of pet hairs, clothing fibers and what ever is left over in the basket from the previous wash? I totally forgot about the lint filter, my washer is older so maybe it has one. I just don't remember seeing it?

I made the mistake of washing a new dark colored towel with some new light colored pants. Lint was all over the pants from the towel. I rewashed the pants (seperate) again and found that the lint brushed off the pants somewhat easily when the pants were still wet coming out of the washer (before drying).

Trying to brush off the lint when the material is dry is much harder.

Small sorted loads washed on Gentle in cold water with half of recommended liquid laundry detergent. No softener allowed. I have trouble with lint when I use products like Downey, etc. I use the cheapest liquid laundry detergent. I have a dryer, but pretend I don't. I clean the wash tub after washing towels by using a flour sack towel to rub it down with vinegar and water. I usually handwash DH's black dress pants and then spin dry in the washer before hanging to dry. Not all clothing shows up lint and I don't worry too much with those.

I was wondering what i could use those flour sack towels for. Thanks for the idea!

I use dryer balls. They are about the size of tennis balls. Why doesn't someone use tennis balls in the dryer and tell us how it works?

Not sure why you feel hard water makes you need more soap?? Yes, I know there are softeners in the commercial soaps. BUT where we lived in Ohio we had 22 grains of hardness (yes, we had to chisel the faucets clean, regularly) in our water and I used less the 1/2 the soap the manufacturer suggested and our clothes were clean. Now when DS or DH had a mud bath or such, yes I needed more soap....but everyone does in that situation.

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Hard water does need more soap or detergent, which may need a second rinse. Just part of life.

It takes very very very little electricity to throw the clothes in the dryer for five minutes with NO heat. The lint is gone, usually the wrinkles are gone if you hang carefully, and you need no softener for nice softer clothes.

Do this right out of the washer, then hang dry.

Oh boy, do I feel your pain there! Last year I decided to go all green and efficient and the lint made me crazy. I tried the inside out thing and it works to some extent. I have only good towels and separate my clothes properly. Still Lint.

I'm back to the dryer now for most things. T-Shirts, especially the gray ones for my after work wear and that are fine, but almost everything dark has to get dried.

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Growing Human
http://growinghuman.blogspot.com

When wearing narrow lenses of hate and ignorance, is it any wonder one finds it difficult to see clearly? - Me

I just did laundry and there is lint over everything, I used vinger too. Im going to have to look for the lint trap on it, if there is one. That or i need to clean the washer real good agian.

Okay I tired a few things... More water, smaller loads, inside out, less detergent, delicate cycle, and I am still having to clean my lint filter in the dryer half way thru the cycle, so my clothes must be real "linty".

and that is another problem I have, the lint filter in the dry gets excessively built up with lint before the cycle ends.

Like when I dry a full load, without checking the lint filter, it will fill with lint, and collects at the bottom of the door around the seal...(the lint filter is just inside the dryer door at the bottom.

I've sucessfully got my clothes "clean" but I had to change the lint filter in the dryer twice a load.

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I did laundry today after I cleaned out the fabric softener dispenser. I filled the dispenser with vinger and did my laundry with new soap nuts and no lint!

I just wanted to add something. I have been without a dryer, by choice for about 7-8 years now. Just last week I had to take about 9 loads of laundry to the laundromat. I checked the dryer lint screens to make sure they were clean before I dried my clothing. The lint that accumulated from our, mostly cotton fabrics was about what you would find in one pocket for the day, except the terry cloth towel load. And, surprisingly, the screen was only about half full of that. Sooo.... I would say that, based on this unintended experiment, our clothes don't have that much lint after all this time of no dryer.
Interesting.
jd

mistake

I bought a new Maytag washer in 2001-2002. It is similar to a commercial one but has a larger capacity LOL. It does not produce any lint on our clothes unless I inadvertently leave kleenex etc in a pants pocket (oops!). Then it takes about 2-3-4 washes to get the lint out with me scooping as it is washing. Teaches me not to do that again for a long time.

I also never replaced my dryer when it broke down in 2000-2001. I hang the clothes outside or in the bathroom on rings and on the shower curtain pole. Of course, our children our grown and out of the house, so this method meets the needs of two people quite well.

Teri I am thinking you need to perhaps sell your washer and get an older one. Too bad that some newer versions of washers are worse than the older ones. It should not be that way.

I got my old Hoover Concept One vacuum cleaner from my parents and when they were going to give me the upgrade--I said no thanks this one works just fine. (I even had the housing rebuilt for 100 dollars.) I used theirs once and it pulled me around the house and even put dents into the kitchen floor linoleum.

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Someone mentioned earlier washer lint traps. Unless you have an old washer with the lint trap catcher on the of the adgitater you will have lint. Thats how the mfg's sell dryers. Lint has no where to go in the newer washers eccept what goes down the drain and what left on the cloths. My dryer gave up last summer so now I'm very carefull to what I cloths I wash together.

I've read somewhere recently that those "micro" cloths - Shamwow etc. will gather all the lint. I've not tried it, but they don't cost too much and might solve the problem.

So you just wash these with your clothes? This would be a good solution if it worked. I will have to try it out and let everyone know.

My solution was to just buy clothes that lint doesn't show on.

With four cats and three dogs ... well, you can't see the lint for the pet hair anyway.

I had a small front loader washing machine that I almost cried when it gave out. No lint. Clothes just never wore out. Also you used very little laundry detergent.

At present ever since they concentrated the liquid laundry detergents I seem to have to add an extra cycle to get all the detergent out. I use only perhaps a couple of teaspoons or maybe even less. Perhaps I have to dedicate a teaspoon spoon for the laundry once I get the amount just right. Hmmmmmm!?!.

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"in returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength"

http://gardening-by-cathy.net
http://mysolarenergyplus.net