I never have - a little scared it might not have the proper ingredients to protect my beloved Miele. But it's always interesting to read about other people's experience! Would you share your recipe?

I have hard water and have always been advised against using home made laundry SOAP, and I call it soap, as it is not detergent people are making, but soap. If you have hard water I would get more suggestions from others who also have hard water. If you are not sure if you have hard water, get a bar of soap and use it in the shower for a few weeks. Your shower surfaces will get soap scum on them as will your body.

I tried it and for me it was like washing the clothes in plain water. They stank and I could still smell deodorant, perfume and even food odors. With those results I never even bothered to try it on dirtier clothes. It seems to work great for some people (mainly those with soft water who use hot water washes) and horribly for others. Then you have those that think it works great and a while later they complain of stinky moldy washer syndrome.

Absolutely not.

Know this is popular in blogland. I just think it's a colossal waste of time.

NO WAY!

So far it's turned out very well for me, Not saying that it's cheaper, I just enjoy doing it and my clothes turn out well. :) Dena

Nope ... the DIY recipes are pitiful in hard water.

Yes, you feel all earth-mama grating the soap and mixing it up, but it's really not cheaper than a bulk commercial detergent.

For 100% polyester I use 1/2 cup of white vinegar in the wash cycle, it removes odors and makes the garments soft. It also helps keep the color from fading.

It's cheap and it works.

No, I'm not interested in being a earth mama, I just like to do it., vinegar also seems like a good idea, A friend of mine uses vinegar like that. :)

I've actually tried adding vinegar to my FL, but even when I go as low as 2 Tbsp (which can't be enough to make any kind of difference anyway) the scent ends up being much too overwhelming for me. Maybe I'm super sensitive to it?.. But I've literally had to air things out for a week to get rid of the smell, yuck.

I've tried the vinegar thing. I never had any residual smell from it but I never noticed any softening of clothes either. I've used it in both hard and soft water but didn't notice a difference with either.

I read over and over about adding vinegar to laundry. I've done it and there was absolutely no effect whatsoever. It didn't soften anything. It didn't clean anything or remove gunk ever.

Far as I'm concerned it's has a placebo effect. It does make people feel better and they like to trust it because it's a "natural" substance. That's harmless enough.

Vinegar is a mild acid. Laundry detergents are alkaline. Vinegar *may* have a slight softening effect by reducing harshness of residual detergent alkalinity. When used in such a fashion, it's functioning as what may be called a "laundry sour."

Fabric softeners contains fats and/or oils to function as a lubricant to make fabric fibers slippery for a softer feel to the touch. Vinegar does not have a lubricating effect.

"Fabric softeners contains fats and/or oils to function as a lubricant to make fabric fibers slippery for a softer feel to the touch. Vinegar does not have a lubricating effect."

That's somewhat true, fabric softeners have chemicals(QUATS) which coat fabrics so they feel softer. Vinegar removes any detergent residue which will make them softer, since you shouldn't use fabric softeners(including dryer sheets) on 100% polyester vinegar is a good substitute.

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