when the laundry doesn't come clean

[mommylove]

When the laundry doesn't come completely clean, how do you determine if it's:



the machine
the detergent
overloading
needed to be pre-treated
other

DD is a crawler & the knees on her white or light pink pants aren't coming clean. I'm totally grossed out that they're dirty to begin with (carpet cleaners are coming on Wednesday) but why aren't they coming clean? I rotate between BioKleen & homemade powder. Should I give up the 'natural' detergent? Would most people pretreat all the knees (or any other spots) every time?

I have a top loader and am confident I'm not overloading, but is it true for all front loaders that you can pretty much stuff 'em?

[thrillofhope]

Thank you for asking this. My mil's machine (that I use) hasn't been getting clothes clean lately either and I don't know why. Hubby's socks look really gross though. I thnk it must be the machine, though, because we went to the laundromat today and they came out clean and white.

[PurpleButterfly]

I would definitely use a stain treater on tough spots like knees. If that doesn't work, you can try adding some hydrogen peroxide to the wash (1/4 to 1/2 cup). If that doesn't work, I bet a scoop of Oxyclean would do the trick. :)