How To Use Vinegar & Baking Soda In The Washing Machine

Here’s everything you need to know about how to use vinegar and baking soda effectively in your washing machine.

I’m a big fan of using both vinegar and baking soda (also known as bicarbonate of soda in the UK) in my washing machine when I’m doing the laundry. Both help get my clothes naturally clean and smelling fresh. However, there’s a definite knack to it. Get it wrong and all you’re doing is washing your clothes with salty water – which has zero benefit.

To help you avoid this easy mistake, here’s everything you need to know to maximise the effectiveness of these two ingredients when you are doing your laundry:

The Benefits Of Using Baking Soda In Your Laundry

Adding baking soda/bicarbonate of soda to your laundry is great way to boost the effectiveness of your regular detergent.

One of its best qualities is that baking soda helps to neutralise odours. Unlike artificial fragrances that simply cover up smells, baking soda absorbs and breaks down the molecules responsible for these pongs.

So if you’ve ever had a laundry load come out smelling a bit musty, or if you’ve got gym gear that no laundry detergent seems to freshen properly, adding some baking soda to the wash can make a big difference.

Baking soda is also incredibly handy for softening hard water. If you live in a hard water area, you’ll know clothes can come out of the wash feeling a bit stiff and scratchy. It also forces your washing machine to work harder, and can mess with how effective your detergent is.

Baking soda acts as a mild water softener, which helps your detergent dissolve and work more effectively. That means your clothes get cleaner, and you might even find you need less detergent overall – which is a bonus for both your budget and the environment.

The Benefits Of Using Vinegar In Your Laundry

White vinegar is another great natural product that is well worthwhile adding to your laundry routine.

First off, it’s an excellent natural fabric conditioner. I’ve been using white vinegar in lieu of fabric conditioner for almost 20 years now, and wouldn’t use anything else.

This is because traditional fabric conditioners might make clothes feel fluffy, but they tend to be full of synthetic fragrances, and waxy residues that can build up on your laundry. These residues make your clothes and towels less absorbent and can lock in bad odours.

White vinegar, on the other hand, softens fibres naturally. It works by breaking down any detergent build-ups and mineral deposits that can make clothes feel stiff or rough, and doesn’t affect the absorbency of your towels or clothes.

White vinegar is also amazing at neutralising bad smells. Unlike fragranced products, it doesn’t mask bad odours – instead, it eliminates the bacteria and mildew causing the smell in the first place.

And white vinegar is also brilliant at keeping your washing machine clean, by dissolving limescale and helping prevent a build-up of soap scum. This can keep your machine fresher, and keep it running for longer.

Why You Shouldn’t Mix Baking Soda & Vinegar In Your Washing Machine

Given the benefits of both products, it can be tempting to chuck both in the drum or the detergent drawer and hope for the best.

However, despite what some people might tell you, vinegar and baking soda should not be mixed together, and especially not in the same compartment of your machine.

Yes, they fizz impressively when mixed. But don’t let the bubbles fool you. It might look like the bubbles are helping to get things clean. Yet all that fizz is doing absolutely nothing for your laundry. This is because vinegar is an acid and baking soda is a base.

What’s that got to do with laundry? Well, you might remember from secondary school chemistry lessons, that when you mix an acid and a base, they react and neutralise each other to form water and salt.

This means combining the two at the same time cancels out the individual benefits of both ingredients. I don’t know about you, but I would never dream of washing my clothes in salt!

How To Add Baking Soda & Vinegar To Your Washing Machine Correctly

As you can see, to get the most out of each ingredient, they need to be used separately. That doesn’t mean you have to pick one ingredient or the other. You can use both in your machine. But how on earth do you add the baking soda and vinegar to your washing machine without the two mixing?

Thankfully it’s not tricky – it’s all down to the correct technique.

When it comes to adding the baking soda, I’ve found there are two ways you can add it to your machine:

• You can add a couple of tablespoons of baking soda directly into the drum before you load your clothes to help freshen up your laundry.
• Alternatively, you can add it to the detergent compartment of your washing machine dispenser drawer, alongside your regular laundry detergent. It’s vital to add the baking soda to the correct compartment. If you aren’t sure which compartment is which then make sure you read the instruction manual of your machine to help you identify the laundry detergent compartment.

Either option ensures your washing machine uses the baking soda at the start of the wash cycle.

When it comes to adding the vinegar, this should only be added to the fabric conditioner compartment in the dispenser drawer. This is because the washing machine only releases what is in this drawer during its final rinse. This means the two ingredients never meet, and can do their jobs independently of each other without cancelling each other out.

To Sum Up

Both baking soda and vinegar have a place in your laundry routine, but don’t chuck everything in and hope for the best. You’ll only end up with sub-par cleaning results.

Instead, use baking soda in the drum with your clothes, or in the laundry detergent compartment, to help clean and deodorise them. Meanwhile, use vinegar in the fabric softener drawer to rinse, soften, and freshen up both laundry and your machine. You’ll notice a world of difference!