[Iggy]

I quit using powder detergent because NONE of them dissolved completely and I ended up putting all the clothes through a second complete wash/rinse/rinse cycle. What a waste of water!

I only use liquid detergent now. What ever is the cheapest. I start out with using 1/2 of the recommended amount of detergent. Let the machine agitate a bit, turn it off, and then feel the water. If it doesn't feel very soapy, then I add just a bit more detergent. Agitate, stop, feel. Generally I don't have to add the full recommended amount.

Fabric softener sheets really do not leave a film on the inside of your dryer unless you dump the entire box of them in an empty dryer and turn it to the hottest temp and let it run for 30 minutes or longer. What happens is they water proof the diapers and make them non-absorbent. Also adding too much soap and not pre-rinsing your diapers ends up ruining them and making them non-absorbent.

There was a hint here on this forum once that said to check the filter of your dryer if you used fabric softener sheets- that it put a film on it and prevented the air from flowing through. Well I have had my dryer for 8 years. I have used fabric softener sheets for those 8 years. Bah- there was no build up! What a crock of baloney!!

If you use cloth diapers- scrape the poo into the toilet. Flush toilet. Dunk diaper in toilet to rinse residual poo off of it. Wring diaper out- place in diaper pail filled with COLD water that has 1 C or more of 20 Mule Team Borax dissolved in it.

When diaper pail is full of diapers, remove diapers one at a time, dunk in and out of diaper water, wring out good. Place diaper in a plastic bucket or in the bathtub until all diapers from pail are wrung out.

Dump water from pail in the TOILET- not the bathtub. Rinse and dump in toilet. Now go and wash your wrung out dirty diapers in the washing machine using the hottest water you have, detergent, and 1 cup of liquid bleach added to 1 quart of water. DO NOT use fabric softener. It will make the diapers water resistant. You want them water absorbent. Drying them in the dryer will make them soft enough.

It is getting harder and harder to find detergents that even smell. I use Purex, Sun or Xtra.

Also, if you can easily smell the detergent on your dry clothes you have used way, way too much.

To see if you are using too much detergent, take a couple of clean towels from your linen closet- toss them in the washing machine, set for small load, hot or warm wash, cold rinse and turn on. DO NOT add any detergent.

Let it agitate for 5 minutes. Then lift a towel up out of the water and smell it. Smell like your detergent? Water feel soapy? You have been using way too much detergent. Remember, the detergent companies want you to use lots of their products, thus they are heavy handed with the recommended amount to use. You will use it up faster and have to buy more.

Too much detergent is a bad thing. It attracts dirt, it makes your clothes heavier. It wears down the fabric/threads, thus your clothes wear out faster. It will also leech out when you perspire and give you rashes where you really do not want rashes!!