Do you find that using soap powder is ineffective when it comes to washing floor rags and hand towels? You may be tempted to switch to more expensive liquid detergent in order to clean better.
I have recently discovered that we can clean just as effectively using the humble dish wash liquid soap as with a more expensive detergent. You can just use those that you buy in bulk at an inexpensive price.
Floor Rags:
I used to soak floor rags with soap powder and then rinse them. Then I put in the machine to wash and spin again. Still, I find despite that, the floor rags are not really that clean. And the machine actually damaged a few of the floor rags.
I was later given the suggestion of using dish wash liquid soap- the kind you use to wash plates, pots and cups in order to wash floor rags.
It is a good option because:
1. Dish wash liquid soap is more effective in getting the dirt out compared to soap powder
After all, dish wash soap is effective in removing stains, oil and basically cleaning dirty plates, pots and pans.
2. It is relatively inexpensive compared to liquid detergent
Because soap powder may not be effective, you may need to use something stronger. Personally I think liquid detergent like Dynamo, Persil, Tide are a little too expensive to be used on rags.
For dish wash liquid, you can get in a big container for a cheaper price and those are good enough to clean your floor rags. If you have kids, elderly and pets where you need to change your rags often to clean spills, dirt and fur, it can get a little costly to use liquid detergent.
Nowadays I hand wash the floor rags. First I would rinse off the dirt in a pail of water with a little bit dish wash liquid soap. Then followed by another rinse with water before I soak the rags for at least 2 hours in dish wash soap before washing them.
Hand towels and table cloth
I just washed a few hand towels that we hang outside our bathrooms. We recently had many guests over and some of the hand towels had been stained. First, I did a water rinse to clear off the superficial dirt.
Then I soaked using dish liquid soap for about 2 hours before washing them. The stains were easily removed. We also do the same for cloth that we used to wipe our kitchen counter and tables.
The stains in the hand towels came off easily:
Previously when I was just using soap powder to soak, I had to scrub hard using the brush. But do note though, that this is effective in getting oily and stains that could easily come off. For some stubborn stains, it would involve soaking for few hours or overnight in bleach.
