Vinegar Friday -- How to keep colors from running in the wash

It's Friday evening. Vinegar Friday evening. And I haven't posted my monthly vinegar post yet. I'm feeling pretty awful about that, since my plan was to have this up before noon. But the day got away from me, just like the months do. I mean, seriously. How is it possible that we're wrapping up the first week of August already?? Seems like June 1st was just a couple of weeks ago. If only I could find a vinegar remedy that could slow down time. 

For more vinegar tips, click here.

But, since I can't do that, I'll just have to settle for sharing a viable vinegar solution for saving water, which is really essential these days between the west coast drought and the skyrocketing costs of water and sewage here in Pennsylvania. 

One way to cut down on water usage is by making sure you only run full loads of laundry in your washer. For me, that can be tough because I wash my clothing separately from my husbands. He uses warm water and normal cycles and I use cold water and delicate cycles. He washes my jeans and socks with his laundry, but my loads of underwear, bras, nightgowns, skirts, leggings, and shirts all work best in cold/delicate. When I sort the lights and darks, I usually end up with two small loads. The occasional exception is when we have rain for days on end and I can't hang up my clothes for a couple of weeks. Then the loads are big enough to separate. But on the usual weeks, like this one, I wanted to toss it all together in one load and get it on the line early enough to dry. But then I saw the red shirt. Hmmmm.... what to do?

That's when I reached for my huge jug of distilled white vinegar and poured it into a small basin. By soaking my red shirt for a few minutes prior to washing and adding vinegar, as I always do, to the rinse cycle, I was able to wash everything together.

Maybe I lucked out. If you try it and end up with some pink clothing that was supposed to be white, I can't be held responsible. I'm just saying that vinegar helps fix the colors so they don't run. Will it always work? I don't know. But it works for me and therefore saves water, energy, and money. That's a win-win-win in my book. Bonus -- vinegar deodorizes, sanitizes, and softens the laundry at the same time. No wonder I love Vinegar Fridays. How about you? What's your favorite vinegar tip?

Keeping it green with vinegar,