My old washer just let the smoke out of the control board in the middle of a load of laundry the other day but luckily I had my moms old washing machine (still newer than mine was) laying around to hook up instead. Except now I realized that my mom aparently loves fabric softner and every compartment on the thing needed a waxy fabric softner buildup scrubbed out of it.
I can’t exactly complain about a free appliance but damn do I hate fabric softner. It makes my fabrics water repelant and it gums up washers. Awful stuff.
I always throw vinegar into the fabric softener compartment so it’s dispensed toward the end of the cycle. By that point it doesn’t interact with the detergent and I’ve found that it does rinse clean, leaving clothes smelling fresher than if I don’t use it.
You can also use it as rinse aid in your dishwasher, although I’ve found you may need to increase how much “rinse aid” is dispensed for a similar effect. Still a huge savings over rinse aid. But I digress…
Same, after washing there isn’t any vinegar smell either. I make my own cheap liquid laundry detergent with olive soap and baking soda.