Q&A for How to Wash Your Clothes With Dish Liquid

Sure it does, specially for acrylic, latex, and water-based paint stains. If the paint is still wet, immediately put dishwashing liquid on it. Scrub and then rinse in cold water. If the paint’s already dried, it can still be done, but is a bit more time-consuming and you'd need to scrape the paint before washing.

If the detergent contains bleach, it will ruin your clothes' colors by creating white spots.

If you want to be precise, use a measuring teaspoon - like the kind you use for cooking. And remember, 3 teaspoons equal one tablespoon. So if you are doing a large load, you can use a measuring tablespoon.

No; this applies to laundry detergent with color.

Standard dish detergent for hand washing is good in removing grease and oil and shouldn't have any bleach compared to dishwasher detergents and should not cause more fading. It can be used regularly in combination with laundry detergent for oily clothes without any negative effects on most types of clothes.

If it is a front load washer, it is not recommended. If it is a high efficiency top load washer, you may use dish soap, but you risk oversudsing. Since a regular top load washer uses more water, suds should not be an issue.

Normally its one pod for a small load and 2 for medium or large load, so you should be fine.

About three teaspoons -- any more means that you run the risk of the suds overflowing.

No, not at all! The only factor is oversudsing, which may be hard to clean up.

Yes. I have used both Borax and washing soda. You can even find homemade laundry detergent recipes that include both ingredients.

I love Dawn. Bird rehabilitors use it to wash oil off of birds trapped in oil spills, and I've seen care workers use it to wash dirty kittens, so I tried it for my hand washables to save money. I also use a bit to wash my kitchen floor, along with essential oils. Dawn is cheaper and safer than cleaning products.

As it has strong abrasives, it's not recommended. It also has bleach, so you'd only be able to use it on whites.

I believe that was referring to washers that require HG high-efficiency detergent. Not all front-loaders require HG detergents. I have to go to a laundromat, and the machines I usually use are front-loaders. They do not, however, require HG detergent.

Probably. Dawn is considered a very gentle soap. I would buy the clear Dawn for added safety, as it would be free of dyes.

The terms are being used interchangeably. Detergent is another name for "soap." The article refers to the liquid soap purchased to wash dishes by hand.

I assume you are talking about dishwasher soap? If so, it does not have the same properties as the dish soap discussed in this article, the dish soap meant for hand-washing dishes. And yes, I would dilute it in a cup of hot water before using it in the washer. I would start with 1/8-1/4 the amount recommended for a dishwasher and see how it goes. It's easier to add more to your next load than to clean up a laundry room full of suds.

Fill a sink with water, put in a sprinkle of your preferred dish soap and let it sit for 10 mins before hand-washing.

It is definitely not recommended to use dish-soap in a front loader washing-machine. This is because if the suds were to escape the washer, it would be somewhat difficult to clean up and they may damage the mechanics of the washing machine. Stick to laundry liquid for a washing machine.

Commercial cleaning companies use a product called Brown Out, there are brands as well. I've used it to get fecal stains, coffee stains, urine stains out of white carpet and sofas.

Dishwasher detergent contains chlorine bleach, so you might be able to use it to wash white laundry, something you would already use bleach on. It might not rinse out very well from fabrics, but you could try it; just don't use on anything colored, printed or dyed--plain white items only.

Yes, this is possible to do this, at least for hand washed dishes. I've used powdered laundry detergent for hand washing dishes a few times. Be careful though, as the glassware can become very slippery. I have not used it in a dishwasher and do not recommend this usage, as it could damage the machine.

If you want properly clean clothes, you should only use laundry detergent in any washing machine. Cleaning fabrics and cleaning dishes require different things, that's why laundry detergents were invented. Leave the dish detergent for the dishes!

I have used shampoo in my front loader in a pinch. Like dish soap, it can get real sudsy. Use sparingly like dish soap. It will not do well on heavy grease spots.

Yes, about any type of dishwashing liquid soap will do the job just as well.