Instead of using bleach, you "blue" your whites into looking white. I was just looking at Mrs. Stewart's Bluing site and evidently this product is "biodegradable, nontoxic and environmentaly friendly". And where do you buy this product? I've never heard of it before.

It's at the grocery right with the other laundry stuff. My mom used to use it. I've used it, but not on a long time. I accidentally got blue on some of DH's T shirts because I didn't mix it w/ the water well.

This was really common in Asia when we lived there. We did it all the time. It works great as long as you don't put too much in and mix it in with the water well or you get blue spots on things. It really works well if you are using the direct sunlight to dry your clothes. I don't do it now (we aren't allowed to have clothes lines where I live) but if the law changes, and I can use a clothes line, I'd go back to this. It does make things very very white .. like they are glowing but it works.

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I'm not familiar with that exact product, but yeah, it's supposed to help, as the blueing adds an optical brightener to the whites. I've noticed Target is carrying more and more eco things, so that may be a good place to start. And, of course, googling the web will probably give you other resources. Sometimes Trader Joes, if you have one, carries things like this. You can call and ask.

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Can dark get darker?

Bluing whites is an old time method, before bleach this is what was used. It's more of a forgotten art and movement to something more effective and simple - thus bleach.

Now with the growing interest in being kind to mother earth, bluing is making a comeback.

It's GREAT! Better than bleech, the whites come out fantastic, I have used this forever..

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Sure! My Mom and both my Grandmothers used to use it. You can get it at some grocery stores...try a small local, nonchain, hardware store, they might carry it.

See if they have it at a store near you:

Where to Find Mrs. Stewart's Bluing

I'm sure you can get it online at a variety of places...I've also seen it in catalogs, the one that comes to mind is Vermont Country Store, I've seen it in there, it's probably expensive there though, so shop around a bit.

Browsing Store - MRS STEWARTS BLUING-1883

Mrs. Stewart's Laundry Bluing

Good luck!

I have never heard of such......hmmmmm I might have to see just what this is

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Sure! I used to do this all the time, but I can't find the bluing in stores now.

You're about to figure out how old I really am ...

Many years ago, clothes were cleaned with simply soap; sometimes even homemade lye soap. In those days bluing - a weak blue dye - was needed because whites would tend to turn yellow with age (especially after being exposed to lye or bleach). The weak blue dye would counter-act the yellowing for a short time and make the whites look a bit brighter. Of course, over time especially with constant bluing, the whites just ended up looking grey.

Then automatic washing machines became more popular and clothes detergent makers decided to add bluing crystals to the detergent. People didn't have to add separate bluing to their laundry because it was already in the detergent, and later in the fabric softener (ever wonder why so many fabric softeners are colored blue or come in blue bottles?) The little bottles of Mrs. Stewarts bluing became harder to find.

Modern clothes detergents don't even bother adding a weak blue dye anymore. To get a brighter white look, they add a chemical that makes your clothes GLOW slightly. I'm serious. The chemicals have a phosphorescent effect so the whites literally shine.

Of course, none of these additives actually GET the clothes cleaner. They are simply put in there to fool the eye into thinking the clothes look cleaner.

How does this real to being 'green'? Well, a lot of people are moving away from using detergent to wash their clothes. Some people are going back to using their own homemade soaps for washing. And some people aren't even using automatic washing machines anymore. Now, keep in mind, that modern clothes detergent has additives in it that help keep the washing machine parts lubricated, especially those rubber seals that keep all the water in. Switching to homemade laundry detergent or some eco-friendly laundry detergents MIGHT cause your automatic washing machine to fail sooner. But again, that is why some people don't use conventional laundry detergent. They don't want the extra chemicals! So, if you don't use convential laundry detergent without the glow-chemicals in it to make your white look whiter, what can you do?

You can give up and suffer with how your clothes look when they are simply clean. You can use bleach and sunlight to get your clothes to look whiter. You can use a weak blue dye to counteract the yellowing - hence, the interest in Mrs. Stewarts bluing again.

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