Have you tried Oxiclean?

Borax or if really bad, I soak the item in Bright White.

Dingy solid white things can be soaked in a basin of warm water with a 1/4 cup of powdered type automatic dishwasher detergent. I have removed the red rinse button and disolved the rest of tab in hot water when powdered not in house. Soak about 45 min . swish around to expose all material. Rinse by hand or put in washer to rinse. Even brighter result if can hang out in sun after rinse. I always wash white things without mixing in colors.

Yes, sorting your laundry by colors is very helpful in keeping white and colors bright.

Always sort my colors - a good idea. Mostly have dingy towels (both kitchen and bath) and wash cloths. Tks for all suggestions.

Dishwasher detergents and like Dawn detergent have enzymes which can break down lots of natural stuff you may have spilled on your clothes that's why it works well as a soak. It also works well on burnt on or stuck on pots etc put a paste of dishwasher powder detergent and water and smear it on let set for a few hours.

1. pink warm, I agree about the gross bleach. Have you checked out the clorox , splashless, mountain spring scented one. I have to use it for kitchen towels when I can't look at the stains another day. The splashless feature saves me from ruining another shirt. Worth the extra cost.

I've been buying the 'splashless' version of Clorox for the last few years. Nothing about the scent, but because I'm known to splash ;0)

I use it on kitchen towels, to sanitize kitchen sink, to clean and sanitize showers and bathrooms, also white bath towels, DH's whites, white sheets. I don't find anything gross about correct amounts of bleach. My whites cycle on my washer automatically adds an extra rinse, I don't find any bleach scent at all when taking whites out of the dryer.

I use borax or even pour some baking soda in with the whites. I've heard great things about Oxyclean White Revive but haven't tried it. BTW just an FYI scented and splash less bleach does NOT disinfect. Check the labels, it's true! Only regular bleach does.

Had a bad experience with regular bleach (or a poor machine) as the bleach returned on its own many, many washes later and spotted/ruined a machine full of clothing.

I worked in a dental office for many years. A patient confided that she brushed with Comet regularly. Have to admit her teeth were white, she had very worn enamel from the abrasive sink cleaner. Can not imagine how awful it is to put that into your mouth, and the taste with all that bleach. Yuck

The things people do! I would think it would burn the heck out of your mouth!

On that subject! When I was a small child I was extremely sick for a long time and was put on very strong antibiotics. Well the Crack pot dentist we had in my very small town, the only one for many miles, was convinced my teeth were brown because I was not brushing my teeth. My mom would fix my tooth brush morning and evening and watch me brush so she told him that was not the case. He didn't believe her. So he proceeded to get out steel wool and some gritty compound and they held me down in the chair while he went at my teeth with the steel wool and compound. He instructed my father to do this daily. My father did it once and said no way. Today I still have grooves in what little enamel I have left on my teeth. Of course now we know that it was the medication I was on at the time my teeth were forming that caused the discoloration. That is not the only cruel and crazy thing that dentist did to me. He decided to pull my perfectly healthy lower molars because he felt that the teeth were too crowded and if he pulled them they would just all slide into position. Of course that didn't happen instead the tooth next to the vacant socket just fell over sideways in to the hole totally screwing up my chewing ability till this day. We had no orthodontic doctors, he was it. Guess why I am still terrified to go to dentist.

I use 2 scoops of Oxyclean in my whites as a rule. When they get really bad, I use Rit (dye) color remover. I make sure I run a rinse in the washer after using the Rit. I' fortunate that my washer has a built in soak cycle, and I can set it up for regular wash after the Rit. Might want to give it a shot.

I have use dishwasher packets in all white loads. Nice hot wash and soaking.

I'm not afraid of bleach. When something needs to be whitened, bleach is still the best, although it is hard on elastic and cottons if you use it a lot. Great weed killer tho! I've also used borax for cleaning many things and that is pretty good. The oxy type cleaners have never impressed me at all. Never saw a noticeable difference after using them. Until I switched to Tide I used automatic dishwasher detergent with enzymes to boost cleaning power and it did help a lot. Many people speak highly of the Tide with bleach alternative. I've never tried it so I can't say one way or another.

Dish liquids are not a good option for laundry because of the high sudsing. That's why you should never use any significant amount of them in an automatic dishwasher.

Bluing is an optical illusion. It's not any whiter, it dyes the clothes blue so under some lights the clothes appear to be whiter. Under other lighting they can have a nearly comical look.

Personally, I don't buy much in white cloth if I can avoid it. They seldom look as white as new for very long.

And speaking of dentists I have horror stories about "Dr. Mengele" who we saw when I was a kid. Put me off from going to a dentist until about 10 years ago and I had panic attacks when I got there.

Tide with Bleach Alternative is a liquid and although its a great detergent for whites that are white it won't whiten dingy whites. Tide with Bleach powder will help to whiten dingy whites. Trick is to use the hottest water you can. I only have white bed sheets and white towels in my house and they are White...i dont use chlorine bleach unless one of the kids are sick and im disinfecting.

Cynic is correct about chlorine bleach being the best, but its also very harsh on fabrics and if not used properly will cause a lot of damage.

Also right about bluing..it doesnt whiten, it brings out the blue pigments temporally making things look whiter..sometimes.

To keep things as white as when they are new...sort, use hottest water you can and Tide with Bleach powder or Persil Pearls...and a long wadh cycle or a soak. My towels are 7 years old and still snowy white.

I love Tide with bleach alternative but I haven't used it for a long time. It ruined some white clothes by leaving permanent blue stains on the clothing. I miss my Tide. :( Used it for years. I wish Tide would correct this problem that according to reviews other people are having.

Missy...Tide with Bleach Alternative. .should not be staining your clothes, at least not permanently. This can be caused if the detergent is being poured onto dry clothing. If your using a old skool washer I would wait until it fills before adding the detergent, don't pour it on the dry clothes. If it has stained just put some warm water on the stain and rub it in and rewash..the dye in this stuff is not a permanent dye..it washes out. I understand your hesitance in using it again though. That being said if you miss it for whites...try the Tide with Bleach powder instead..it will keep your whites White...difference is the powder has Oxi bleach in it the liquid Tide with Bleach Alternative does not have Oxi bleach.