Chuck dear, I have felt the quiet. A few time over the months I started a thread hoping to stir the pot, but it didn't work. I do receive notifications when someone posts in the FB, and I can in all honesty say there's little action there. But I think your right Chuck the Laundry Room is fizzing out. This truely breaks my heart and has for some time. Where's all the talk about the newest in our stash, the super find of Cascade with phosphates, Bea's over sudsing in her TL, the awesomness of STPP, the how to get my whites super white. Where's Jean with her hilarious wit, Where's Sandy, Poppy, and Bright and Clean....so many have disappeared along with all the interesting and often funny laundry problems. Rarely does anyone new pop in to ask how to get their sheets clean in cold water, rarely does anyone pop in for any reason...the laundry room has become more than quiet, it's become a ghost town. There's nothing to excite the folks that stumble here searching for laundry answers, remember when someone found this room to solve a problem and never left because it was interesting and fun...I hope our Laundry Room filled with Family of Friends returns.

I can only speak for myself, but unfortunately I've had more pressing problems to deal with since summer started. I would love for laundry to be my only concern.

It's a bunch of different things. Summer time, lack of new products, less companies making new products (bought out brands and discontinuing of lines). We've helped lots of people just popping in for a fast answer then they are gone.

We've mastered so many issues that maybe they came, searched and got their answer.

There's not even any new machines to talk about.

It ebbs and flows.

It ebbs and flows made me laugh!! I think the spin cycle on this particular forum has expired ;)

Things like this naturally happen and unfortunately there usually isn't a real way to resurrect the activity. I was just wondering if my perception was accurate and it appears that it is. It seems many have left. I think Georgect makes some valid points including the fact that there just isn't much to talk about anymore. Jody makes a point in that in the grand scheme of things other activities in life take priority. I guess we have discussed new laundry detergent, new fabric softener, laundry equipment and the proper ways to wash our clothes so much, as well as other topics that the topics in general are not holding people's interest or attention anymore. It happens, we shouldn't be sad. Life is about moving on, sometimes we have to accept it and not look back.

Mamapinky- your contribution has been immeasurable and you have improved many peoples lives through your fantastic responses and overall general caring. I think this forum proves that although we all share a common interest "electronic" families can dissolve quickly when real lives, real people, and real problems come into play. That's the internet for you in general, much of it is a pastime activity and fills a gap when we have extra time on our hands or are bored in general and disappears when other activities take over.

I am certainly not saying goodbye and will continue to pop in and out just to see if anything new is going on but I think the truth is that "the spin cycle on this particular forum has expired". I don't think any new thread or topic will really restore it to its prior glory and any increase in activity will just be a temporary surge. The best possible scenario would be that I am proved completely wrong.

Thanks for reading.

All the best.

They need to release some new washer & dryer models so we have something else to discuss! :)

Aww Chuck Thank You for the lovely compliment.☆

I'm also not leaving, besides someone has to be here to put a stop to cold water washing LOL.

Yeah, life is slow, but not over. Check out some of the interesting threads like top loaders and stains. Then there is enduring's OT on cars. Stick around, you don't know what might turn up.

I'm here lurking and reading every single day.... I just rarely "say" anything. I still have a decent stash of things.

Just went to KMart last week and bought 6-150oz jugs of Purex in After The Rain scent. I just love that scent and it's a decent detergent, I find It to work good, on some loads, I might add some liquid Biz and man it truly gets the sweat/funk out of golf clothes and man do I ever wash golf clothes, every day of the world

I always cruise the detergent aisle when I go to the store and have noticed nothing new, what is up with that????? I still spend a good deal of time huffy products, just to see if they've changed anything on us.

Hope all is well with everyone.. maybe I'll go roll in the mud or something and ask for advise how to get my clothes clean... stir some activity... lol

Yep. Concur with everything above. For several years it seemed like once a month there was a new detergent (hello Persil US!) or machine (the new Elux series, Mama's saga going from TL to FL) to discuss. The world has just been pretty boring for laundry-philes these past several months.

Speaking only for myself, we had a rough spring -- personally. And then work and cycling season got crazy and there's just not enough hours in the day. I've continued my search for the "perfect linen" and will report back if I actually find it, LOL. I've bought a few more pieces from RL and Linoto but have been troubled by some discoveries online that leads me to believe RL may not be as "purely European" as once believed.

LiGi still going strong. I do post a pic to the Facebook group from time to time but will confirm what the others have said: it hasn't cannibalized the Houzz forum. It's quiet everywhere. XOXO to all. -A

Nice to see you Alex....as for the perfect linen....IMO the excitement of real linen bedding has started a # of manufactures producing linen bedding to entice people to spend their hard earned $$$ on the best, most luxurious bedding money can buy....I think this all started with someone finding a stash of it in grandmas linen closet, suddenly everyone was searching thru grandmas closets, and going to estate sales looking for the stuff..it showed up on ebay and other online sites and the prices skyrocketed...manufactures found a way to produce what so many were now on the hunt for..real linen, but is it real....

I sent for a sample card from a manufacturer last year...granted it never went thru many washes which change things, but still next to the **real vintage linen** it didn't even come close to the real thing.

If you want my opinion and you may not, Lol, but I if you want perfect linen I would look for vintage, the real stuff.

Poor, poor Laundry Forum. Going down the drain with everything else.

@MamaP. **waves**

You're not wrong, and that's a pretty tangible goal for twin/full beds. A bit harder (nearing impossible) when you move up to Queen/King. There are some good suppliers out there but it will take years to get that supple feel unless you buy stonewashed (which I choose not to).

LOL Alex I do tend to forget that most people don't sleep in a twin like myself. Haha

As long as there is dirty laundry to be done, this forum will be relevant.

I am still here and I agree with what's said above but there is still life and hope and I am not leaveing anytime soon.......... xoxo

This is far and away my favorite GW forum because everyone here is nice and genuinely helpful. I have seen an unfortunate amount of impatience and belittling on other forums, but never here, so I hope this group stays strong. I have learned SO much here, and my whole house is better for it, so thank you all. I do think forum participation in general has dropped since the merge with Houzz, and I'm not sure why. I did prefer old GW, but have got used to this new one over the last couple of years. Everything changes! Why? Why???

Hi Alex! I know you're busy but do miss seeing you here.

I agree the laundry room isn't as active of late but I still do check it at least a few times daily, and contribute where I can.

I still read from time to time but unfortunately the smell of laundry, which once filled me with happiness, now makes me sicker than sick.... yay pregnancy nose! I've just recently moved back to the states and I was so excited about having my favorite products available to me again. I went to target to stock up and when I got to the detergent aisle, the smell hit me like a mack truck and I had to RUN for the bathroom. Currently the only detergent I can tolerate is All F&C powder and no LFS.

Andi, welcome back and take great care of yourself.

Well, I'm still a regular reader though not necessarily a regular poster, mostly because I don't have a lot to contribute as far as advice on certain subjects, but if I see a topic I have experience with, I will jump in and add my 2 cents. As far as the FB group, I left the group because I got my feelings hurt by a member over there, whether inadvertently or not, whether I'm over sensitive or not, (which I probably am).

Anyway-I'm around washing lots of beach and pool towels!

I'm new and don't have all that much to contribute, but I do when it's about something that has worked for me--which I usually learned from the folks on here! Ha! It's like I picked it up in the circle and passed it back into the circle!

Seriously, though, this kind of waxing and waning happens in many aspects of life. Then, if your tight with your folks, you all pick back up again where you left off. I don't worry too much about stuff like that. When you're tight, you're tight, and it always picks back up when it's a good time for everyone.

I did notice a slow down in this forum right about the time I joined on compared to archives. I thought to myself, just my luck! But since I had laundry issues that I figured had been beat to clean in the past, I found a lot of my answers in the archives. I had so much fun in there. Reading all of you guys' talking back and forth. It was a blessing to read all of that stuff.

I agree with another poster that there isn't much new on the product line and the machines are rather, well, what they are. Either great, good, mediocre or poor. I've had poor twice and now I have good. That's only my brand new washing machines. I had three hand me down top loaders before that and I always had super clean laundry because of them.I loved those machines...One 1970's Maytag, a 1980's Whirlpool and one 1990's Kenmore. All 3 machines had good and full lives before they were given to me and then I wore them to dust with all of my huge amounts of laundry between family and work.

Plus, I think most people are not 'into' laundry. I've never seen anyone's eyes light up at the mention of laundry detergent, or a washing machine, etc... Except for my own lol. I know the folks on here are like that, and thanks to the internet, we've all been breadcrumbed to this little laundry nook in cyberspace. I think of it as my little happy place. : )

Now, back to my load of white towels soaking in Tide with Bleach powder and STPP in a full tub of hot water in my Speed Queen. Hugs everyone!

Oh, I forgot to mention, since it seems like we could use a little more laundry talk, DH, back in the late 1980s bought me a used mini washer dryer set that we smuggled into our apt in SoCal. lol He and I had a lot of personal laundry and I had my tons of work laundry and jeeeezzz, the fortune I spent at the laundromat...we could of had a down payment on a house. Not to mention that people hog the washers with their stuff then leave for hours monopolizing all the machines. If you take the wet laundry out and put it on top of a dryer, you get yelled at by said inconsiderate person. If you leave it in there and wait for said inconsiderate to return in their own good time, you've lost a precious day of laundering on a day off from work. Either choice is the wrong one. It would make my blood boil.

He got me the mini machines and life was splendid. The washer was on wheels and I would push it over the carpet (yes. it was hard to do) through the hallway, through the living room, around a tight corner then squeeze it in front of the kitchen sink where the washer would hook onto the faucet. I did all my laundry there, in the kitchen, then late at night when it was all completed, I would push that washer back into the clothes closet where it lived with the dryer. I tied a pantyhose onto the back of the dryer and for some odd reason, we had a 2nd door in our closet that led to the only patio in the apt complex. I kept the door open when the dryer was running so the humid air has somewhere to go and viola! No more laundromat headaches and we saved a lot of money.

I think its because summertime, vacations, family events, Everyone isn't so confined indoors. Usually quites down a few times a year then picks up. The core group are always around to help and advise.

alex, i have a sferra classico linen bottom sheet on the bed now. couldnt use it before with bigger bed. its wonderful. new linoto set is not quite as thin but sumilar super smooth texture. will get another set when they run a special. its ivory. the sheeting varies in texture and source with color and supply. these are much finer than my first king set. same color. different goods. im not interested in the coarse textures myself.

Sea Sea,

Was your machine made by Hoover? I had one that hooked up to the kitchen sink. It was I guess semi-automatic. You used a hose to hand fill the tub, then it washed good and hard from a propeller that swirled the clothing vertically, not horizontally, although it was top loaded. Then you manually moved the clothing into the extractor (it was part of the same machine) which spun the heck out of them. Then you poured more water in via the hose and spun them until you were happy. It cleaned everything very well, better than the machines in the downstairs laundry.

We lived in a condo complex that did not allow regular washers in the condos, and this was a terrific work around for me. I loved that little machine!

I want one of those older portable washers, automatic, I'm sure this does not surprise any of you, or a wringer...I've found lots of wringers on Craigs list cheap, but if it doesn't work I'd have no clue how to fix it. Just a fun toy.

I'm still here MamaP0, and still having oversudsing problems. I'm using Borax and no more than 21/2 Tbs. of Tide F/G turbo or Tide w/bleach powder. Using the latter on towels, since bleach suddenly kills me. I'm not really into the different machines but I love all discussions on detergents, boosters, ect. Makes me want to try all the goodies, knowing most scents won't cut it anyway. LOL.

I am always using second rinse now, along with a long soak, and things are coming out clean and fresh. Just wish they would make a Tide with bleach unscented. It's much too sweet smelling.

Hi hisown,

My mini washing machine doesn't sound like the one you describe. Mine was fully automated with the exception of I had to plug it into an electrical socket after I pushed and pulled it into the kitchen and I had to hook the intake water tube to the kitchen faucet then I would set the faucet for the temperature I wanted to use for a cycle. It was just like a regular top loader from that time period, but about half the size. For example, to wash our king size sheets, I had to wash top sheet in one load, then fitted sheet in another load. It filled, agitated, drained and spun just like a regular top loader. When I say life was splendid with that washer, I really mean it : )

For my work laundry, it did take many loads to get a week's worth of towels, my aprons, client smocks, etc to get washed...pretty much an all day event because the capacity was half the usual size. I loved that I could soak my work laundry as much as I needed to with bleach or ammonia get them very clean rather than the laundromat washers which did not offer a soaking.

I don't remember for certain which brand the mini portable washer was, but I want to say it was a Maytag. But really, I'm relying on a fuzzy, long ago memory on that. I sold the w/d set to some lucky person when we moved to Nor Cal, and while I brought a hand me down full size w/d with me on that move, I did miss those machines very much. They were wonderful trouble-free work horses.

Your old semi-automatic washer sounds like a great machine too! I kind of wish more washers such as these were still made for people living in apt/condos that don't have w/d hook ups and don't fancy the whole communal laundry room/laundromat headaches.

Pink, thought someone was giving you a wringer but the hold up was family sickness. That's been a year or longer.

Sparky several months ago Mike talked to that guy, he got rid of the washer...I still keep kicking myself for waiting , but the man's wife was very ill so I didn't feel I should call him about a washer. The lady did pass away not too long ago.

Too bad but I certainly understand you not calling. Neither would I. Many things way more important than a washer.

I'm checking in after traveling for a month. Today I did 3 + loads and am babying my Bosch Nexxt 500's to keep on keeping on. A friend reminded me of Soil Love to try on some of DH's food stains. I had a bottle tucked back in the cabinet and it worked like a charm! From the 99cent store, who'd of thunk?