Ok, since this post is resurrected and I am a nurse and also a clean freak, I'll weigh in here. Yes, the CDC recommends just soap and water. Actually, soap and water OR hand sanitizer is what we use in the hospital to kill germs on our hands. FYI, The only thing that doesn't get killed with sanitizer on your hands, according to our continuing education on infection control is C-Diff. Guess what you use for that one? Good ole soap and water. Yup, soap and water is even better than sanitizer in some cases! As for surfaces in the hospital, its bleach or cavi-wipes (not sure what's in those, some chemical you can't buy at home, I think. Bleach is the only thing to use on C-diff, once again, but bleach will kill everything else you run into in a hospital. That being said, if you or a family member is immuno- compromised then take extra measures at home or if you are like me and work in a hospital, it doesn't hurt to be extra cautious. When I wash clothes, I am both protecting myself from patients and also protecting them from anything floating around my house, so it warrants the most stringent measures I know of. I take extra measures I wash my uniforms separately in HOT water, even though they are dark blue. Yes they do fade and wear out faster, but that's the trade off I will take. Think of that next time your nurse has a faded uniform. Also, my new washer has a sanitize feature that steams the clothes. I plan on using that with my uniforms and anything my pets (or family) may have an accident on. I just would not feel comfortable relying on vinegar, or peroxide or even store bought sanitizer, in those cases, especially when the hospital is using bleach. As for the original OP's question, my son is grown but I never put him into any dress clothes I couldn't wash in hot water until he was old enough to be fully potty trained and then some. After that, well, he didn't get sick much and I'm known, even now, for throwing any clothing out that I can't soak the poop, blood or vomit out of and then follow with a wash in super hot water in the washer. The rare fragile fabric that you mentioned that gets stained, yea, if I can't sanitize it in hot water after an accident, I throw out. I think I got over putting my son in expensive baby clothes really quick. One word...onesies, lots of them. Cheap, comfy, cute and disposable, if need be. :)) Also, peroxide does do a fantastic job of getting blood out of clothes, but I never use it as a sanitizer in clothes. It would have to be something like a gallon of peroxide in the wash to be any kind of germ killer. I do pour it directly on blood spots alternating it with some sort of spot lifter like Oxy Max and luke warm water (body temp) . I've been doing this for years, even on lacy fragile fabrics ( if ya know what I mean, ladies) and that combo is what usually works, Try to treat blood as soon as you can. The longer it sits, the more it sets in. Oxy Max will eventually eat up your fabrics too, by the way.

I'm not really sure of the answer, but I know exactly what you're talking about. All of my baby washcloths got disgusting and gray no matter what I did with them. I even tried soaking with some bleach overnight once and it didn't take it out. I eventually decided it must have something to do with the baby soap because when I later switched to using a regular mild bar soap and bought some new washcloths, the gray didn't come back. Of course I don't know for sure that was the case. I was using Purex laundry detergent in a regular top loading machine at the time. I tried Biokleen detergent once and wasn't satisfied with it's cleaning at all personally, but I'm not sure that it has anything to do with your washcloth problem. The Purex I used was fine on all my other laundry...even got my cloth diapers clean. GL!

To David 28. Sorry, sodium hydroxide is a lubricant and does lubricate seals and bearing in a top load washer. It is water soluable. I also read in a student textbook concerning Diesel engine oil, that sodium is or was used as an additional lubricant. Just previously they used carbon in motor oil to reduce friction. It was discontinued decades ago. Why I do not know, I am not in the oil business. Doing laundry is personal and I report what I see and did. Sodium hydroxide is excellent for laundry. No detergent is required and no bleach. I use 5 Gram sodium hydroxide dissolved in cold water before adding to hot water in the washer, before adding clothes. It removes most if not all body oil enbedded in clothes and makes soap. Bleach is not required as the pH of sodium hydroxide at the start with fresh sodium, 14.0 pH and is far above bleach. If one is nervous with this chemical, one can use sodium carbonate that requires 15 gram/laundry load and no detergent or bleach and does almost as well as sodium hdroxide. There is no smell to the laundry after washing with these chemicals, laundry smells like brand new out of your favorite clothing store. What makers of these chemicals FAIL to mention concerning these two chemicals, is storage must be in air right containers or else oxygen in the air will render sodium useless. This also includes HTH powdered bleach, calcium hypochlorate as used in swimming pools. Store in air tight containers! Use about 50 grams of powdered bleach per 4 liter water to make a gallon of bleach. I have done this for years and never had a problem except I failed to store it properly and it did a lot of damage to metal. Keep it stored in air tight containers! The original OEM containers are useless except for shipping. I do not buy bleach any longer. If I do need bleach I use sodium carbonate! Cheaper and excellent! Almost any chemical above a pH of 7.0 can be used in laundry. The current price of detergent makes me shiverrrrr.

LoL Sparky..yes some of us get to involved lol. I wouldn't have to do overnight soaks, but with a 6&7 yo grandsons ( I'm raising) there's always juice, koolaid, pizza, and numerous other crud on their clothes that I have to do long soaks. Than my 34 yo son likes to drop clothes off once in a while that lord are so dingy they need to go in a rag bag. Little story..my son dropped off a bunch of stained and brownish grey white tank tees ( wife beaters) that he works in, anyway I soaked for a week in hot water, biz, and tide/ bleach changing the water ect 2 times a day, when I was done they were gleaming white...a few days ago I seen him and ask why he was working in one of his good tees he said ** mom I don't know which ones are work shirts anymore they all look the same** I think this is one reason I am obsessed with laundry, its a challenge, and at my age I don't have many challanges...lol