Works For Me: BACKWARDS Edition

Today is another BACKWARDS edition of Works-For-Me Wednesday, in which you present a dilemma to your readers and get their best ideas. 

So, here's the deal.  I own a portfolio of collateralized debt obligations, delta-hedged, using the ABX index.  Since volatility has increased in the last year, the portfolio has under-performed, due to the negative convexity of the bonds.  How would you remedy this situation, and what underlying risks do you see in this financial strategy?

Oh, y'all.  I am SO kidding.  That was the question Hubs suggested. 

Mine?  Is about socks.

Guess which one of us scored higher on the SAT?

Anyhoo, back to the socks.  After just a handful of washings, ours always end up gray.  I have tried bleaching--even soaking in bleach--and I can never get them all pearly white again.  Is there some trick I'm missing?  Is there something else you can wash dingy socks in to make them all pretty?

Give me your best go at sock advice (or bond market volatility, whichever floats your boat).

Play along at your own blog, too.  Post your dilemma(s), and let your readers weigh in.  Then put your link below, using the guidelines. 

Was your link deleted?  Click here.

(Please note:  To keep away the spammers, links will close at 8 pm CST.)

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Comments

[Wife and Mommy]

Have you tried turning up your hot water heater to a higher temperature? I find when I really need to do some heavy duty laundry, having very hot water helps a lot. Good luck!

[Jenny]

Hubs is a funny guy.

So many people are talking about Oxy-Clean that I think I'll have to try it out myself!

My question today is about sibling squabbles. Surely some of your readers have some great advice for me!

Thanks for hosting, Shannon!

[Carrie]

That's a dilemma I face as well! Well, my biggest sock dilemma is getting PAIRS of socks from washer to dryer to dresser drawers. Where do those missing socks go?!!?

Anyway, I was also going to suggest OxyClean or adding baking soda to the wash.

Good luck and fingers crossed for whiter socks!

[Shelby]

I have the best way.... 1 cup bleach, 1 cup powdered dishwasher detergent (i know weird) but it works. Add these to your washing machine, fill with water, mix a little to dissolve. Add WHITE clothes (undies, socks etc) Soak for approx 20 minutes but no more than 35 or so. Continue cycle then wash again regular. The whitest whites you have ever seen. Don't let them soak too long as you will end up with holey clothes. HTH.

[Missy]

Your blog is great!! I am just starting out and am finding alot of great blogs!! Thanks

[Momof4]

I saw that someone suggested OxiClean, and that does work well on a lot of things. You can also presoak in Borax, or just add it to the water before the clothes. Short of that, I suggest flip-flops. That's what we do during most of the year. Great site!

[marigold]

Shannon, definitely try vinegar! It's worked for us!

[rachel @ badgersontheloose]

Looks like Oxi Clean is the way to go.

[Chelsea]

Bleach = BAD.
Oxiclean = GOOD.
Water softener + Oxiclean = BEST.

[Jesse]

I also say to try the Oxi clean. Seriously. Now, don't anyone freak, but I used it to soak my mother's wedding dress for my wedding (it was ivory, had darkened - bad packaging)...and believe it or not, it came out looking EXACTLY like when she'd gotten it. She had been disappointed, and she was so shocked that I got it back to the original color that she MADE me tell her how I did it (I was afraid to! *grin* ), and since then, she uses Oxiclean to get my dad's whites (he works on the railroad) back to perfect white. Works every time!

[Jesse]

PS. Works on colors, too

[Steph T. (Serenity Now! Serenity Now!)]

Oxy Clean - know its been said but I have to say it again! :)

And feel free to remove me from Mr. Linky...I managed to SCREW UP...and linked to a post that no longer exists...sigh.

Sorry!!!!!!

Maybe I should "start" drinking! I am definately backwards though!

[Jenn]

This might be a repeat as there's no way I have time to scan all the comments to see if someone else posted the same idea.

I recently tried a stain recipe out of the Tightwad Gazette when even Oxi-Clean didn't help and it worked great. My husband's very nasty yardwork socks came out white and beautiful and some baby clothes with "hopeless" food and diaper related stains look new again.

Mix 1 cup color safe bleach and 1 cup powdered Cascade dishwashing detergent with 5 gallons of the hottest water that comes out of your tap. Soak several hours or overnight and wash as usual.

[Amy]

I just recently switched all of my cleaning supplies. My whites have never been brighter and there are NO CHEMICALS in these products. I even had a onesie from my baby that had gotten stained up the back (if ya know what I mean!!) and I sprayed it with my chemical-free spot remover and washed it in my non-chlorine colorsafe whitener/brightener and it came out looking BRAND NEW!! If you would like more info on this, please feel free to email me. I would love to share it with you.

[Amy]

I think the real problem with your socks is that they are probably a poly-cotton blend. Polyester won't respond to bleach (or oxy-clean, for that matter). My advice: as you replace socks, buy 100 percent cotton.

[Lynette]

This happened to my MIL several years ago but all of her whites started to turn a little grayish. It turned out that she had been using too much Downey and it had built up a lovely gunk on the inside of the tub part of the machine. The repairman had to take it apart and take it to the car wash to clean it.

Good luck!

[Jen]

I was so lost when you first started talking. Too Funny! I just use Borax.

[Laney]

As for the socks, I just cover them up with my shoes so no one can see the dirt. And when they've worn down to nothing but the elastic above my ankle, I throw them out and buy new.

On the investment portfolio, I say hold it and buy more if you can. Most collateral items have gone down in value in the past few months. But I predict a strong rebound in early 2009. So sit tight. ;-)

[Bekah]

Wow, I can't believe I didn't see this elsewhere in the comments- Bluing once every couple of months works like a charm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_(fabric)

I use Mrs. Stewarts personally, but that's because it's what the grocery had handy when I finally broke down and bought it.

I seperate out all of the whites, follow the directions on the bottle and bingo. I had a pair of shirts that were a light cream and a light pink- after a year of washing I couldn't tell them apart- not to mention all the grey underwear and socks. I figured bluing couldn't make them any worse- they came out beautiful and distinctly pink and cream- and all the whites came out much brighter.

Highly recommend! it's an old fashioned kind of remedy =)

[aunt mommy]

Calgon - your water might be hard.

[Country Mommie]

I'm buying me some OXI CLEAN!

[michelle]

My no-fail solution (besides buy new socks)? Wash a load of only socks. Use as much Tide & water as you would for a full load of jeans or towels or whatever. Socks actually come clean with this method in our house. And we have nasty farm-dirt, little boy-dirt in our house!

[Martha Huff]

Aspirin...I got this tip at work, tried it,and it ROCKS!!!

Start wash with hot water, drop two aspirin the basin. Add bleach as usual. Cheap, off brand aspirin works FABULOUSLY!

I did this the other night with our dishtowels. I let them soak for about 15 mins before I let the wash cycle start...they came out white as new!

Love you!
M

[Carrie]

Sorry if I've double posted...I just changed my blog name and needed to update here. I hope I didn't mess up anything!

[Monica]

If your whites are completely white, then you can use Blueing. It is the MOST AMAZING product. Nurses used to use it back in the day, before they wore scrubs. You can find it in the Laundry aisle. It's usually with the stain treatment items.

Follow the package directions about diluting it in water before adding it to the wash.

I promise you the grey will be gone, gone, gone.

Oh, and if you get any info on the hedge fund, post it will you???

[Tina in Thailand]

Sorry if someone has already suggested this, there are too many comments already to check! :)
Fels-Naptha soap (the yellow kind) is a wonderworker.
While we were in missionary training, we used it during our time at 'jungle camp'. I was shocked to see how clean it got our socks after there were so grimy and nasty from the mud and muck. They were cleaner than we we arrived at camp! Of course they were also two feet long from being washed by hand and then run through a wringer. :) Oh well, can't have everything, right?
Anyways, the only place I have found the soap is at a Cenex style feed and farm supply store, or of course online. The bars are quite inexpensive, and the soap is a hard soap so it lasts a long time. Just rub a bit of on the stain or trouble area or use a toothbrush to get it in good, and throw it in the wash.

[Rachele]

Since I got deleted and improperly posted I thought I would put mine here for now and promise like a good girl to do it next time. (sob sob, wimper wimper)

http://abidingbranch.blogspot.com/2008/09/fit-to-be-dri-dri-fit-anyway.html

[Sherry]

I've hit the same problem & here's my solution...

I do only whites together with super hot water & use Tide (powder) adding the bleach (chlorox) after 5 mnis of washing. The other options is to put your clothes in on the soak/pre-treat cycle of your washer using only detergent, then wash them using detergent & bleach. I also use borox & oxyclean as needed, depending on the stains, color, etc...

I wear "peds" & Crocs @ work (am a RN) & find the color of the Crocs comes off on my white "peds". So, I have resorted to ALL of the above to get the color stain out & it has worked.

[Lise]

To whiten the socks - I use Borax in my wash. It is in the box with the mules on it - called 20 mule team Borax (or something like that) it is on the laundry soap aisle - usually on the top shelf. It helps your laundry soap out and BOOSTS it's power.
I use it every time I wash whites and they NEVER get dull.

[Alison]

How about old-fashioned bluing? It's that little blue bottle on the top shelf in the laundry aisle. That stuff rules for whites! Why blue? Who knows. It works.

[Laura]

I know the answer to this because it happened to me! All of my whites ended up gray and I found out it's because of hard water. Bleach used with hard water makes whites gray. If you have hard water, don't use the bleach. Use Oxy Clean. It works. The stuff you have that's already gray might not turn white again. There is a product put out by Rit that turns your whites back to white. Otherwise, buy new socks and throw away the bleach.

[Polka Dot Mommy]

Since you do use bleach and therefore, are not afraid of a little chemical assistance, I would recommend an overnight soak in a washer filled with water, 2 scoops of oxy-clean and 2 oz of liquid detergent. If you use powder detergent be sure to dissolve fully before adding clothes (same with oxy clean).

For a natural option- mix 1/2 cup baking soda, 2 oz all natural liquid laundry soap (or castile liquid soap) and 1 cup hydrogen peroxide. Add clothes and soak overnight. Wash as normal. If clothing has gone through the dryer it will be difficult to get them white again, but this works great to keep them white!

Cheers!
Jamie

[SarahMay]

Our whites don't turn grey, they turn ecru. Off-white. Somewhere between beige and yellow. And I use bleach! (I tried OxyClean, too, and it didn't make ANY difference.)I thought I was just a bad housewife until my mother-in-law (a saint!) pointed out that it was from iron and rust in our water.

So now every once in awhile I use a product call Iron-Out. Follow the package directions, because otherwise it doesn't work correctly! You'll have to run the load twice--once with Iron-Out, and once with your regular detergent. But the difference is dramatically beautiful!

[GiBee]

I'm sure ii has been mentioned, but have you tried bluing???

[Christy]

Oxi-Clean
Tide
Clorox II

[The Bargain Shopper Lady]

Convert them to a mop. Old socks make the world's best mops. I promise! Here's a pic: http://bargainshopperlady.com/2008/08/03/i-may-have-found-the-perfect-mop/