I have given some laundry tips over the years, but I recently got one of those new-fangled High Efficiency washers, so I hadda learn some new tricks. The suggestions I am making are specifically for HE washers but the same techniques can be employed for regular washers or regular frontloaders.

• Soak soiled items in a bucket of water for several hours to loosen and dissolve the crud, but no more than overnight. A scoop of OxyClean (or equivalent) is a great idea! Cold water soaking is better than hot because the hot water will lock in odors and will also "set" stains.

• Using gloves, load the soaked items into the washer and set it to spin. This will release most of the nasty soak water, etc. For REALLY badly soiled items, do a spin then a rinse/spin.

• Use Charlie's Soap http://www.charliesoap.com/
You may be able to find it locally, but since I cannot get out often to shop and look around for stuff, I ordered mine off the net. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. You won't believe how LITTLE it takes!! Even less than HE detergents. Charlie's soap has NO fragrance at all and contains only washing soda, sodium silicate and coconut oil based detergents. The ONLY error on their FAQ is about adding bleach after the rinse - they guy told me he needs to change that. Add bleach when you normally add it.

• STOP using dryer sheets. They contain wax that not only builds up on towels and clothing making them less absorbant and attracting more soil, the residue also traps odors.

• Instead of fabric softener (unnecessary with Charlie's soap - only for fragrance), try mixing skin-safe fragrance oil or a few drops of essential oil with water, shake it up and put a tablespoonful of it in the fabric softener dispenser or ball. Skin-safe fragrance oils and essential oils (used for soapmaking, cosmetics and candles) are available online. If anyone needs a list of recommended suppliers, PM me and I'll send you some links. A 1 ounce sample ($2-3) will last for many loads as you only use a very small amount - 1/8 teaspoonful of FO or a few drops of EO per 6-8 oz. of water - more is NOT better!).

• Always wash warm or hot and rinse warm or cold. Use the "heavy soil" cycle if your washer has one. A second rinse is imperative to really get rid of the odors.

• LOOK at the items when you remove them. If they still have an odor or are stained, run them through again. DO NOT put stained smelly stuff in the dryer as the heat will lock in the odors and set the stains, making them VERY difficult to remove.

• Drying "bad" laundry in the sun helps to sanitize and remove odors. The laundry will not be as soft as if you put it in the dryer, but the sun will help remove any residual stubborn odors. I do this with large items like bedspreads and blankets. You can also put them in the dryer for a few moments to soften.

• OxyClean (or generic equivalent) is your best friend. If you can find powdered Biz, it contains enzymes that are great on organic stains like urine, feces, blood, grass stains, etc. Use bleach to sanitize soiled items.

• Do not wash heavily soiled items with items that are less soiled. No sense in spreading the smells...

• Do not wash your loved one's soiled stuff with your regular wash. Not only can it transfer odors to your normal clothing, it can also transfer germs. Bleaching is very important to kill germs! My HE washer does not have a sanitizer so I can't personally vouch for the efficiency of them, but MariaBee says hers does a good job.

• For regular washers, you may need to increase the amounts given above because of the greater volume of water.
• NEVER never never overload the washer. It's a waste of time because even washing twice won't clean as well as not putting so much in there in the first place.

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Do YOU have some great laundry tips? If so, please add them here!!

Good tips.
One thing I did and continue to do is wash my clothes baskets.They carry the dirty and soiled clothes so they carry germs that can be transfered to the clean clothes.I put them in the shower.Spray them and then rinse them good and allow them to dry.