[pennywise]

Hy Tango, my daughter is jealous of your cat! She loves cats!

I have read this with great interest. I too was baffled by the vinegar/baking soda. The baking soda says to add with the detergent at the start of the wash. The vinegar goes in with the rinse. SooooOOOOO I did it this morning. My clothes came out great. Thank you all who have contributed to my education!!!! I added 1/2 the detergent and 1/2 the soda. I filled and let agitate for a few to get all clothes in. I have always allowed for at least 1.5 hour soak time, then run the washer. I used my downy ball for the vinegar so I did not have to TIME the machine. Another thing I did was key in vinegar use in the search engine, wow, lots of uses. Oh, and I was further lucky because my grocer has gallon vinegar 1.69 this week, normally 2.99 - so I stocked up. I knew about vinegar as a cream rinse for hair because my mother did that. Check it out. Again, thanks for the good conversation.