I decided to try it. I had a load of whites ready to go today from all of the cleaning I did yesterday, and they were quite nasty, especially the kitchen towels...
I had a load from yesterday that I used my normal amount of bleach for comparison. I normally use 2 cups of bleach to keep them as white as possible...
I took this nasty dirty load of towels and washed them using one cup of ammonia in place of the 2 cups of bleach I normally use. Added blueing like normal (which I also used on the other load) and tossed them in the dryer.
I was amazed. The ammonia-washed towels were whiter and brighter than the bleach-washed ones! I took pictures of them and showed them to a friend of mine and she agreed: the bleached towels look much older and harsher used, despite the fact that the towels are the same age and had been washed the same until today, when I experimented with using ammonia in the wash.
I am going to post some pictures so that you can see for yourself. The kitchen towels are all about 3 years old and have suffered heavy abuse. The washcloths are about 2 years old if that, because I just bought a new pack this spring. All of my whites get washed the same way with 2 cups of bleach and have been washed that way since I eliminated paper towels from our house.
The bleached towels have a bit of a yellow tint to them despite the blueing used. According to Barbara, "The ones on the right [bleached ones] are just marginally okay, they are gray and darker, with more staining. They look grungy in the photo, especially in contrast with the ammonia wash." She even asked if the ammonia-washed towels were newer, or perhaps less stained than the bleach-washed ones...
Here are some photos. See for yourself..
I called the local Wal-Mart for ammonia pricing. Here in Western KY the current price for 2 quarts of ammonia is $1.12, so for three quarts, the equivalent of a standard bleach bottle the price is $1.68. Cheap bleach sells around here for around $1.75 for three quarts while name-brand bleach is closer to the $2 mark. This makes ammonia less expensive than bleach, especially when you use only a single cup of it compared to the two cups of bleach I was using per load.
Note: Dollar General sells the same sized bottle of bleach for $1 a bottle, which reduces the cost even more...
I'm not sure, but I have heard that ammonia is safer environmentally than bleach. I know it is safe for colors, while bleach is not...
I'm kinda happy that I found that bottle of ammonia under my sink. I know I'm glad I didn't just toss it after this discovery!