There I was, on the hunt for a bargain again, at the weekend. I do have a family to cater for, after all, and its darned expensive!

This weekend, as I plodded around my local Morrissons, looking for my usual fabric softener I spotted one of those delightfully inviting big red signs that said "Special Offer". Woohoo - my first bargain of the day. After taking a closer look I found that it was actually different from my usual Lenor conditioner - I usually use the one that is kind to sensitive skin, and there are so many scents to choose from. This was Lenor Stay Fresh with Febreze technology. Interesting, I thought (with little finger at corner of mouth). And at only 87p for 2ltrs as opposed to its usual price of £1.35, I bought three of them!

***WHAT IT IS***

It was the Febreze Technology that interested me with this product. Not because we're a little wiffy, I was just curious. Febreze can be quite handy to have around the house when you've got children bringing their recently digested food back onto your lovely new cream sofa and you want to get rid of the smell! And Lenor usually does a fairly good job in making my laundry all soft and sweet smelling. So a combination of the two can only be good. This "technology" is actually a coat of armour if you like; it's supposed to guard against the likes of cigarette smoke and food smells clinging to your clothes throughout the day.

***TIME TO USE IT***

So, Monday morning arrives and its time to do my washing. I separate my whites and bung them in the washing machine, add the powder and then read the instructions on the bottle of Lenor. It states that for large loads (not me - the washing load, tsk!) you add a capful and a half, for regular loads you add a capful, and for hand washing you add a half capful. Easy enough.

I'm used to my fabric conditioners being a very pale colour but not this one. It's the colour of t
he bottle, which is a very bright green/blue colour. I was a little concerned at this as I didn't want my lovely whites turning a funny green colour, but it didn't have any warnings on the bottle so I just made sure my measurements were correct (32-28-38, oops...wrong ones) and tipped a capful into the dispenser. And you just know something's gonna happen don't you! Gosh you're very clever, read on!

****RESULTS TIME****

Round and round my whites go. I take this opportunity to change a seriously foul smelling nappy and have a cup of coffee, and an hour later dash on over to the washing machine to check the results.

I opened the door and to my utter delight the most heavenly scent wound its way up my nostrils, like a gentle breeze on a summers day. I grabbed all the clothes and studied the results. First I checked the workshirts, and to my relief, no trace of green anywhere (other than the breast pocket and I keep telling him to use a tissue but he just won't listen). When I got to the thicker cotton items like a bath towel and half a dozen of Rachels t-shirts, I noticed to my horror that indeed it looked like I'd left a pair of dark socks in the wash. They had a hue to them, the colour of the conditioner.

****WHAT DO I DO NOW?****

I decided to leave them to dry and check them again afterwards. Sure enough, the colour was still there. I read the bottle label and noticed that it was manufactured by Procter and Gamble UK, and they also had a freephone number (0800-3288304) for any queries.

I spoke to a fairly helpful lady and explained the problem. She hadn't heard of it before but took the batch number from the bottle, and some details from me, and suggested I purchase a whitening product like Dylon to get rid of the excess colour. I put the phone down not really thinking about what she had said, but this morning I woke up in a rage (and that was nothing to do with being k
ept awake for three hours by a screaming child!). I didn't think it was right that I had to go out and spend money on another product to repair the damage that had been done by their product. So I called them again and spoke to a much nicer lady who assured me that if I washed them again without any detergent or conditioner, they should be restored to their original colour. If not, then they would consider reimbursing me for the cost of the items affected. And in the post this morning was a £5 voucher to spend on any Procter and Gamble laundry-related product - result!

****CONCLUSION****

I put them back into the wash this morning and this has worked a treat, but unfortunately it still doesn't help me out. You see the trouble is, I really like this product but the only way I can keep using it is if either I add only the tiniest drop to the dispenser, or put the affected clothes on another rinse cycle after normal washing. What a predicament! I do think I'll keep using it as the clothes are so very soft and the scent lingers all day, although if its something that's going to be worn for a couple of days the scent will disappear.

At the end of the day, I wasn't asking for Geri Halliwell to give up trying to play celebrity and move to the US for good (although if she were to be reading this and she did take my advice, I would be most appreciative, thanks). I wasn't even asking for Enrique Iglesias to come do some naked ironing with me, although he would have if I'd have asked him you know. I just wanted my whites to stay white, but with a guard that would protect me from carrying around that infamous scent Eau De Baby Poop all day. So my advice would be to give it a go whilst its on offer; you may get lucky and not be affected. Hey ho, we can't have everything, I suppose...