This week's Works for Me Wednesday is backwards. Instead of ME imparting my vast knowledge of everything* on you, I ask you for help.
I grew up in a desert climate. This meant you could wad up your towel into a ball and leave it somewhere and it would likely just dry out and not end a smelly mildewy musty disaster. Now that I'm living in a
swamp very humid place I have been having issues with musty laundry. I figured out if I wash stuff on hot that takes a lot of the yuck out, but I have a lot of clothes that aren't hot water friendly and doing all my laundry on hot is not electricity bill friendly. I started putting vinegar in the rinse cycle and that's helped a bit but it seems like after I get wearing my stuff the smell starts to make it's way back, especially if I get wet (which happens a lot here).
So, my question is this: What do you do to get musty gross stubborn smells from your laundry?
Check out more backwards
Works for Me Wednesday and pass on your smarts there too!
*Haha, April Fools. I don't know everything, just almost everything!
12 comments:
I don't know how to get the smell out, but I do know how to NOT get the smell in! The trick is to leave everything out so that it can air dry before being wadded up in the laundry. I know this sounds like a DUH moment - but I installed hooks in a lot of spots around the house, so that towels and bathing suits and damp clothes could be hung up to dry. Then the next morning, the clothes should be dry and I just gather them up and stuff them into the hamper.
If you don't have Air Conditioning, then the drying process might not fully happen - so you might want to just hang everything up and then at the end of the day - toss all of it into the dryer for 10 minutes or so before you put it into the hamper.
A tablespoon of vinegar in the rinse cycle works wonders.
I wish I found something to get that smell out. I had that problem too and posted about how I dealt with it. I hope you find a good solution for your items that can't handle hot water or vinegar.
Vinegar in the rinse cycle does work, but try adding baking soda, too! Just be sure to mix them over the open washing machine...you probably know that vinegar and baking soda have a volcano effect when mixed! The vinegar (I use about a half cup of white vinegar to a tablespoon of baking soda) will soften the clothes and the baking soda should help with the smell. Good luck!
PS--my aunt is named Mub, but it is short for Marilyn. You are only the second Mub I've ever heard about!
Hmmm, I have never even heard of this problem. A quandary, that's what it is. It looks like you have lots of people who are super smart, I hope something works for you. And if I am ever in a similar circumstance, I will know who to call on for help!
P.S. I would have fun with the baking soda and vinegar. I might try that just for fun anyways! A volcano in your washer.
I'm terrible at letting things go musty.
First thing I try is just hang to it outside. Even if it's raining. Then throw it into the dryer if wet/still musty. I put in a bounce sheet [www.uk.pg.com] in bad cases.
I've not yet had to try the vinegar trick (which to be honest I'd probably do in the bathroom wash basin or a plastic bowl rather then in the machine itself).
I frequently forget laundry in the washer and it begins to smell awful. I use vinegar, and lots of it! If you washer has a dispenser for fabric softener, I put 1/2 a cup of vinegar in there. And I can't imagine any item that can't take vinegar. My lingerie shop even suggested you use vinegar to help remove detergent residue when you was things on cold.
Now one time I had a pair of jeans where the vinegar just wasn't working. I added baking soda to the wash cycle and the vinegar as usual. Together they worked great.
Oh, and I always wash everything on cold.
Hope that helps :-)
Oh, and thanks for visiting my blog!
Mub,
Thanks for visiting Heaven In The Home and commenting on the Dino Eggs post.
Go right ahead and make your own dino eggs! Fun food shouldn’t just be for kids. Thanks for stopping by!
BTW Vinegar really works for me to get that nasty musty smell out of clothes. I just put in in my washer with my laundry soap.
What a pain! I haven't had that problem though. I usually lay towels out to dry before I toss them in the hamper. I've always done that, so here isn't different for me. I hope you can get the smell out.
How are you? *Hugs*
Wow, looks like vinegar is the winner from the crowd! Hope it works, I may try it with our running clothes just to freshen them. I use it in my dishwasher but haven't ever tried it in the washing machine...we'll see!
-kristen
Yeah, I had that problem too, but I have switched to powdered detergent, cheapest kinds work great, and there hasnt't been any smell for me. Hope this works for you!
Just happened on this post while I was lurking around your site--I've lived almost all of my life in humid climates, and I do two things to keep clothes from getting funky. First has already been mentioned--hang up everything damp and let it dry before putting it in your dirty clothes container. And 2nd--get the wet clothes out of the washer as soon after it finishes as you can, and either put them in the dryer or hand them to dry. My hubs used to complain about his work clothes smelling once he got hot and started sweating--I was bad about washing them at night and not drying till the next morning--now we take them out of the washer right away, and it doesn't happen.
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