My laundry always seem to not have that fresh clean smell, it's musty. I use All and Bounce dryer sheets. What do you use in order to get the fresh clean smell.
It's city water and we have ran a load of bleach through the washer to make sure it was clean.
Thank you for all your advice.. I will try the vinegar and see how that works.
Hi L.,
I used to have this problem also, I started adding Borax in with every load and now the laundry comes out smelling FRESH and my towels are fluffier than ever!
I didn't read the other responses to forgive me if someone already recommended this. Clorox actually makes a washing machine cleaner. It definitely helped make my washing machine smell better.
Run a load without any clothes with just vinegar. Do that once, maybe twice and then leave the lid open to let it dry. Also when you wash your normal clothes, leave the lid open till it's dry. Don't leave your wet clothes in the washer, take them out immediately so they aren't sitting wet. If the problem still happens, keep doing the vineger treatment inbetween washes, it should clear it up.
I used to have that musty smell on my towels and sheets. I started adding abouta cup of white vinegar to the wash, along with soap and softener, and no more mustiness. Unless of course the kids don't put the towels in the dryer when they should.
Dryer sheets are so bad for your dryer. They coat it and will ruin it. Instead, pour some white vinegar into your washer in the fabric softener holder. You can add a couple of drops of essential oil (lemon or lavender, or whatever you like) for a nice scent. Your clothes will not smell like vinegar, but will be soft and have a fresh scent. If you have smelly towels, this method will make them fresh again.
could it be the water you wash the clothes in?
Add vinegar and/or baking soda to the wash with the clothes. We had the same problem a few years ago when I accidentally left a load in for a few days and it grew musty/mildewy.
All the advice I found was to run the load with white vinegar in place of bleach (even Clorox 2), and after a few runs, it really neutralized the problem. Some clothes were beyond salvage, but most came out just fine and saved us a ton of money.
I use Melaleuca laundry detergent. I loooove it, and it works very well. It's also biodegradeble and doesn't have nasty chemicals in it. I'd love to help you get some, if you'd like.
www.livetotalwellness.com/joycita
I would add some baking soda in with your regular laundry detergent. The bounce dryer bars that you put in the dryer work well and would save you money on dryer sheets.
Look up Charlie's Soap! It's the best laundry soap I have ever used. I used Melaleuca for 5 years and it can't even compare to Charlie's soap. It's the most natural laundry soap I have ever used and it's so cheap! I buy mine on amazon.com .
This laundry soap makes clothing so fresh that you never have to use dryer sheets, fabric softener, vinegar or bleach to deorderize.
Wow...great advice you got here. Once you are sure you don't have a problem with your washer, switch to fabric softner instead of dryer sheets. We just did this about 2 months ago and couldn't believe the difference! Everything smells so good and feels so soft. I would follow the other advice to make sure everything is working properly and is clean.
Good luck!
I also use ammonia or white vinegar to clean out the inside of the washer. I found that for a booster to clean heavy soiled items is Gain with Frebreeze, Arm and Hammer Washing Soup (very inexpensive) about a 1/2 cup for a full load and 1/4th cup of Borax (inexpensive). Every one comments on how clean and bright my clothes are and want to my secret.. I don't use it in every time I wash, but when clothes are looking dingy or the clothes washer can use a good cleaning. Hope this helps.
HI L.,
Most detergents remove dirt and then in the rinse and spin cycle the dirt redeposits on the clothes. I use a chlorine free/phosphate free detergent that actually has the technology to keep the grime from redepositing. Rinsing never removes chlorine residues. Those residues can also hold odors as well. The dryer sheets you use simply puts a "perfume" coating on the clothes. It does not remove any underlying odors. When the perfume is not strong enough to cover it, the odor simply comes through.
Natural enzymes are the only things that can cut through odors.
Hope this helps!
M.
dynamo has a great scent.. it works for me.
Is it a top or a front loader? Front loaders are notorious for getting mold/mildew in the gasket. Follow your manufacturer's instructions for cleaning it. If it is a top loader, I suspect that it isn't fully draining and/or a sock or something has slipped under the tub and is probably mildewing. (We had a washer repaired one time and there were like 3 socks under the tub-- ugh). I guess when the machine is really full they can kinda float up and over the side.
Anyway, the first thing I would check is that your washer is level. Get a level and make sure it is level front to back and side to side. If not, there should be little feet to adjust on the bottom to make it level. What I do is every now and again, relevel the machine and put it back on "spin" and then pull the drain hose out of the drain pipe to see if more water comes out (usually there is still some in there if the machine has been out of level). And I always leave my lid open when the machine is not in use.
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but we add 1/2 cup of baking soda for every regular load (1/4 for small, 3/4 for large) - it takes out all kinds of nasty odors from my husband's manual labor job (like grease, plastics, emollients, etc) and everything just comes out fresh (no extra deoderants or perfumes). We love it.
Good luck!
Try a load with hot water & Vinegar then let it dry out with the door open
Personally, I use Tide with Febreeze, and bounce dryer sheets. GOOD LUCK!!!
All good suggestions here. I'd also "google" your washing machine model and see if there have been problems with it re musty smells....
I use soapnuts in my laundry. I have a front loader and when I was using Tide and any other commercial detergent they just build up and coat the fibers of the clothing. That is what most detergents are made to do. My front loader no longer smells like it did when I was using commercial stuff. You can buy Affresh to help clean the front loader.
Also because it's summer are you leaving your clothes in the washer for long periods of time where they can get hot? This will leave them smelling bad as well when you go and put them into the dryer
My clothes used to do the same thing when we were using Tide & Gain. I would never think clothes would smell with those types of detergents and I would try all of the differnt scents hoping one of them would have a good smell to the clothes when all was done but no matter which scent we tried, the smell was always there.
So I switched to Purex, (any scent but I love the Lavender & Mountain Breeze) and never had any problems since. Sometimes if my clothes get left in the washer too long, I'll notice a smell and re-wash that peticular load but even when I did that with the other detergents the smell wouldn't completely go away but haven't had that problem at all with Purex.
P.S. I typically buy any dryer sheets that are on sale but right now I'm using the Gain sheets and those are great, the Suavitels are good too, and cheap. : )
Good luck.
