I live in a warm place, so when a laundry item is wet, it often makes mildew spots on the clothes next to it if it waits more than a couple of days to be laundered. These little spots are black and are usually caused by food. I use oxyclean routinely in my wash, but it does not work on these stubborn little dots. Any ideas?
The only thing I have found that works is to wash normally (with oxyclean) then dry in the SUN. The sun really helps with bleaching yellowed clothing also, and airing out that mildew smell. I learned this from my mother. And it's free!!
Sometimes mouth wash works for me with the odor . . .
Good luck.
Hydrogen peroxide-but test the clothes first. It will bleach some colors.
I'll be looking to see if anyone has an answer...because to the best of my knowledge...unless it's something that you can bleach you're outta luck.
If it makes you feel any better, fungi are a major source for black dyes.
One thing to try...is to get a different hamper. If it's a tight weave, or plastic, it's not only going to make the problem worse...if it's woven it's going to be storing spores in all the tiny creases. What I'd look for is something made of coated metal or bamboo or cedar that has opening big enough for socks to fall out...aka enough room for the clothes to evaporate dry. You may actually have more luck in the waste paper basket section, or automotive. If they're smaller you could even have one for each of the girls, one for socks(line it with a mesh laundry bag), one for you, one for your husband, one for red things...etc. That way you don't have 40 lbs of laundry sitting on one sweaty shirt or juice spill skirt.
I have a separate basket for wet clothes and I wash them quickly.
I do not have advice on how to get it out once its done.
I agree with using Oxyclean also, but I prefer to use a stain stick. I believe it's by Shout or Spray and Wash. I live at the beach and have this issue also. As soon as I notice the mildew I pretreat it with the stain stick before washing. The nice thing is that you don't need to let is sit, you just rub it in and wash. This is also really great if you know you may have spilled something on your clothes (that normally would stain) but can't wash it right away. You can rub it in and toss it in the hamper until you do laundry. This has saved many of my kids' clothes!
Sprinkle baby oxy clean over the spots and soak in hot water. I just cover the clothes about an inch with water not too much so the oxy clean is wet and activated but doesn't wash off the spots. Works real good, I have thrown wet clothes in the hamper and forgot about them and mildew was the result.
Of course it's easiest if the clothing is white, because it can be bleached with Purex or Clorox.
Sometimes I've had excellent results soaking and scrubbing with liquid peroxide and soapy water. This can be used on some colors too, but a patch test may be recommended first.
Sometimes I've had to sew over a little applique when a spot would not come out and I really wanted to keep the article of clothing.
I would put about a half cup of oxyclean in a bucket of water and soak it overnight. If the clothes aren't likely to shrink, then you can put them in a pot of water and oxyclean and boil it. I did this to remove mildew from the cover of our bouncy seat before we had our second baby, and it worked perfectly. If clothes are white, bleach would probably do the trick, too.
I would try and be sure not to have anything wet next to each other- or to be sure and wash the wet things right away so they don't get stinky.
Also putting things out in the hot sun, or running them through a vinegar rinse helps.
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