Stinky Laundry

Either vinegar or baking soda will work just fine. There is a product called OdoBan that you can get at Sam's. A little of this in the laundry does wonders, also.

Doesn't that happen to just about every busy mom? I know it has happened to me more than once...in fact I can't remember if I put the stuff in the dryer from yesterday..hummmm.....The best thing to do is to use vinegar. I keep a bottle of it in the laundry room for my husbands EXTRA stinky soaks. The stuff really works great.
Good luck!!

one tip that I have...I got a egg timer for my laundry. I always forget to go back down stairs and switch it. So I bought an egg timer and set it for however long I think the dryer will go for. When it goes off most of the time I remember but there are times when I am like...what was that..oh yeah my laundry. It really helps.
Have fun

J.,

Someone told me or I read somewhere that if you forget about them and they stink you are supposed to let them dry first and then rewash them. I know this doesn't help now because you already rewashed them, but I guess for next time. We all get busy as Moms and get called away.

Melanie in Swansea, IL

Do this too often myself :) Baking soda works really well, so does Oxy. I've used baking soda in my wash as a laundry booster when I think about, so it shouldn't hurt your clothes. I've never had a problem.

If you don't know what is causing the stink, you may have to try a few things. In addition to the baking soda and vinegar, you might want to try lemon juice. I don't have a definite amount to suggest, but the worse the stink, the more I would use.

I have saved many loads of laundry with a cup of vinegar. It has worked every single time.

try rewashing the load of laundry and adding a 1/2 cup to a cup of white viniger it works wonders for me.

Add 1 cup of white vinegar mixed with laundry detergent. It really works and will get the smell out!

I have the same problem; I use fabric softener in every load and that seems to work.

Use vinegar. You may need to use hot water at first. I keep vinegar next to my detergent. If I forget a load when I rewash it I always put some vinegar and the smell always goes away.

Use baking soda, but with powder detergent.

You could also try running the machine without a load of clothes in it. I am bad at remembering that last load of laundry in the washer, and sometimes get a funky smell to it. I found that running an empty load, with soap, will clean out the machine and won't stink up the next load(s).
Good Luck!

Put the laundry in the washer with regular detergent, when it has filled pour 1 cup of vinegar then sprinkle with baking soda half to three quarters of a cup, depending on how large the load is. It will sizzle and bubble up, its fine. Agitate washe to mix everything for a few minutes then turn washer of and let it sit for at least one hour longer if you can. Launder as normal and get it out of washer and into the dryer as quickly as you can. In this heat it does not take long to sour.

You don't specify what the stink is, but I would try washing like normal and then adding the second rinse. It doesn't sound like it would do much, but it has really helped us. Sometimes the leftover detergent in the fabric can end up being the source of the bad smell.

I had this problem for a while myself when using a liquid laundry soap...I found that if I used too MUCH or too LITTLE soap my laundry would stink (especially towels and cloth diapers). I also switch laundry soap to the Arm&Hammer POWDERED laundry soap and that helped a ton too...
Hope that helps

J.:

I would try baking soda, I would think that would do the trick. C. f ____@____.com

1 cup of vinegar in the wash should help you out!

I've had the exact same problem, tried several solutions with no luck. Finally, I came across Febreeze for washing machines and it did the trick! You can find it with the laundry detergent. It comes in a bottle that looks like a laundry detergent bottle and you put it in IN ADDITION to your laundry detergent.

Add a cup of vinegar to your laundry. To also help, leave your washer door open when you are not washing anything. This will help it dry out the inside of the washer. You may have to use the vinegar several times before completely getting the smell out. This happens with us and towels. Love to dry off with the smelly towel ;o) Anyway, try washing them several times with the vinegar. Good Luck and God Bless.

Lemon juice would take care of it quite naturally too. You could put a little in the wash load.

Suzi

Try hydrogen peroxide. If your machine has a soak cycle use it. The peroxide will not bleach out your colors and is a natural sanitizer. Founded for the benefit of our troops in WWI, whereas Clorine bleach was used to poison the water of our enemies. Check it out.

I use Tide with Frebreeze already in it. I will get out any smell that is in laundry. Also, Oxyclean will get smells out. I have done the same thing forgot about clothes in the washer until the next day. lol Good luck!

Might try some vinegar. I have use it when out of laundry soap and it leaves no smell, but should be good for removing the smell.
J.

J.,

I hear a lot of suggestions for baking soda and vinegar, but all that really needs to be done is to wash the load in hot water with a tablespoon or two of Downey directly in the water. The heat pulls the mold smell out of the clothes and the Downey replaces the smell with a fresh clean scent.

hydrogen peroxide. Put in one cup of it in your washer. You can use it in your whites instead of bleach as well.

Here is another thread with some great ideas: http://www.mamasource.com/request/recent/64029/1215419982/79

More laundry tips: http://kitchen.robbiehaf.com/LaundryTips.html

Baking soda and/or vinegar is a great place to start!

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Hi J., I've been where your at before! That can really be stinky! I found a couple of things that helped. Yes try either the vinegar or backing soda like you suggested, or (i know this sounds bad but it worked well), try to put alittle bleach in the water then rewash and redry everything. I have to do that with any kind of red/pink/orange towels in my house. It's really weird! But just a tiny bit seems to help and it didn't fade anything to my surprise. You may want to test something first to make sure, but in my case it turned out fine. Good luck!