An entire wardrobe that smells like ciggies. Please help!

Lyger

Hi all,

I've recently moved into a new flat after splitting up with my ex. We both smoked indoors when we were together. However, as part of giving myself a fresh new start, I have now quit smoking. The problem is that all of my clothes *stink* of cigarette smoke. This would be a wardrobe and chest of draws full.

Washing them doesn't really help, as they seem to re-absorb the smell from the clothes in the wardrobe when I go to hang them up. I don't have an outdoor area in which I can air any clothes, let alone a full wardrobe/chest of draws full all at once. My flat itself is quite small, so I'm limited on areas where I can hang everything up on an airer indoors.

Any ideas on what I can do to tackle this? Chucking everything away isn't exactly an option, since I'm very tight on cash after having to start from scratch furniture-wise and paying deposits.

Any help would be much appreciated!

krlyr

Bicarbonate of soda worked well on some motorbike leathers I bought that smelt heavily of smoke. They were stinking the room out so I shoved them in a black bin bag with tons of bicarb and left them for a few days. After that, I hung them on the line for a day or two (current weather may not allow - it was sunny at the time!) and they were pretty much odour free after that.

You can get big bags of bicarb from asian supermarkets - I've just got a 3kg bag from my local chinese supermarket for £4.10, much better than 99p for 200g from Tesco! You could then be very generous with the amount used.
If it were me, I'd be tempted to scatter tons of bicarb in the wardrobe itself, then do washloads as time/space allowed and add some bicarb to the washing detergent.

I'd probably try to empty one set of drawers or wardrobe (even if it meant shoving the contents in a bin bag or box for now) that I could give a good clean (lots of bicarb scattered in it, left for a day, then hoovered out - and possibly spray/wipe the inside down with white vinegar (again, cheap from asian supermarkets - I paid £4.20 for a 5l bottle - it might be classed as distilled vinegar). Once that area is odour-free, start putting all the cleaned stuff in there to stop it having smells transferred to it again. You could pop a bowl of bicarb in the bottom just to help with any residual odours.

You might find that if you can make use of a bit of outdoor space at the weekend (friend/family/neighbour willing to let you stand an airer in their garden?) you could get through at least a couple of loads in a day - the other weekend we made the most of the dry weather and the higher wind helped dry things a lot more quickly, we managed 2 full loads plus a set of bed linen, pretty much completely dried in a day.

suki1964

Take everything out of the drawers and wardrobe and vac pac if you have to

Then only put back in the wardrobe and drawers as you wash, dry and iron.

In a few weeks you will have either worked your way through all your clothes - or you know which ones to charity shop as you no longer wear them

Well done for quitting the smokes :beer:

Lyger

Thanks, I'll give those a try! I'll have to air stuff a few at a time near an open window or something - I really do have no outdoor space (block of flats on a main road). I'll also check out some places to buy lots of bicarb of soda. If only the quitting smoking part could have just made the clothes magically not smell anymore, lol. The quitting was hard enough as it was >.<

whitewing

If I had a friend who was giving up smoking, I'd happily wash their entire wardrobe of clothes as a one off to help their efforts.

Or give them a lift to a launderette or cleaning place, where they can be washed and dried at the same time.

pigpen

Take out everything... take it to a different room.. wash it all and dry it possibly with a blow outside.

Wipe down the wardrobe inside and out before hanging the freshly laundered stuff back in.

I'd be tempted to get some smelly things to put in the drawers and hang in the wardrobe. I'd get them outside airing as well if there was a chance they would still be there when I went to bring them back in.

tori.k

Have you tried washing the wardrobe& drawers over with some sugar soap then placing a cup of bicarb soda, it will take some time but it will air off eventually

Lyger

tori.k wrote: »

Have you tried washing the wardrobe& drawers over with some sugar soap then placing a cup of bicarb soda, it will take some time but it will air off eventually

I'll give that a try while I wait for my vacuum bags and larger quantity of bicarb to arrive

Thanks everyone!

FairyPrincessk

It may also help to use some of the white vinegar in your rinse cycle when you wash the clothes, and try lining the drawers with newspaper after you give them a good clean and airing, newspaper absorbs odours.

On the clothes---some synthetics retain odours quite badly, so it may be worth it to check to see how fresh the clothes smell after they come out of the wash as some may never lose the smell and will continue to contaminate the rest. I once stayed in a hotel room that was a designated smoking room and most clothes smelled for weeks. I finally realized that it was my rucksack that they'd been packed in and which I often used to transport them to and from the gym--so if you've got any gym bags etc. clean or air those as well!

Finally, a big fat well done on stopping smoking!