Getting rid of damp smells on clothes and saving money on washing?

megz123_2

I have gave my washing machine a good clean out recently on a 90 degree wash and cup of vinegar and removed alot of the gunk built up which i thought might be the reason of bad smelling clothes. But clothes still smell a little weird and damp when they come out on 40 and 30 washes (short washes) and as they dry out on hangers in the house and take a long time they get worse and worse.

I just normally use whatever products my mum has going she is using those bold 2 in 1 washing capsules at the moment. I am not sure its cleaning well enough. May start buying my own but im not sure what to use powder or liquid? for the best clean on short washes or should i do longer ones? What might it be that is causing them to smell? I do bed sheets and towels etc on 60 and 90 and dont get a problem with them smelling. Also would using vinegar in place of fabric conditioner help i heard it can but just not sure. And obviously i want to keep my costs down as much as possible but get my clothes smelling fresher . Any advice welcome Thanks for reading!:beer:

rach_k

I think the smell would just be that they're not clean enough, then if you air dry inside the smell will get worse as bacteria has time to breed in the damp fabric.

I would try a longer or a hotter wash. There are so many variables with your water, your machine, your clothes etc so it's not possible to give a definite answer but if things aren't clean straight out of the wash, you probably need to increase something - the cycle length, the temp, the detergent or the intensity of the cycle.

Personally, I don't think a quick wash at 30 degrees is for anything other than freshening up lightly worn clothes, so I'd try increasing to a full length cycle first.

When you dry them, try to speed it up by hanging in warm but well ventilated areas. If the damp air has nowhere to go, it will take longer for clothes to dry.

bellaboo86

I agree with Rach_K, you need to wash your clothes on a hotter wash. I find that if I do anything less than a 40 degree wash my partner's work shirts smell under the arm pit. I also agree that you need to dry your clothes quicker as that alone may be causing the smell.
Do you have a washing line? If you do, at this time of year it might be worth leaving your washing to the weekend and sticking it on the line. At least then if it rains you can dash out and get it in.
I don't have a tumble drier but I recently bought a heated clothes airer. Obviously it's not as good as a tumble drier as I've found you need to keep adjusting the clothes but it does get things dry quicker then if you just left them on a hanger. Mine was only £30.

happy35

I would say you need to wash them on a normal 40 degree cycle, I prefer powder to liquid and use white vinegar not fabric softener. If you do dry clothes inside open a window so that you have fresh air flowing

megz123_2

how much vinegar do you use? i am worried it might damage elastic in my clothes over time. Thankyou.

Slowly57

You might try taking out your detergent/conditioner drawer and giving it a good scrub as well as the hole it slots into. And the rubber door gasket needs a good wipe out from time to time - I've found hairclips, pennies and screws in there (going rusty) before now. If you can leave the door open to air overnight when you think on - that helps too.

As to wet stuff on an airer - you need to shake it out and refold it from time to time keeping the wet stuff on the 'outside' not folded into the middle. And don't put too much out together.

Open a window or get stuff outside if you can - I have one of the fold up rotary airers and plonk a big golf umbrella on top (and thread it down so it rests against the 'stem' of the airer) if it looks like rain. Yes, it looks a bit daft but it does the job and if you peg stuff carefully, nothing gets wet.

Also don't overload (ie duvet cover = 1 wash, pillowcases + sheets - 1 wash) and consider an extra spin after they've been through a wash cycle.

Good luck - so annoying

Slowly57

oh yeah ... and give the washing machine filter a good wash to make sure there's no gunk in there either!

Siebrie

Check the manual before adding vinegar! My machine expressly forbids vinegar, as it will eat the aluminium (I think) parts.

I, too, would suggest a faster drying. Do you have a stairwell where you can hang things? Or from a door when you open doors/windows to create a draft?

Think about where the draft is coming from and hang the smallest or lightest items out first, as they will dry the quickest. Then you can hang the thicker/longer items. I used to hang the duvet cover from a dryer rack over the stairwell in such a way that it worked as a chimney, leading all the warm rising air to the smaller items in the middle. When the small items were dry, and the duvet cover was half dry, I would turn it upside down, and add new wet stuff to the middle of the drying rack.

elsien

If you're drying indoors, make sure the laundry gets a good spin.
My short wash cycle does not spin as effectively, so clothes come out wetter, take longer to dry and are more likely to start smellng.

whiteguineapig

if you have a launderette in your town i would use that to dry, i wash at home then dry them there

Anoneemoose

I had this recently as my washing machine was getting smelly and so were the clothes. I tried the hot wash and it was no good. I then read that quite often, one hot wash isn't enough as it just starts dislodging the gunk, as opposed to completely getting rid of it, which can make the smells worse.

So, I did 5 90 degree cycles - 2 with soda crystals, 1 with 3 tbps of citric acid and then another 2 soda crystals. I also took out the drawer and gave that and the inside of the drawer slot a good clean. I also cleaned the rubber seal. All of this worked a treat.

I have also started putting 2 tbsps of soda crystals (65p per kg in Home Bargains) in each wash and have found it fab. I use less laundry stuff as well.

One other thing I read was that washing powders are better than liquids as the contain bleach powders whicj helps dissolve gunk, whereas liquid doesn't. Liquid just clogs up the pipes.

In addition to all this, I have started washing towels on 90 - mainly as a maintenance hot wash cycle and because the towels can take it. And the rest of my washes are all done at 60, which I appreciate won't be popular!!