Laundry help

Augustbride

My DS leaves his towel in his backpack from camp all the time. Well now they all smell like mildew no matter how much I wash them. Does anyone have a trick that could pull that smell out. I hate to throw away 4 beach towels. Thanks

BG09

Whenever I have towels that smell of mildew or are musty I just wash them as normal but add about a 1/2 cup of white vinegar.  I have a front loading machine, so I just put the vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser.  Hope that helps!

Temp6313048411121614

Vinegar and/or bleach.

Augustbride

thanks I will try rewashing tonight.

Magdala9

If the backpack has absorbed the eau de mildew, you will need to wash (treat) the backpack with vinegar too.

DarcyLongfellow

Definitely vinegar.  I use a lot more than 1/4 cup -- maybe closer to a cup.

If it's bad, I'll use Oxyclean too -- the regular powder.

Life&Gwen

Try changing the pH of your washing water to increase your soap's cleaning power.  Vinegar will lower it to make it more acidic, and baking soda or (more power: borax) will raise it. I find that I get better "bubble action" with borax, and that vinegar is a downy ball for the rinse cycle is good for removing all soap or fabric softener residues from the fabrics.  Good luck! I know how frustrating that is, I've been stumped at why my DH's car smells so bad lately-- he's been going to the gym 3x/week, and using the same towel every time, without drying it fully between, just throwing it in his bag. Eeek.

valeriem2008

Agree with PPs - vinegar!