| If you've been doing laundry for any period of | | | | the washer on small load with hot water. Add |
| time this has probably happened to you. You | | | | one cup of bleach being careful not to splash it on |
| started a load of wash, got distracted, and forgot | | | | your clothes or your eyes. Let the machine go |
| about the laundry. It sat there in the bottom of | | | | through an entire cycle and then run another |
| your machine after the rinse cycle. When you | | | | cycle as a rinse. |
| finally remember it you go to throw it in the | | | | As an alternative you can use another smelly |
| dryer and discover that your not so freshly | | | | substance. Substitute two cups of distilled apple |
| laundry now smells like the men's locker room | | | | cider for the bleach. Run the same small load on |
| after a basketball tournament. That nasty smell | | | | hot water and hold your nose. After the cycle |
| is mold, or the beginning of mold. | | | | completes, run another and this time add about a |
| You figure that blasting it with hot air in the dryer | | | | cup of baking powder to kill off the vinegar smell. |
| will kill the mold and the smell so you toss it in. | | | | Either of these methods will leave your washer |
| When the cycle finishes, you realize not only did | | | | smelling clean and mold free and you can run that |
| the dryer not kill the smell but now it to has an | | | | smelly load of "clean" clothes through to bring |
| odor. Two smelly household appliances at the | | | | them back to normal. |
| same time. | | | | One more tip. You'll notice at the top of the |
| What to do? | | | | washer basket there's a lip. It's not uncommon |
| Well before you try rewashing the clothes it's | | | | for mold to form here because it is often not |
| time to treat the source of the problem, namely | | | | subject to being rinsed during the rinse cycle. A |
| your washing machine. Mold and scum is a bigger | | | | periodic wipe down with a cloth or paper towel |
| problem in some parts of the country than | | | | soaked in vinegar or bleach is not a bad |
| others. The more humidity in your home the | | | | preventative idea. |
| susceptible to mold you become. It would seem | | | | In summary, we think of washers as being clean |
| that with the laundry inside the washer that it | | | | because we are always running water and soap |
| wouldn't be affected by the house's humidity but | | | | through them. Just remember all of the other |
| remember, it's been sitting in there a good long | | | | crud that's on the clothes we toss in. A little |
| time. | | | | preventative maintenance can go a long way in |
| The best way to get rid of the smell and any | | | | always providing clean, and clean smelling laundry. |
| possible mold from your washer is bleach. Set | | | | |