QponClippinQueen is the winner of stinky laundry!!!

[SMR80]

"Conga Rats QponClippinQueen! You are the winner of "stinky laundry"!! Thanks to the wonderful random number picker (aka my hubby) (he was told to pick a number between 2 and 12, not my numbers of course), You have won!!! Lets hope you don't have any stinky laundry of your own!!!

A big thank you for everyone who helped! I am planning on trying all the ideas!!!



Hi all! I'm having a stinky laundry problem! The stuff is clean, but smells! My washer did go through the recent flood... we had about 15 in of water in our basement. Since then, I have run numerous rounds of water with vinegar and baking soda in it. To my laundry I have added a mixture of shredded burt's bees peppermint soap with borax and washing soda. I have also been using Tide detergent, we've used that for many many years now. I LOVE that new dump in from Downy but man, that stuff is expensive! I'm looking for cheap, preferably homemade options!

I will close my RAOK on Friday, September the 30th at 8pm. I am willing to give almost anything a try!!! My envie will be matched as closely to your wl as possible!!!

I don't want no more stinky laundry!!!

[rheavon]

Step one: If you have an HE machine, clean it with a hot bleach cycle sans clothes and leave the door open when it is done. If that's done- or if you don't have an HE machine, move on to Step Two.

Step two: Have you tried adding in Oxyclean? We've had good luck neutralizing odors that way. We have an HE washer and made the mistake of leaving wet clothes in there overnight and they smelled so gross even after another wash. We threw in a dusting of Oxyclean and it neutralized the mildewy odor for us.

[CW&M Mom]

I would contact a company that deals with floods and purchase cleaner from them made to get the stink out of your clothing..although honestly the clothing that was sitting in the water may be at a loss.

Your washing machine may be toast as well....

I was an apartment manager with many water disasters that we dealt with and water was our enemy...it ruins so much stuff!

We used simple green a lot...you could look on the bottle and see if you can wash clothing with it..I have no idea if you can or not. We always threw clothing away that had been sitting for more then 12 hours or so..cause we just never found a way to get them from smelling nasty.

[Sherri1480]

Have you tried taking the back off the washer to see if there is any stagnant water in the bottom? That could be the culprit.

[QponClippinQueen]

I had this happen once when I live in NJ and we had a flood. We used a paste of baking soda and water (made pasty) spread it all around the washing machine.. Then filled it up and let sit for a few hours. Then we let the cycle finish. It seemed to work for awhile. (washer broke 2 months later not from the paste lol)

[CouponQueen23]

About once monthly I set my washer on small or mini cycle warm and add detergent and bleach, Then I use the old elbow grease and give the washer a good scrub down getting all the top of the top of the tub and rim. It is amazing what crud builds up in their in a months time. I wash the middle tunnel that is for fabric softener I never use it for that ( I have a downy ball ) and the bleach spout that is built in on the washer ( I never use that either) but they both get junked up.. I close the lid and let the cycle run the dirty water out and run a rinse cycle. Then if I have a full load of towels I will wash in hot hot water with soap and my downy ball of fabric softener and remove the load promptly after it finishes. I always keep the lid up when I am not running the machine too. Like pp mentioned you might have standing water in the machine. That being said I hope you will be back on the track of fresh laundry.. Oh btw Bj's or sam's club used to sell this stuff called odo ban I loved the stuff it had a eucalyptus scent to it and was great for spraying the inners down before running a cycle. I have not had any of this stuff in years it was handy for many things. e bought a new washer in 2005 and I have done monthly wash-downs hen it starts to smell stinky.

[SMR80]

Bumping up!

[staci000]

have you tried the washing machine cleaners themselves....for he washers they have affreash, and for reg washers there is the tide washing machine cleaner....i've used both, and like them both....helped to take the stink out...sometimes if the stink is really bad, you may need to repeat 2 or 3 times, but there is usually at least 2 or 3 washings per purchase..hope this helps :-)

[angeliainwonderland]

Do you have a front loader? All the PPs tips are good. But you might also try going a couple steps further.
First get an old rag (you will wanna throw it away when you get done) Run your finger between the fold in the rubber seal. Is it gunky? (I know GROSS) Dip your rag in vinegar and clean the gunk out of seal. Mine was GROSS and doing this really helped me. I do it every month or so now.
Also at 1 point I had gunk built up in the line underneath. You just remove 2 screws and take bottom front plate off. Right inside is a black hose with a trap. Release the fitting ,carefully pull down just enough to reach fingers in and remove any stuck items. I found a bunch of those stupid lil plastic bracelets in mine, all gooey and stinky. (I know again with the gross!) The clamp was a lil hard to get back on I had to have DH help with that.
We had a house that flooded when I was way younger. I remember we had an almost new fridge. To get the smell out my mom put an opened bag of charcoal in it , closed door and let it sit few days. This worked. She said the charcoal absorbs the odor. Don't know if you could try with washer ?

[SMR80]

Bumping for last min!