The baking soda laundry experiment
So. I have stinky clothes.
I'm not entirely sure what all caused it. Some of the clothes, like my camp shirts that I wear around the house, are old. I almost wonder if it has to do with the dresser that I keep them in, too, since it's about 40 years old. Some of them are newer, like the t-shirts I have that I will wear to work or to run errands. I think those simply absorb sweat and then it never really washes out. I've upped my antiperspirant and will use prescription-level at times, but the smells persist and seem to get worse when activated by body heat.
I came across an article online that shows how to neutralize clothing smells, supposedly even in older clothes. It seemed simple enough and I'm willing to experiment. All it takes is a cup of baking soda dissolved in a gallon of water. My trick is to remember to do this in a timely-enough fashion before I wash a load.
We do laundry on Sundays, and I've found it's far easier on myself to sort everything before I go to bed Saturday night. The past few weeks, I've been trying to pull a couple tops to put in the baking soda water. The first time I tried this, I did those tops for the minimum 15 minutes, and it seemed to have helped, but the article I read said you could do it overnight. Why not. These clothes aren't new. Might as well give them the fullest boost. In the morning before I put in my first load, I dump out most of the water--some remains as it drains out of the clothes--and stick them in the washing machine with the rest of my laundry. It said, no need to rinse; wash per normal.
So far, it seems like my clothes have been neutralized. It will be weeks before I get through all my old camp shirts. I have at least a dozen of them, and I wear one a week. They're basically my PJs. It wouldn't surprise me if some clothes will take more than one treatment as it's been a while since I last bought this style of top, and I've noticed certain fabrics really hold on to unpleasant scents. For example, I love the way acrylic tops look but dang, they get stinky pretty easily; I had to stop buying them but a couple remain in my closet. The work t-shirts have a bit of elastic in them, I think, and that also doesn't help. The camp shirts are cotton-only as far as I know. Mom will complain about them when they're freshly pulled from the drawer, so it would be nice if she stops making comments about them. After a few days, the smell either is less noticeable or it goes away since the shirts are aired out, in a sense. I just don't want to come across as a smelly human being, you know? No smell is good smell.
I'm not entirely sure what all caused it. Some of the clothes, like my camp shirts that I wear around the house, are old. I almost wonder if it has to do with the dresser that I keep them in, too, since it's about 40 years old. Some of them are newer, like the t-shirts I have that I will wear to work or to run errands. I think those simply absorb sweat and then it never really washes out. I've upped my antiperspirant and will use prescription-level at times, but the smells persist and seem to get worse when activated by body heat.
I came across an article online that shows how to neutralize clothing smells, supposedly even in older clothes. It seemed simple enough and I'm willing to experiment. All it takes is a cup of baking soda dissolved in a gallon of water. My trick is to remember to do this in a timely-enough fashion before I wash a load.
We do laundry on Sundays, and I've found it's far easier on myself to sort everything before I go to bed Saturday night. The past few weeks, I've been trying to pull a couple tops to put in the baking soda water. The first time I tried this, I did those tops for the minimum 15 minutes, and it seemed to have helped, but the article I read said you could do it overnight. Why not. These clothes aren't new. Might as well give them the fullest boost. In the morning before I put in my first load, I dump out most of the water--some remains as it drains out of the clothes--and stick them in the washing machine with the rest of my laundry. It said, no need to rinse; wash per normal.
So far, it seems like my clothes have been neutralized. It will be weeks before I get through all my old camp shirts. I have at least a dozen of them, and I wear one a week. They're basically my PJs. It wouldn't surprise me if some clothes will take more than one treatment as it's been a while since I last bought this style of top, and I've noticed certain fabrics really hold on to unpleasant scents. For example, I love the way acrylic tops look but dang, they get stinky pretty easily; I had to stop buying them but a couple remain in my closet. The work t-shirts have a bit of elastic in them, I think, and that also doesn't help. The camp shirts are cotton-only as far as I know. Mom will complain about them when they're freshly pulled from the drawer, so it would be nice if she stops making comments about them. After a few days, the smell either is less noticeable or it goes away since the shirts are aired out, in a sense. I just don't want to come across as a smelly human being, you know? No smell is good smell.