Embarrassing laundry question - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Embarrassing laundry question

Christie

My homemaking weakness is, and always has been, laundry. I just opened my drawer of spring/summer knit tops, and they smell musty. Ugh! I know they were freshly laundered, folded and put away back in September or October. How should I be storing clothing? Or is it normal to need to wash your stored clothes when the new season arrives?

General

19 replies

Latest reply was from Louise

Louise

Veteran

Hum tricky one i've never had that, were they dried as soon as they came out of the washing machine i get a musty smell if i leave them wet in the basket for too long before hanging them to dry? x

Christie

Well, I use a dryer so I'm pretty sure the wet stuff went right in the dryer.

But I love the smell of line-dried clothes. Maybe that's the key!

Louise

Veteran

I have scented drawer liners too and smelly sachets hanging in the wardrobe that might help? x

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Sometimes I think that just happens. Sachet's are nice for keeping odor away, but you may just have to air out or re-launder things that have been in storage.
Oh and I wish my homemaking downfalls were as minor as that LOL

AJ

Veteran

Could you just refreshen them in the dryer with a dryer sheet?

I agree with chewy, I wish that was my only homemaking downfall! I struggle with my Mount Washmore pile!!

Christie

I seem to have whitewashed my laundry woes ... truly, the weakness applies to all areas of laundry. I have piles of dirty, of clean but unfolded, clean and folded. The musty smell is just one symptom.

Dusty

(website)

I always have to wash the kids clothes when I change seasons (they're stored in boxes). Mine, not so much, but I don't have any drawers that stay closed for a whole season, either, and that might make a difference (in fact I would imagine that it would). I don't think it's anything you've done wrong, just something that is. (and trust me, you can't be worse than me on laundry, I'm so bad my husband took over washing so it would actually get done - and I stay home!

agrace

I had a load of very musty smelling things the other day because i forgot about it being wet in the wash for too long.
I read this and it completely worked - I added white distilled vinegar in with my regular detergent (about 1 cup) and it worked beautifully! No vinegar smell and no damage whatsoever. Just removed that nasty moldy smell.

Personally if it were me, I would first just wash them and then if that didn't do the trick the white vinegar worked. Caveat: I have not nor would I try it on anything delicate. These were primarily things like my children's play clothes that consist largely of cotton. I've since used it on towels, sheets, etc. Worked like a charm every time!

garmenta

If your clothes are in a space that has any dampness in it--closets and attics are the worst offenders--you can get a musty smell in anything stored there. I've used a product called DampRid that draws the moisture out of the air in a closed space, like a closet, and helps to minimize a musty smell. If you use it with something that has a natural fragrance, like a sachet or a cedar block, you'll get a pleasant scent in the clothes, too.

April

Veteran

Cricket, do you mean musty as in that moldy, basement-y aroma, or is it more that they smell a little stale? I do find that things in closed-up drawers get a stale scent when they haven't been worn in a while.

I think the closed drawers are to blame because I now don't have a dresser -- I have a bed with large baskets that fit into the base of it. The clothes in the baskets don't get the stale odor like things in drawers used to.

Maya

Veteran

Oh please, I posted once about possibly dropping my scarf in human waste and then wearing it. Talk about embarrassing AND repulsive. This is nothing :p

Anything you put in an area where air doesn't circulate can potentially get a stale, musty smell in my experience. No big deal. I'd probably just toss it in the dryer for a few minutes with a dryer sheet. If that doesn't work, just wash them. Or Febreze? Febreze has that "Febreze" smell to it though...

I am awful and lazy with laundry, as I am with all domestic tasks. I just toss everything at once in the washer, put it on cold water and a reduced spin, and let it go. I do not separate clothes except for bras and hosiery. Even that I used to just wash with the rest of my clothes until Intimacy scolded me.

I do hang dry most of my stuff or just let it dry flat on the carpet though, but sometimes I let it sit there for days until all the little wrinkles and bumps are fixed into place, and of course I also NEVER iron, even when I know I should. I just hate doing it, and I'm no good at it.

Louise

Veteran

Maya we are laundry twins!!! I currently have a dress dying on a rack over the bath which has been there 5 days!!!! x

Dusty

(website)

Vinegar is actually really great, and not at all harsh. We use it in place of fabric softener with everything. It does just as good as the fabric softener, it's much cheaper and it's better for your machine (and clothes, really). Plus, it's a color brightener, it helps set in dyes and it helps prevent (and sometimes even reverse) color fade from detergent build-up.

Lee Hovey

Maya, I am with you on all accounts!!
I used to have loads and loads waiting to be washed, now I have gotten pretty good of always doing my laundry when my bin is full and hanging it right away. But, I don't seperate, thats just too much work! I wash on cold (with my bras) and dry on medium (though I take my bras out and hang them). I have found it helps to buy the no-dye laundry detergent when doing this though. Otherwise the light stuff gets detergent spots. I also wash AND dry my denim, which most people here have said is a no-no for them. But I don't own any premium denim, and with my large bum my jeans stretch so much I need the shrinkage from drying.

I store my seasonal clothes in plastic bins stored in my dry, cool basement. Tyically when I take them back out they have the yucky plasticky smell, which is hard to get rid of. I will have to try the vinegar!

Maya

Veteran

Glad to see I'm not alone!

I used to toss jeans in the dryer but once I had a pair shrink and end up being too short, I never did it again. And those were cheap jeans. If they were one of my premium jeans I would have cried!

Christie

Thank you, all, for sympathizing and giving me ideas. The smell is "stale," a much better word to describe it than musty. I live in a dry climate, so moisture in my house isn't really an issue. My drawers have been closed for months, *but* ... the biggest reason, I'm learning from all this good advice, is that I am guilty of leaving wet clothes in the washer for several hours. I will try the vinegar in my wash to freshen things up. Thanks for your help!

Anonymous

Cricket, I have good luck putting an unwrapped bar of deoderant soap or two in each drawer or bin when storing fabrics. They come out smelling clean. I started this after reading that the strong soap odor (or any strong odor) discourages the silverfish bugs that will eat holes in stored clothing. It's worked so far.
Later I use the soap in the bathroom and put a fresh bar in the drawer.

Christie

Oh, another neat idea! Thank you!

Louise

Veteran

I don't know whether you have LUSH stores in the US? Edit just found the website http://www.lushusa.com/shop

Their bath bombs are really strong and gorgeous smelling. They are expensive so i keep them for special occassions and stressful days so i always keep a few in, i store them in the bottom of my wardrobe and everything smells gorgeous x