Mildew Be Gone!

I know this is very "Good Housekeeping" of me, but today I'm sharing a tip with you that worked a miracle on a very stubborn problem: mildew smell in the laundry.

A little background: a little over a year ago I washed a load of towels and then accidentally forgot about them. It's not like I left them sitting in the washer for days, but our washer and dryer share a small room with our furnace and when the furnace is running, the room gets quite toasty. So by the end of the day after washing the towels on hot and then having them sit there in that warm room, they smelled bad -a sour, musty, mildew smell. In the past I've actually thrown out towels or washcloths that end up smelling of mildew because I've never been able to get that awful smell out and there is nothing worse than drying off with a stinky towel. It's gross. But this time it was an entire load of towels -- our good matching towels in the right colors -- not just spare towels we might use for swimming.

So, over the course of the year, each time I use one of those towels I cringe from the smell and then kick myself for making such a stupid mistake. That is until a few weeks ago when I found this tip on the internet which I am now passing to you! It worked perfectly. Here's how you do it:

To Remove Mildew Smell from Towels:

The Vinegar Method
Put your towels in the washing machine, using the hottest water available. Add one or two cups of white vinegar. Do not add detergent, fabric softener, or any other products at this time. Run the washer.
Leave the towels in the washer and wash the same load again just as you would normally with laundry soap. Again, use the hottest water available. Don't use fabric softener or any other products.
Dry the load in the dryer using a high heat setting. Towels should be thoroughly dry when you pull them out. If they're not dry, put them back in, or move them immediately outside and hang them in the sunlight.

That's it. One time and problem solved!