8 Ways to Remove Smell from Clothes ... ...

Some scents can be gotten rid of by simply airing clothing outside for a bit. It’s best on a sunny day and with a light breeze. The sunshine helps to break down certain chemicals that cause odors, but plain old outdoor air tends to do very well all on its own when it comes to some smelly fabrics.

Febreze comes in many scents and is great for a quick odor-fixer for stinky clothes. I like the cinnamon scented variety that is popular during the holidays. I spray my clothes all over and any smelly odor seems to disappear.

Occasionally clothing comes out of the wash and it still smells a bit. Add a half cup of Calgon to your washing machine at the same time detergent is added. Some water contains too many minerals and is considered to be ‘hard’ water. By softening the water up a bit, the detergent will be able to do its job and odors shouldn’t linger in your clothing.

You can do this before washing them or when they are dry. If you wait to spritz them after they are dry, then toss them in the dryer to tumble dry for a bit. This technique works great to get the scent of smoke out of your clothing. I always disliked how my coat would smell after I’d left a smoke filled building. Lightly spritzing my coat with ammonia and tumbling it dry beats spending a lot more time on washing and drying it.

Borax is a white powdery substance that is added to many brands of laundry detergent. Adding a half cup of Borax powder with your regular amount of detergent will help deodorize smelly clothing, especially synthetic fabrics that seem to hold on to odors.

This works very well with clothing that has to be hand washed. For some reason it seems like certain types of fabric hold odors longer than others. I find that many of these special fabrics require being washed by hand. White vinegar added to the warm rinse water usually does the trick, when it comes to eliminating odors in synthetic cloth.

I like this method for when clothes have been hanging in the closet for the season and smell just a little less than fresh. In order to get the scent from the dryer sheet to absorb into the clothing a bit, I find lightly spraying some water on them does it. If I can’t locate the ever-elusive water bottle, then I opt for soaking a dish cloth in warm water and ringing it out before tossing it in the dryer with the clothes and sweetly scented dryer sheet.

When all else fails, run your smelly clothing through the wash again. Sometimes packing too many clothes in the washing machine doesn’t give them enough ‘swish room’ and the detergent can’t get clothes as clean as possible, hence lingering smells.

I hope at least a couple of thee 8 ways to remove smell from clothes prove to be ones you can use whenever necessary. Do you already have a method of removing odors from clothes that works best for you?

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