Homemade citrus spray
Coffee beans absorb smells
Coffee beans do more than power your afternoon café con leche. Keep a batch in a bowl near your laundry piles and the beans will absorb stubborn smells. They'll keep for about a month before you need to replace them.
Don’t forget wet laundry
The laundry room stays fresher when your clean laundry is removed promptly. Avoid keeping wet laundry inside your machines for long periods of time—it can lead to a moldy smell. If that happens, combine warm water and bleach and wipe down the inside of the machine with a damp cloth. Then wipe dry. To prevent this, enlist the help of the whole family to transfer laundry to and from the dryer.
The many uses of baking soda
Our grandmothers knew what they were doing. Baking soda keeps your laundry room smelling clean in a number of ways. Mix it with water to wipe the surfaces on your washer and dryer. Keep an unopened box in the room to fight smells. Sprinkle some in your hampers. Add a quarter cup to the rinse cycle for an added boost of freshness.
Catch up on laundry
Nearly everyone has that extra basket of laundry they’ve been meaning to tackle. Remember, odors grow in stagnant piles. When you’re feeling behind, designate a catch up day to get back to your normal laundry schedule. Whether you do it on an early weekend morning or after your children’s bedtime, you’ll be glad to check this off your to-do list.
Run a bleach cycle
The residue from washing can cause a funky buildup in your washing machine. Keep it fresh by running regular hot cycles boosted with bleach. Add a cup of bleach (and nothing else) and run your machine on the hottest setting. Select its large capacity so that the whole inside gets cleaned. This can be done once a month.
Vinegar wash
Once you’ve completed a bleach cycle, you may want to further deodorize your washing machine with a vinegar wash. You should never combine bleach and vinegar together due to its toxic chemical reaction. Run a separate vinegar cycle using one cup of white or apple vinegar. Optional: Add a bit of lemon juice too. Set your machine to hot and choose its largest capacity.
