Last week my brand new washer had a wee little hick-up and decided that keeping the water in the washer was optional. During it’s second spin cycle the water started poured out the back of the washer and all over my floor. (apparently it did this during it’s first spin cycle as well but I was busy upstairs and couldn’t hear the water running over the vacuums motor) From where I was in the kitchen it had sounded like someone had thrown an entire bucket of wash water on the floor and more was escaping. A quick yelp escaped from my lips as I hurdled a full laundry basked, stepped in a puddle of water and slammed my palm against the power button shutting off the washer. Quickly I grabbed the fresh towels I had just taken out of dryer and threw them on the floor to soak up the massive puddle. Those wet, heavy towels were shoved back into the laundry basket and pushed out of the way until the repair guy showed up three days later.
I don’t think I have to describe the state my towels were in when I finally got a chance to throw them in the washer. For a few moments I had considered starting over with new ones.
There is just something about wrapping yourself if a warm good smelling, fluffy towel when you get out of the shower but I can’t stand when they smell dirty (even if it’s really clean)
I am really excited that I just found a new way to freshen my dingy, smelly towels. Using towels to clean up after three kids and all the messes around the house makes them start to smell over time. This is especially helpful if they pile up in the laundry, or if your like me you turned the washer on walked away from it and forgot they were even in the wash in the first place.
Don’t believe me?
Take a whiff of that hand towel you just hung up on the stove or the soaked dish cloth on the bottom of your sink.
I’ll wait.
Not so pretty was it?
A Simple way to freshen your towels
All you need is four ingredients for this, and I’m guessing you already have most of them sitting in your cabinets.
- 1/2 Cup of Borax
- 1 cup of Washing Soda
- 1/4 cup of Vinegar
- 10 drops of Lemon essential oil
Instead of using your usual laundry detergent, add these into your washing machine then, wash and dry your towels like normal and they will come out clean and smelling so good!
Lemon essential oils help remove odours all around the house – the laundry, the dishwasher, carpets, even stinky shoes. It is a must-have!
So now that your towels are better smelling and more absorbent, let’s keep them that way!
- Be sure to check that your towels are 100% dry before putting them away. Even a small amount of moisture can make towels smell sour. Hang them up after your done with them and air-dry after each use.
- Limit the amount of detergent you are using. Too much leaves a residue and high-efficiency washers use less water which makes it harder to rinse all of the soap and fabric softener out.
How do you keep your towels fresh, clean and absorbent?
That what I need essential oil! I’ve been using vinegar and such, but my towels don’t a fresh smell. Thanks for the tip!
what a great way to freshen up towels. Like that it can be done in your washer without extra ingredients.
This is a great mixture of cleaning products. I always pour vinegar in my wash cycle. I think it helps thins stay fresh!
I will have to try this because yep some of our towels just have a yuck smell even after freshly out of the wash. Thanks for the share
I like your freshening method. I hate nothing more than stinky bath towels. You want to have them clean and smelling fresh!
This is awesome! Sometimes after baseball, washing alone isn’t enough to get the stink out of my son’s towels.
ooooooooo I love this!!! nothing worse than stinky clothes!! I swear once a week I get a load of stinky laundry
I’m totally giving this method a try. My sons bedroom and bathroom are in the basement and even with good ventilation his towels just don’t smell as fresh as others in the house.
I NEED to try this. I love a fresh smelling towel but I’ve always just washed them like my clothes. I can’t wait to try this!
I also apply lavender essential oils onto wool dryer balls during the last 10 minutes of the dryer cycle, it helps to freshen & add a light, natural, chemical-free scent!
Oh my goodness, this happened to us recently as well. I hate my clothes not smelling amazing when they’re washed. Love this trick!
Wonderful tips! Who likes smelly towels? I love cleaning mine and get them to smell fresh and nice. I will try this!
This is a great tip. I love how easy it is to make this and that it doesn’t contain a whole list of ingredients.
It is true about the towels starting to smell after time. This recipe I will have to try for sure. I use lemon juice and vinegar for cleaning everything and this recipe sounds like something I would use for sure. Thanks for sharing the recipe and idea.
Will try this. My towels smell fine for now but I am obsessed with them smelling amazing.. haha
Saving this recipe idea now. I was just telling my husband how the towels don’t smell fresh when they are washed like they use too.
These are great tips! I never thought that I might be using too much detergent but it makes sense now! Will be giving this a try on my towels.
I’m so making this, I have a few items that have a lingering odor. And they could use a nice clean lemon scent. My son sucks at squeezing all of the water out of his washcloth.
I’m liking your freshening method. I may have to start washing all of our towels in a separate load this way.
Nothing worse than an awful smelling towel. This is a great suggestion. I will have to give it a try.
This is a simple fix. I also have a clothesline and let them air out. It help a lot.
I wish we had a clothesline! We live in a fairly new neighbourhood where they have strict architectural guidelines prohibiting the use of clotheslines. Ridiculous right?
Thanks for the tip. I hate when our towels smell musty. I’m going to bookmark this blog post to try.
Vinegar really is the cure all right!? That washing machine episode would have had me in tears – literally! But I love this freshen up idea because there are days when I rewash the same load like 3 days in a row ad the my washer smells horrid.
Vinegar is the cure-all. These are great tips. Sometimes I will drape my towels over the rail to finish drying. I hate that yucky musty smell.
There is nothing like a fresh towel and nothing quite as bad as one that smells bad. I need to try this to freshen some towels.
These are some great idea, it is awful when your towels start to smell a bit yuck!
I use vinegar all the time in the wash. Haven’t added any essentials oils, but will give it a try the next time I do some smelly towels.
I have never tried this before, thanks for the tip. I am all for fluffy and fresh smelling towels!
You know, I’ve never used Borax. I hear it is this miracle ingredient and have yet to buy it. Thanks for sharing!