Because I have lots and lots of questions. But I'll limit myself to two. I think. :)
Does anyone have a good way to keep kitchen washcloths from souring? And, once they have soured, is there any way to get them "un-sour"? I've washed and washed and washed and hung them to dry for DAYS on the line, but they still retain that sick-sour smell.
Sadly, I'm having this trouble with my new washcloths, the ones that I bought about a month ago because I gave up on my old ones. :(
I do have a little air-dry rack where I hang them when they are wet but not in use. I thought that would help but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick.
Help!
As always, go visit Shannon! :)
6 comments:
It can get really humid around here in the Summer and I grew up in South Alabama where it was really hot. Dishcloths would sour very quickly. I usually change my dishcloth everyday, sometimes twice a day depending on what I'm doing. I try to remember to hang my cloth up to dry after use so it doesn't sour. If I remember I will microwave the wet cloth for a minute to kill germs before hanging it.
You might try soaking them in vinegar or baking soda water if they are holding scent. A product that I use instead of Febreeze is OderBan. It is a concentrate and can be mixed with water or used straight. It is very strong and very chemical smelling but works very well. I usually use it in garbage cans.
I'll be interested to see what answers you get. I make an effort to use paper towels to clean up milk spills and other stinky stuff because this never comes out of dish cloths. Also, set your cloth in a tub of bleach water for a while to kill off bacteria.
Microwave a damp sour cloth for a minute. That usually does it. Also too much laundry detergent can make them smell sour. Use vinegar in the rinse water (or downey ball), that should also help. Good luck!
My mother knits (you could crochet) cotton dishcloths in nice squares. These are easy to make and sour after 3 days, but being 100% coton, clean up nicely in the laundry. I use All Free and Clear, which is amazing and wonderful stuff. It even gets deoderant out of shirts. :)
p.s. I do throw these out when they start to get ragged, which, nicely enough, is when they start to get to where the sour smell doesn't come out.
I think a study came out about this recently--and by "recently" I may mean last January. It was about kitchen sponges specifically, but the same would work for washcloths. The results were that microwaving killed the most bacteria (i.e. the sour smell), but throwing the sponge in the dishwasher (or washing machine in your case) also worked. If I were having a a good librarian day, I would have a link to the the study for you, but today I'm only finding unreliable sources.
I've noticed the same kind of thing with my dishcloths, and usually when i wash them, the sour smell(i.e. mildew?) comes out, but when they get wet, the start to smell again, so i asked mom about it, and she just said that certain brands are like that, but I do like the idea of soaking it in vinegar, maybe that'll help keep the smell out more permanently. I don't know, but good ideas to try. :)
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