When the rainy season arrives, laundry will be more difficult to dry due to the lack of heat from the sun. As the result, your clothes will be moist and easy to smell musty. Especially, laundry with thick materials, such as towels, bed covers, and carpets. Don’t worry, in this article, we’re going to list down all you need to do to stop your clothes from smelling musty after the washing!
The musty odor in this laundry is caused by the presence of bacteria and germs that cause musty odor in the fibers of the clothes. If the laundry has a musty smell, it will be difficult to remove.
Bed covers, towels, and carpets have thick linen and are difficult to dry in a short time. If dried in a closed room it will make it moist and can be moldy. If you have this, you must be confused what to do, right?
But, don’t worry, check out below tips on how to stop clothes smelling musty after washing!
1. First, Read The Care Instructions
Reading the care instructions is the first thing you should do before washing. Different materials will have different ways of treatment.
Make sure you follow the care instructions properly. So that the bed cover, towels, and carpet that you have will not be damaged.
Usually the care instructions will show you how to wash your clothes or linens. Whether it’s machine washed, manual, or dry cleaning.
2. Make Sure Your Washing Machine Doesn’t Smell Musty
Sometimes, a musty smell problem can come from a washing machine, especially a washing machine with a front door opening.
For that, you should clean your washing machine at least once a month. This serves to prevent mold from forming in the washing machine.
You can start an empty washing machine with hot water and 2 cups of bleach. When finished, wipe or wipe the inside and the door of the washer, including the rubber seal on the door of the washer.
3. Make Sure the Detergent is Clean
You have to make sure whether the detergent in your laundry is clean, because the remaining detergent left in the laundry can cause a musty smell on your linens.
For that, you can rinse your laundry repeatedly until it is completely clean of residual detergent.
You can confirm it by looking at the remaining water rinse your laundry. If it’s still foaming, then you have to rinse it again.
4. Use Garment Deodorizer
To avoid a musty smell in the laundry, you can add a clothes deodorizer when doing the last rinse.
It’s easy, you just need to soak your laundry in the deodorizer for 5-10 minutes.
Then, squeeze your laundry until the water content is reduced. Or you can use a dryer that is usually already integrated with the washing machine.
5. Use a Clothes Dryer
You can use a clothes dryer to dry your bed covers and towels faster.
But you need to know that the dryer here is different from the clothes dryer which is usually integrated with the washing machine, and only serves to reduce the water content in the laundry.
The dryer here is a machine that can release hot air with a tube that continues to spin around the laundry until your laundry is completely dry.
So, you no longer need to dry your laundry outside and don’t worry about the musty smell.
6. Drying in the Open Area
During the rainy season, it will be difficult to dry in an outdoor area with sufficient sunlight. Even so, you can’t dry your laundry in a closed place.
Drying your laundry in a closed place will make your laundry moist and will cause a musty smell, especially thick laundry such as towels, bed covers, and carpets.
You have to dry your laundry in the open, so your laundry will still get good air circulation.
7. Give Distance When Drying
Drying clothes close together will make the air circulation around your laundry moist and smell musty.
For that, you have to give a distance between one clothesline and another.
That way, your laundry will be able to dry well even in the rainy season. This is because the distance in each clothesline will help air circulation for better.
8. Drying Near the Lamp
In addition to giving distance to the clothesline, you can also dry your laundry near the lights. A light that is lit will emit heat. This will help your laundry to dry faster.
You can also use this method when drying clothes at night.
9. Use a Fan
When the rainy season arrives, you are forced to dry your laundry indoors. However, the lack of air circulation in the room will make your laundry damp.
This will eventually make your laundry smell musty or even moldy. For that, you can use a fan at home.
The fan will help your laundry get good air circulation, so your laundry can dry properly.
10. Use Baking Soda
Washing the carpet in the rainy season can keep your carpet from drying for days. This is because the carpet cannot enter the dryer and is damp when drying indoors.
If you have this, the carpet will definitely smell musty and it’s difficult to get rid of the smell when dry. But don’t worry, you can use baking soda to help remove the musty smell on the carpet.
You simply sprinkle baking soda on the carpet, let it sit for 10 minutes. After that, clean the baking soda with a vacuum cleaner. Then leave the carpet exposed to the wind to dry.
Those are some tips for washing bed covers, towels, and carpets during the rainy season so that they don’t smell musty. You have to remember to wash your laundry until it’s dry so that your laundry doesn’t get damp and cause a musty smell.
