Old Towels Smelling not so Nice

[Nachtvlinder]

I must admit, my towels are rather thin and worn out but as they were expensive to buy, I don't really want to fork out on new ones. Trouble is, since I started to wash everything on 30C wash, they don't smell of conditioner, rather, they don't smell that nice. They are not terribly dirty to begin with, only a couple of uses after showers and hand drying. Is it the towels themselves or that they're not washed at a higher temp.?

I do everything at 20c with laundry sanitiser and vinegar (no conditioner). It all gets hung outside and smells fine.

Your towels are taking too long to dry, if you're turning them twice a day. They need to be dry by the end of the day, if that means using a tumble dryer or putting them on the radiator and turning the heating on, that's what you'll have to do. The smell is from bacteria that are building up on your towels due to being damp for so long (and it's not being removed by a 30°C wash either, which won't be helping). Wash them with biological powder at 90°C to get the smell out then after that either 60°C weekly on a quick cycle (you shouldn't have to wash them after two showers) or 40°C weekly on a longer cycle. Get them dry quickly after your shower, you might need to turn the heating on for half hour to do this.

If its bad you can steep in white vinegar and baking powder in a basin before washing. Or as pp have said add some white vinegar to your wash.