You know when you leave the wet clothes in the washing machine, or basket for too long - and they get that horrible musty smell................

[ToccataAndFudge]

how the f* do you get it out?

rewash em. with the evils of fabric softner

wash them again is what I normally do

I've rewashed them, and they still smell don't have any fabric softener and only just got back from Morrison - poo

I put it on a rinse then it's fine.

Guess it depends how long it has been sat musty for?

about a day and a half, and then another day (after 2nd wash)

they don't smell as bad now as they did.....shall I just keep washing them until it goes??????

If you dont have any fabric softener, try putting them on rinse and spin with some bicarb of soda in the drawer (instead of washing powder.)

How are you Toccata? Haven't crossed posts with you for a while

I'm not too bad today, wanted to try and get some of my washing sorted out, but got to the machine to find it still smelly

Sound like you are getting a lot done - Not crap at all!

got any vinegar? white, not malt - that will help get the smell out - then you just have to wash again to get the smell of the vinegar out!

re wash then hang out on the line. shouldnt have grown mould after two and a half days, is it a big load? Try washing half at a time so it gets more clean water to swish around in, then hang out.

does the white (spray) vinegar you can buy in the cleaning bit in Wilko's count?

Say "white vinegar" on the bottle.

don't have a washing line, still haven't got mine from exh's house and nothing to use outside for the mean time

Have a look on the ingredients on the spray bottle. If it's 100% white vinegar, it should be fine. It's chucking it down here, so I doubt a washing line will be much use anyway

yep, that should do the job - spray the clothes, leave to soak for a bit, rinse in the machine then wash again with detergent.

the vinegar will get rid of the musty smell and you don't have to re-wash the clothes to get rid of the vinegar smell. i use white vinegar instead of chemical fabric conditioner - the fabric won't smell of vinegar once it is dry.

i second that, used to do final nappy rinse with vinegar - will stink of vinegar when you get it out, not when dry though

thank you everyone - currently have the first lot of vinegar washing on (split it down into a few smaller loads as per someone elses suggestion as well)

good luck, update on how they smell when dry!!

i had to do this the other day with clothes that had been in for about 3 days in my defence my washer had broken down and i had forgotten that these were in it.

when the new machine arrived i put them in, did a prewash and an extra rinse. in the powder compartment for the main wash put in some bicarbonate of soda and instead of fabric softener use white vinegar. my clothes smelt good as new after that.

hth

sorry, just noticed you have no bicarb. it should still work fine without it as long as you use the vinegar. good luck.

oh gawd - thanks for bumping this.

This is exactly why they got like that (and the stuff that had been taken out previously to dry - but they don't smell as bad as at least they had some air to them in the basket as opposed to the ones in the washing machine with the door shut) just totally not with it at the moment.

Had already forgotten that I'd put a load on again >

thank you everyone - 2nd load is now in, first load smells absolutely fine and it's not even dry yet (but is hanging around the house drying so it doesn't end up ponging again)

the key os getting them dried as quickly as poss. They'll probably smell a bit if they get dAMP (FLANNELS) until you wash them again

nice one, glad its sorted!