Mumsnet users' tips for making clothes smell great

[JustineBMumsnet]

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It can be difficult to ensure that clothes always smell good - especially if you have messy toddlers or teenagers that leave P.E kit in bags for weeks. Fairy Non Bio would like you to share your tips for making sure your clothes smell great.

Here’s what Fairy Non Bio has to say: “At Fairy Non Bio, we know that even if you have very sensitive skin, you still want that freshly washed smell on your clothes and fabrics. We have perfected our formula on our detergents and fabric conditioner so that you don’t have to compromise on either. We want to know your tips for great smelling clothes!”

Do you have a way of storing your clothes that means they don’t pick up nasty odours between wash and wear? Maybe your family has a laundry routine that prevents clothes from ever reaching a smelly stage? Perhaps you have a favourite product that’s become your family’s signature clothing scent?

Whatever tips for making sure clothes smell great, share them on the thread below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Fabric softner in the wash and then line dry!
I love getting in to fresh pjs and into a bed that has fresh bedding at the end of the day!

Air drying outside always helps, and I have found the gel fragrance balls are brilliant for putting into little hessian bags and into drawers, wardrobe, ironing pile and everything stays smelling lovely and fresh.

I like to line dry my clothes, they can smell a little bit funny coming out of the machine

Drying washing on the line, I love the freshness!

Fabric conditioner, not overfilling the machine and line drying or tumble drying clothes to avoid damp smell :)

I try to do quick, 30degree washes used an unscented washing liquid. I always try to line dry if I can. It's important to keep the washing machine as clean as possible so that odours from bacteria don't build up inside it. Also, I have a rule to never put damp clothes in the washing basket (hubby still struggles with that one, unfortunately! )

Dry on the line for a lovely fresh smell and then put in the dryer on low heat for 10 minutes to soften the clothes.

I dont skimp when it comes to fabric conditioner, but my main tip would be to dry clothes on the line outside still, and its old fashioned which i love.....

Line drying whenever possible and scented sachets in wardrobes.
If I'm going to wear something more than once without washing (usually jeans) then I don't put them straight back in the wardrobe after the first wear. I have a coat hook on the bedroom wall so will hang the item there until the next time I want to wear it.

My tips are to deodorise your washing machine to prevent bacteria being transferred to your clothes - and when storing causing odours, I make sure that they are totally dry, and a bar of soap in the linen and hung in a net bag in the wardrobe means that my clothes have a delicate fragrance when worn.

Always try and get my washing on the line outside. Nothing beats that smell!

Drying them on the washing line on.a windy day.

I use a good fabric conditioner, where the smell lasts longer, and I prefer line drying too during the spring and summer

Since having my lo Fairy has been my go to product, its kind to skin and the conditioner smells lovely! Keeping clothes fresh starts with keeping the washing machine clean, so i regularly put a cleaner through ours to prevent any dirt building up. Weather depending I either take the clothes straight out the machine and peg onto the line or put them on the radiators or tumble drier. If left too long in the washing machine they stink, and have to be done again.

Minimum of mildly scented detergent, no fabric softener and line dry

Good fabric softener and hang out on the line!

Another fan of line drying here - I swear all the dust just gets blown away by the wind (especially the sheets)! I give them a good shake before folding and storing away and they always smell lovely. I think if sheets smell in storage its a sign that you have too many or your washing machine is not washing them properly (a lot of people overload them). I also store new bars of soap with my sheets and towels - as I swear that the older the soap is the longer it seems to last! so I like to keep them for about a year before using them. Anything not used for over 4 years is given to chairty or recycled - I hate to clutter and its the same for sheets and clothes. Never put any worn garments back into your wardrobe.

I think you need to look at your machine and make sure you give it a good tub wash now and again - throw in half a bottle of white vinegar. I never put powder in the tray at the top (as only cold water put this into your machine and causes a build up over time - you need to pour very hot water down that to get that out) and when doing the underwear wash i pop in a couple of drops of a well known floral disinfectant (but my man has especially smelly socks as he has them in work boots all day and during summer too so they really need it)!

Also I know people will think I am a bit obessive here, but i usually pre-peg out the doggie blankets and towels so the wind takes off most of the hairs and dust before i put them inside an old duvet cover for washing, i swear it makes them fresher!

Line dried & then stored with pouches of herbs from our garden

Change clothes frequently - lavendar bags in wardrobes and drawers - keep a clean washing machine put it on empty with a very hot wash and line dry clothes

Regular washing and line dry - ideally, but over a radiator, on a rack or in the tumble dryer doesn't make a huge deal of difference.

I'm not sure what nasty odors you'd pick up between washes. Society today is so non-stinky. I suppose if you kept your freshly washed items next to some dog poo, or beside a rugby club's dirty kit, were a heavy smoker then your clean items might pick up a smell between washes, but I tend to find my clothes/bedlinen/towels etc smell clean until they've been used and need a wash again!

First thing is to really look after the appliances, all cleaned and scrubbed top to bottom, I wash the drawer and do a empty boil and bleach was about once a week, clothes are not going to get clean and nice smelling in a dirty mouldy washer.

I also clean my dryer down and clean the inside of the drum with a nice smelling spray cleaner or
Citrus furniture polish.

I also rotate detergents and softeners all the time, never usually have less than 5 different ones of each detergent and softener on hand, depends what I’m washing, nothing beats Fairy detergent for making towels soft and fluffy, then I like Ariel powder for whites, Ariel pods for colours and a few other ones.

Also absolute must is getting clothes dry quickly, if I can’t hang out, then 98 percent has to
Go through the dryer.

I use scented drawer liners. My favourite smell is laundry that has just come off the line on a warm day but in Britain that isn't always practical so I use a tumble drier sheet to cheat the smell.

Always use conditioner which makes clothes feel and smell lovely. I always clean my washing machine once a month by running the self clean feature on the machine but you can just buy the washing machine cleaner and run this through the machine as a normal wash and this stops and unwanted nasty smells

Drying outdoors. Also tackling persistent armpit smells early.

I don't like to line dry because I find it takes out the smell of fabric conditioner. I usually use the Fairy one (sometimes comfort pure) and I love the smell on our clothes, bedding and towels so I dry our stuff in the tumble dryer or inside the house. That way I can smell the fabric conditioner for longer, I keep sniffing the laundry coming out of the tumble dryer, absolutely love it lol (I may have issues 😆). I think our clothes smell nice because someone once commented that I smelled lovely but I had no perfume on! 😁