The first couple of months here all our clothes and towels stunk! I would wash them and dry them but they would just have this wet, pre-mildew smell that was horrible. Even if they came out of the dryer smelling normal, after sitting in the closet or drawers for a couple days, they would start smelling again. We were probably leaving a great first impression on every one we met! Then one day, when I was telling a friend that I couldn't get our towels to smell clean (and I'd even gone out and bought new ones) she said she always puts a little bleach in her washer to get rid of that smell. I asked her if all her towels were white and she said no, she just let the bleach sit for a minute in the water before she put her towels in. Knowing I was probably going to end up with a bunch of white and muted colored towels, I put a little bleach in my wash. The outcome was amazing! The towels smelled clean! They smelled clean days later when I pulled them out of the closet! I could use my bath towel, set it out to dry, and use it again the next day without it smelling gross! I decided to test the concept on the boys clothes now. I made sure I didn't put in anything nice or their new clothes just in case, and added bleach to the water... Guess what? The boys didn't stink anymore! (At least not due to bad laundering...) Then suddenly a product of the past came to my mind, "Use color safe bleach... use color safe bleach..." So maybe the product I had made fun of so many years before actually made sense! I went and bought it and have put it in every load (with soap of course) since then. We are no longer a stinky family!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Color Safe Bleach
I always thought the idea of "Color Safe Bleach" was an oxymoron. It really didn't make much sense to me, but honestly I didn't care. Then I moved to Florida... 
The first couple of months here all our clothes and towels stunk! I would wash them and dry them but they would just have this wet, pre-mildew smell that was horrible. Even if they came out of the dryer smelling normal, after sitting in the closet or drawers for a couple days, they would start smelling again. We were probably leaving a great first impression on every one we met! Then one day, when I was telling a friend that I couldn't get our towels to smell clean (and I'd even gone out and bought new ones) she said she always puts a little bleach in her washer to get rid of that smell. I asked her if all her towels were white and she said no, she just let the bleach sit for a minute in the water before she put her towels in. Knowing I was probably going to end up with a bunch of white and muted colored towels, I put a little bleach in my wash. The outcome was amazing! The towels smelled clean! They smelled clean days later when I pulled them out of the closet! I could use my bath towel, set it out to dry, and use it again the next day without it smelling gross! I decided to test the concept on the boys clothes now. I made sure I didn't put in anything nice or their new clothes just in case, and added bleach to the water... Guess what? The boys didn't stink anymore! (At least not due to bad laundering...) Then suddenly a product of the past came to my mind, "Use color safe bleach... use color safe bleach..." So maybe the product I had made fun of so many years before actually made sense! I went and bought it and have put it in every load (with soap of course) since then. We are no longer a stinky family!
The first couple of months here all our clothes and towels stunk! I would wash them and dry them but they would just have this wet, pre-mildew smell that was horrible. Even if they came out of the dryer smelling normal, after sitting in the closet or drawers for a couple days, they would start smelling again. We were probably leaving a great first impression on every one we met! Then one day, when I was telling a friend that I couldn't get our towels to smell clean (and I'd even gone out and bought new ones) she said she always puts a little bleach in her washer to get rid of that smell. I asked her if all her towels were white and she said no, she just let the bleach sit for a minute in the water before she put her towels in. Knowing I was probably going to end up with a bunch of white and muted colored towels, I put a little bleach in my wash. The outcome was amazing! The towels smelled clean! They smelled clean days later when I pulled them out of the closet! I could use my bath towel, set it out to dry, and use it again the next day without it smelling gross! I decided to test the concept on the boys clothes now. I made sure I didn't put in anything nice or their new clothes just in case, and added bleach to the water... Guess what? The boys didn't stink anymore! (At least not due to bad laundering...) Then suddenly a product of the past came to my mind, "Use color safe bleach... use color safe bleach..." So maybe the product I had made fun of so many years before actually made sense! I went and bought it and have put it in every load (with soap of course) since then. We are no longer a stinky family!
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2 comments:
You can't imagine how relieved your entire extended family is that you are no longer stinky. Wheeeew! We expected it from the first three little Palmers, but that last one just shouldn't have to be stinky!
Next time ask your mom:)
Hmmm, I haven't thought of using color-safe bleach! I've always just used the regular chlorine bleach....am I the friend you talked about? :-)
I'll have to try the color-safe variety!
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