Q&A for How to Remove Mildew Smell from Clothing

Make a paste of baking soda and water. Rub it on the furniture with a fine cloth. Let it dry. Then wipe it down with a cloth dampened with vinegar. Place the furniture in full sunshine for a minimum of 8 hours.

So I suppose you now realize you were supposed to use white vinegar, not balsamic. Wash the close again, and add a cup of WHITE vinegar into the wash.

No, vinegar smell will not be present when your laundry is finished. It takes odors away, softens fabrics, ans disinfects.

Use dryer balls instead of fabric softener to fluff the clothes and help remove static. These also help the clothes to dry faster.

Yes. And if your floor is carpeted, the mildew can spread to the carpet, and then the smell will linger in the room.

Try putting it in the freezer for a couple of hours to erase the smell without damaging the leather. Thaw it out and check the odor again. Sunshine will also work wonders, for a short time.

White 5% acid is excellent. You'll never need softener and your clothes will stay brighter. I always use it in my wash to disinfect.

Most quality dry cleaning chemicals will also kill mildew. Don't use the stuff you can buy for your home dryer; take it to a professional and tell them it's a mildew problem.

No, you'll turn your clothes pink. White vinegar is very cheap and widely available.

Yes, white vinegar works as well. Add it to your washing machine as stated in the article.

No, this won't do any good. They might smell okay temporarily if you throw a lot of dryer sheets in there, or a towel soaked in vinegar, but the mildew smell will come back. You pretty much have to wash the clothes.

No. They both get their cleaning properties from their pH. Vinegar is an acid and Borax is a base; mixing them will neutralize both and result in an ineffective solution. Use only one at a time.

Yes, you can. I would start with 1/4 cup of vinegar and 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda.

Scrub the surfaces with a bucket filled with water and liquid dish washing cleaner. Let the surfaces dry, then rinse and wipe with a soft cloth that is damp with white vinegar.

Put white vinegar in a spray bottle and heavily mist the entire thing. Follow with a fabric freshener like Febreeze. The vinegar smell will go away after it dries well.

I did this today. I had been given a rain coat made out of nylon and washed it by hand in my clean kitchen sink. I added about a cup of baking soda to plain tepid water and swished it around with my hands, basically washed it like I would any other garment by hand. Then I rinsed it with plain water, then filled the sink a second time and added more baking soda, and this time, I also added a small amount (about 1/8 cup) of my laundry detergent (liquid). I washed it like before, then rinsed it in plain water two more times, rung it out, and hung it to dry in my bathroom, leaving the door wide open. After it dripped dry about a 1/2 hour, I also turned a fan on it full blast to dry it faster.

Dissolve Oxy Clean in hot water. Let it cool, then add it to your cold water wash. You can also soak the delicates in the cooled mix before washing.

It's probably best to get rid of the clothes at that point. They could be hazardous to your health.

It is highly recommended that you rewash your clothes with white vinegar and/or baking soda. This will remove the awful smell and stains left on the clothing by mildew.

It depends on the fabric. Cotton and silk fibers may have been weakened by the damp and started to rot. If the clothes can stand a very hot wash, use white vinegar or bicarbonate of soda or borax in the wash to remove the smell. Man-made fabrics probably won't have suffered much, so if you can get the smell out, it's worth try!

White vinegar will remove and disinfect the mildew stain along with removing the smell!

Ask around to see if anyone has perfume or cologne to cover the smell a bit.

To get rid of mold smell on jewelry, spray with isopropyl alcohol and wipe dry.

Every time you bathe or shower, wipe the tile and bathtub dry with a towel.

Clothing manufacturers add whiteners to their fabrics; when we wash them, these whiteners are removed and we struggle to regain that whiteness. I have not been successful at re-whitening my clothes.

I add the vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser in place of the fabric softener.

Use a hotter setting and stop using a delicate cycle. This will get rid of the mildew setting.