Laundry problem: getting rid of odor

[boltfam]

Question: for front loaders, when and where do you put the vinegar and baking soda?

Every once in a while when my front loader starts smelling of mildew, I run a sanitary or tub clean cycle with bleach in the bleach compartment. probably not the safest chemical to use, but it takes out the stink. wondering if vinegar and baking soda would work here...

btw, I wrote baking powder everywhere and went back and corrected them all to soda!

You'd have to check your owner's manual, because it depends on the front loader. For mine, I had to check with the mfg. and was told to add powder directly to the tub. Others require it in the detergent dispenser. I add vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser. HTH!

[Wife_and_mommy]

I don't have this problem but from 2006-6months ago, I was using borax in the wash as a way to reduce my detergent use. It worked great and might help the odor.

I simply used 1/2 as much detergent and a 1/2 C of borax in each load. Let me know if you're interested in the book I got this from. It's really good.

I now make my own detergent with a grated soap bar, 1c borax, 1c washing soday. It works *awesome* and is dirt cheap.

[gatorsmom]

When I have laundry odor problems, I try using vinegar in the rinse cycle. If even that doesn't work, I will mix a little bleach into the wash water. Bleach always takes away the odor, even though I don't like doing that for the environment's sake and the fact that it weakens the clothing fibers.