Gross, smelly clothes! This is what you’re doing wrong with your washing machine!

Doing laundry is a chore most of us don’t exactly love… Washing, hanging, drying, folding: it’s all pretty tiresome. Luckily, the result is very satisfying: nothing beats the smell of fresh laundry. That makes the discovery of smelly clothes or bed linen after you’ve just washed them all the more disappointing.

Smelly laundry
No one wants to wear clothes that smell mouldy or as if a wet dog rolled around in them. It’s very aggravating; you expect the washing machine to clean your laundry, not make it even more dirty. Yet it’s happened to us all! We’re quick to call a mechanic to come and fix the problem, but that costs a lot of money and the problem is usually back after a couple of weeks. So, what’s causing it? The nasty smell has a couple of causes and we’re all guilty of them.

Cause
Firstly, most of us wash our clothes on a temperature that’s much too low. Most detergents can be used with lower temperatures such as 40 or 30 degrees Celsius. Plus, many people use liquid detergents these day. The liquid detergent in combination with the low temperature causes fat lice! These aren’t actual lice, but a greasy substance that stays behind after doing a load of laundry. It consists of flakes, hair and body oils that try to fight the detergent.

Solution
So, how do you fix this? Once a month, wash a load of laundry of a couple of old tea towels on a high temperature (90 degrees, preferably). Don’t use laundry detergent, but use a dishwashing tablet instead! This will make everything fresh again. Another tip is to try not to use liquid laundry detergent all the time, but also use powder detergent once in a while. You’ll notice the difference immediately!

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