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Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Solution for sinky dish cloths (finally!)

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Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

I've had quite the time with keeping my dish cloths smelling good. I've tried:

Being really strict about wringing out the day's rag at night, letting it dry, and getting a fresh cloth out each morning. (More work than it sounds like!)

And when that wasn't completely 100% followed/successful:

  • Bleach in the washer.  (Works okay, but then every white load was needing bleach.)
  • Vinegar in the washer. (Didn't work well enough.)
  • Starting over with new dish rags.
  • Baking soda in the washer. (Didn't work on the dish rags.)
  • Leaving the clean, washed rags in the sun. (More work, especially in western WA!)

I've even begged for help here on my blog! Not just once, but twice!

And would you believe, I just finally found a healthy, easy, and effective way to treat those dish rags that somehow still end up stinky on occasion. (I think it has to do with little helpers who don't rinse the rag, wring it out, and hang it nicely on the sink when they're done...) ;)

Here's what I've been doing for the past few months, and it really WORKS!

Dish rags in vinegar

Instead of putting a cup of vinegar in the washer load, put any stinky dish cloths in a small bucket or container and put enough vinegar in the container to saturate the cloths.

Leave them in the vinegar for at least 5-10 minutes. Then throw the contents of the container into the washer and wash with other whites on warm or hot (or however you wash your dish rags).

This method concentrates the vinegar and is an easy healthy way to freshen dish cloths! :)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then add your page's link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed at my discretion. :) We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays Participants

1. SNEAKING LIVER ONTO YOUR TABLE! - Kelly the Kitchen Kop
2. Mommy's Idea Book (Cooking w/ Kids Tips)
3. No more stale food, MJ (It'snotoverafter30)
4. Tereza~opening stubborn jars:)
5. Amy @ Finer Things (beverage cool down)
6. Heather @ Just Doing My Best (Get kids to eat veggies)
7. Lenetta @ Nettacow (Browning Frozen Hamburger)
8. Gretchen (Notes from an OAMC class)		 9. Lacey (clean dishwasher)
10. Becky-Keeping Watermelon Fresh Longer
11. Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles (Ditching the Sippy Cup)
12. Kitchen Stewardship (Reheating Leftovers Tips)
13. A Simple Walk (Using Up Leftover Lunch Meat)
14. Laura @ Bloggin' Mama (chicken stock time saver)
15. Stephanie (Tips For Making The Perfect Cookie)
16. Annie @ Pioneer Mom (re-using canning lids)		 17. Good Cheap Eats (the lost art of the carrot stick)
18. Melinda @ Mamabear (bread bag use)
19. Enjoying Motherhood (tip on how to keep track of the pantry)
20. Lori (Butter pats)
21. Kolfinnas Korner (cookin 'burgers)
22. Unfinished Mom (crispy vs. soft veggies

 

 

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Comments

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 05:41.

thank you!

I will be trying this, since I struggle with the same thing.

I am wondering how you launder cloth napkins in order to keep them smelling fresh. Do you use this same method?

Thanks!
Shannon @ www.nourishingdays.com

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 06:57.

I'm thrilled! I have been

I'm thrilled! I have been tying everything you mentioned above. The baking soda took the smell out initially -- 1 day or so, but then it returned... so I'll have to try vinegar next! thanks :)

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 07:17.

Great minds must think

Great minds must think alike, I was thinking about posting this very tip today. I keep a quart jar handy that I mix one fourth vinegar and three fourths water in. I soak my sponges/scrapers in it and then dump the contents in the sink and rinse them well in hot water. I also use it for dish cloths when needed.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 07:31.

Stinky dish cloths

I love this tip because I make my own laundry detergent and sometimes my dish cloths do not smell the freshest. I am definitely going to try this. Thank you!

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 08:01.

Thanks

I'll have to give this a whirl!

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 08:05.

Stinky Rags

I've had that same problem in the past, but only w/ certain rags. I came to the conclusion that it was the fabric the rags were made of. Some would stink right out of the wash and rags made of a different fabric wouldn't stink even when they were dirty. I just tossed them.

Submitted by Tammy on Tue, 2009-05-19 10:42.
Tammy's picture

Various dish cloth fabrics/smells

I'd love to know which fabrics and what your observations on each one were! :)

All of my dish cloths are 100% cotton, but some thinner than others. I also have some SKOY cloths which I use for dishes, and they stay fresh longer, and can be run through the dish washer. :)

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 08:36.

I think I'm going to try

I think I'm going to try this with my husbands work shirts as I can't get the smell out of them - ICK!

Thanks!

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2009-05-20 08:23.

You might want to try Borax too

When I first met my husband, he had been doing his laundry for about a year. His method was to stuff as much as he could in the washer, wash it, then dry whenever he thought about it. Between that and working in a warehouse where he sweated alot... well, I was doing his laundry long before we married.

Anyway, I tried everything to get that baked in odor out and ended up washing them in detergent mixed with a cup of borax and a cup of baking soda. I would let them agitate and then let them sit, for an hour. All the smell is now gone. I still wash his work clothes/yard clothes with the borax and baking soda added, but just a quarter cup or so and not every time and the odor is not an issue anymore.

Now I'm anxious to try the vinegar on my kitchen rags instead of bleach!

Kris

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2009-05-21 06:44.

Thanks

Thanks for the tip!
I'm on my way to give it a try right now :D

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 09:47.

The easiest way I've found

The easiest way I've found for "freshening" dishcloths is to get them damp/wettish and put them in the microwave for 2 minutes. Germs don't live through that!

Submitted by Tammy on Tue, 2009-05-19 10:46.
Tammy's picture

Boiling the dish cloths

Oh, that reminds me! We don't have a microwave, but I have tried boiling the rags in a pot of water.

Aside from fading (and redistributing some color), it did take care of the smell, but only for a few uses. Soaking in vinegar is a lot easier than boiling rags...

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 12:22.

Thank you!!!

My husband never rinses the dish cloth, so all of ours are smelly. I hate it. I'm not wiping the table, the counter, my baby, or my own hands on a sour smelling cloth. I'm going to round up all of our clothes RIGHT NOW and try this out. Thanks!

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 14:30.

Fantastic!

Thanks for this tip, Tammy!
I have had the same dish rags for about three years now, and throw them in the wash after one days' use. I've noticed that they not only get stinky, but feel as though they were used at a burger joint. YUCK.
I am going to try this today. Thank you!

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 14:37.

My Mom told me that you can

My Mom told me that you can keep them from getting stinky in the first place if you rinse them in cold water when you are done using them. I've tried it a few times (when I remember) and it does seem to work.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 16:44.

Hmmm. I have been married

Hmmm. I have been married for 26 years and never had this problem with dish cloths. I wonder why? Now, I HAVE had this problem with a scouring type sponge that didn't get laundered as quickly as it should have. It took forever to finally get the odor out of it.

I have all different types of dishcloths. I do always rinse in cold water after every use, ring well and always always spread out to hang dry over something. And I never use more than one day. Any difference with how you use yours? I'm very sensitive to smells, so I'm sure I would have noticed a problem.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 17:17.

...and cloth nappies?

Tammy - do you use vinegar when you wash nappies too? I've heard that is good for the smell?!! I think you use cloth right?

Submitted by simplybrandy on Wed, 2009-05-20 10:18.
simplybrandy's picture

I use vinegar on occasion

I use vinegar on occasion for diapers. It works pretty well, but nothing beats sunshine for me. I just lay mine out in the grass.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 19:40.

Trying this to combat Man Stank!

I'm trying this with my son's football uniform!!!! That is one stink that will NOT come out!

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2009-05-19 21:18.

Great Idea

I'm going to go soak some dishrags now.

Submitted by Michelle Moses on Wed, 2009-05-20 22:25.

Thank you so very much. All

Thank you so very much. All of mine keep getting smelly, because there end up being "too many cooks in the kitchen". The positive side is that every so often I'm getting help from people, but this will help me the day after!

I wanted to ask you about some cloths you had reviewed a few months ago. You said you had used one for a whole month before it started getting smelly. Do those cloths also have to get soaked in vinegar?

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2009-05-22 14:16.

Finally! NO Stink

I once lived with a woman when I was in Teacher's College who had the STINKIEST dish cloths known to man kind. I didn't want to offend her, but I did have my own "secret" cloth that I used instead.

The trick, I agree is to hang them so that they dry out properly.

I like to use thin J-clothes and they wash nicely. I haven't bought a new box in years.

Submitted by tesslouise on Thu, 2009-05-28 10:58.

Thank you, thank you, thank

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the vinegar tip!

I haven't had problems with my dishcloths--I usually use a sponge for dishes and dishcloths for cleaning, and then wash them right away--but our washcloths have been smelling funky lately. I washed one a bunch of times and tried stain remover on it and couldn't get the smell out and wound up trashing it. :( So when another one came out of the wash stinky, I tried soaking it in vinegar in the sink, and it doesn't smell anymore! Thank you!

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