How to Wash Smoked Smelling and Stained Clothes

During summers everyone loves having hamburger or barbecue parties in their garden. The family makes the weekend a small outdoor treat for everyone and mom of course is left with the washing of clothes all smelling of smoke from all the cooking and grilling aside from the stains of oil, ketchup and sauces. This smell actually clings to the fabric of your clothes and simply placing them inside your washing machine and washing them will not take away the smell and stains.

Removing the Smell from Clothes

How do you remove the smell from your clothes? First, get a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with water. Make sure that there is enough space left to fill it with vinegar of about 5 inches from the top of water. This mixture will surely remove the smell cause by your charcoal smokers when you were cooking and grilling your barbecues, hamburgers or steaks. Next, submerge your clothes fully into the solution and press deeper to make sure that all clothes are soaked. Allow it to stand for 30 minutes to an hour. This will allow the solution to work in removing the smell from your clothes.

After soaking remove the clothes from the bucket and squeeze out the excess liquid. Place them inside your washer and wash them with your laundry soap. Once you finish washing them, hang them outside to dry. Sometimes one soaking does not do all the work so be prepared to repeat the process if your clothes still smell of smoke after your first wash.

Removing the Stains from Your Clothes

One of the most common household tips for laundry is using baking soda in removing the smell and stains from clothes.

Removing stains from your clothes is much easier if you apply a baking soda paste on the spot where the stain is. You can make your baking soda paste my mixing 4 tablespoons of baking soda with ¼ cup of warm water. There will be stains that will be harder to remove than the others. If this happens try leaving the paste on the fabric and allow it to dry for two hours before placing them inside your washing machine.

Now, if your clothes have tar stains, wash the clothing with plain baking soda after you finish applying the paste on the fabric.

Other Washing Tips Using Baking Soda

Aside from the smoke smell, your clothes may also smell with mothballs after a long storage inside your cabinet. You can remove this smell by simply adding ½ cup of baking soda when your washing machine starts the rinsing cycle.

If you want to remove the chemicals from your baby’s clothes wash them with mild soap and add ½ cup of baking soda.

Add ½ cup of baking soda to your normal amount of laundry detergent if you want to make your white clothes whiter and brighter.

Did you know that you can wash your mildewed shower curtains at home? Yes, you can simply do this with any of those washing machine brands you find it the market. You can do this by washing them together with two of your bath towels. Set your washer in the gentle setting and add ½ cup of baking soda to your laundry detergent this time during the washing cycle. Then add ½ cup of vinegar during the rinsing cycle. After washing, do not place your shower curtains inside the dryer, hang them out and allow them to drip and dry.