Simple Hacks To Take Care Of Rain Soaked Smelly Clothes In Monsoon!

Monsoon has arrived and it is so green and soothing everywhere. We all love playing in the rains and at times get drenched as well. While playing can be fun and getting drenched may result in some health problems, the least importance we pay is to our clothes. Are you really wondering how?

Well, the answer is simple. We play, enjoy and throw our clothes in the washroom or put them to dry outside. In worst cases, we simply put them in washing machine and do not bother about the same. This often results in smelly or mildew clothes.

Why Do Wet Clothes Emit Odour?

The main reason behind emitting foul odour from your clothes is the formation of fungi. The fungi grow very fast on wet clothes as it has the ideal condition to breed. They impart a bad smell to the clothes. However, if you still do not attend your clothes, then within 48 hours tiny black spots appear on the clothes. These are known as mildew and can damage the clothes permanently.

Therefore, the way you take care of your skin, hair and health in monsoon, equal importance should be given to the clothes as well. Rain soaked and smelly clothes make your costly attire impossible to wear and you may end up throwing them away.

Simple Hacks To Remove Smells from Clothes in Monsoon

1. Use Vinegar

Vinegar is the best remedy to get rid of smelly clothes. It cleans your clothes gently, kills the fungi and removes the odour completely.

Process-

• Soak your wet and smelly clothes in a bucket.
• Mix equal quantity of water and vinegar to the bucket and leave the clothes soaked in this solution for half an hour.
• Now wash your clothes with normal water.
• Add your normal detergent to a bucket of water and further clean your cloth.
• Rinse thoroughly and dry them in a clean place under sunshine.
• In case you do not witness sunshine, ensure that your clothes get dried in the same day and no moisture is left behind.

The same process can be followed if you are using a washing machine to clean the clothes. As a first step run the washing machine using vinegar and water and then follow it up by adding detergent.

Tip-

• It is ideal to rinse your clothes with vinegar solution as a final wash. This will completely remove the odour from your clothes.

2. Baking Soda

Baking soda is very useful to get rid of smelly clothes in monsoon. Also, this is one of the easiest methods to prevent odour in monsoon.

Process-

• Take 2 tablespoon of baking soda and add it to the washing machine before cleaning the clothes.
• You can also use detergent along with baking soda.
• Turn on your washing machine for the maximum limit.
• Once you take out your clothes, you will be surprised to see no smell is emitting from the clothes.
• Dry your clothes in bright sunshine for more effectiveness.

You can also soak clothes for half an hour in baking soda and vinegar solution before washing the same.

3. Tea tree Oil

Tea tree oil is one of the best ways to remove smell from your clothes.

Process-

• Take 2 tablespoon of tea tree oil and mix it with half litre water.
• Mix well and store it in a spray bottle.
• Spray this solution on the smelly clothes and dry them in bright sunshine.
• Leave it till the solution fades off completely.
• You will get clean and fresh smelling clothes by following this method.

This is an instant method to remove foul odour from your clothes.

4. Grapefruit Seed Extract

This process is quite similar to the tea tree oil and is equally effective as well for smelly clothes. It helps in eliminating the odour from clothes and keeps them fresh.

Process-

• Take a tablespoon of grapefruit seed extract and mix it with water.
• Shake well and use a spray bottle to spread the mix on the clothes.
• Dry the clothes in sun and leave it till the liquid dries off completely.
• It will render a nice fresh smell to the clothes.

5. Vodka

Vodka is an alcoholic way of removing the smell from your clothes. It removes the smell instantly from your clothes.

Process-

• Get any vodka bottle from the market and store it in a spray bottle.
• Spray the vodka all over your clothes and let it dry in the natural way.
• As the vodka dries out so will the smell from your clothes.

6. Borax

Borax is an effective way to get rid of foul smelling clothes. Borax absorbs the smell from the clothes and leaves behind the natural cloth smell.

Process-

• Take 2 tablespoon of borax and add it to sufficient quantity of water.
• Pour this solution in your washing machine before cleaning the clothes.
• Let the machine wash your clothes thoroughly in this liquid.
• Rinse the clothes properly and dry it in the sun.
• Once the clothes are dried, you will see that the smell no more exists in your clothes.

7. Detergent

Yes you heard it right!! Powerful detergents are very effective to remove the foul smell from the clothes.

All you need to do is to soak your clothes an hour before cleaning the same. However, as a caution be careful about the fabric of the clothes. There are clothes which do not come with any warning for damage; you can soak those clothes in heavy detergents to get rid of the odour.

However fabrics like silk, cotton and rayon should not be washed in powerful detergent as they can make the clothes lifeless and dull. Powerful detergents are usually available in the market at a cheaper rate. You can ask for detergents which are normally used by the workers working in the construction site or as mechanics.

These detergents have the power to absorb the bad smell and give your clothes a fresh and pleasant smell.

8. Disinfectant

Disinfectants are very useful not only to remove the bad smell from the clothes but also to get rid of the fungi and other microbes. Therefore, you can use your clothes safely.

Process-

• This process should be followed only after you have washed your clothes in a detergent.
• Add a tablespoon of disinfectant like Dettol or Savlon to a bucket of water and soak the washed clothes for 5-10 minutes.
• Squeeze the excess liquid from the clothes and dry it in bright sunshine.
• Once the clothes are dried, the bad smell would have gone.

9. Ammonia

The bad smell from your clothes will vanish if you are using ammonia. Ammonia has a powerful smell and this helps to mar the foul odour from the clothes.

Process-

• • First of all use a mild detergent to clean the smelly clothes.
  • Then in a bucket of water add two lids of ammonia and stir well.

• Soak the clothes in this solution for 5 minutes and rinse as a final wash.
• Put the clothes outside to dry naturally.

You will get clean and non-smelly clothes once they are dried completely.

10. Shampoo

This is another strange yet effective method to get rid of smelly clothes.

Process-

• Take a spoonful of mild shampoo and add it to a bucket of water.
• Soak the smelly clothes in this water for half an hour.
• Wash it thoroughly to remove the shampoo from the clothes and let it dry naturally in the air.
• Once the clothes dry, the bad smell would have vanished leaving behind a soothing and pleasant smell of the shampoo.

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Do/Don’ts In Monsoon

• It is obvious to get wet in monsoon and even more likely that the atmosphere will be cloudy and humid all the time. In such case, if your clothes get wet then rinse the clothes properly and put it to dry immediately.
• Do not store wet clothes in washing machine or other places as they are the breeding places for germs and fungi.
• Try not to get wet in rain. Carry an umbrella or raincoat while going outside. This will save you from rain soaked and smelly clothes.
• If it is extremely humid outside, squeeze the clothes and then use a iron to dry the clothes. Once the moisture content is removed you can dry it under a ceiling fan as well.
• Opt for clothes which repel water rather than absorbing it. This will prevent the hacks of smelly clothes.
• Stay indoors and enjoy the rain. Prevent getting drenched as it causes health issues along with smelly clothes.
• Do not wear smelly clothes till the smell is completely gone. There are chances you may have fungal infection.

Conclusion

We have listed some very simple hacks for rain soaked and smelly clothes. Give our simple home tips a try before you think of throwing away your precious clothes. These easy yet effective tips will save your clothes and you can wear them fresh like they were always. Enjoy the monsoon and take care of your clothes in this rainy season.

Hope you have found this article useful. In case of any suggestion or feedback, please share the same in the comments section below.

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