SOLUTIONS: Zapping mildew smell from bathing suits

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/05/2011 (5363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

QUESTION: I read you column on a regular basis and love your solutions. Now I need some help.

I packed a wet bathing suit coming home from a Hawaiian vacation a couple of winters ago, and even though I unpacked it and washed it right away, it has a mildew smell. I rewashed it, hung it up to dry, tried special bathing-suit soap and washed it in vinegar, with no luck. Couldn’t part with it, so I put it in a cupboard with my two other bathing suits.

When I pulled them out recently, all three had a mildew smell. I rewashed, hung them outside, let them sit in water with vinegar and rewashed them with vinegar and bathing-suit soap — to no avail. I’ve worn two of them in a chlorine pool several times this winter and still the mildew odour remains. I always wash and hang-dry right after use.

Any chance at all I can remove the smell? What is the best thing to do? Thanks for your ideas! Louise, Winnipeg

ANSWER: Before washing your bathing suits in the washing machine, soak them in hot water and Borax. Borax contains no phosphates and no bleach but is wonderful at zapping hard-to-handle odours. If you can’t locate Borax, use a generous amount of Oxy Clean or baking soda instead.

QUESTION: I have laminate floors and when the felt floor protectors on chairs and other furniture fall off, they leave a sticky residue on the floor. I have tried Goo Gone, dish soap with a microfibre cloth, even scraping with the scraper I use on my ceramic-top stove and nothing gets it off. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Barb, Winnipeg

ANSWER: Using a hair dryer, heat the area to loosen the glue. Next, smear the area with smooth peanut butter and then lift the adhesive off of the floor with the help of a plastic putty knife so the floor does not become scratched.

Fabulous feedback from Manitobans

— Just reading the question about removing dog-blood stains from carpet. I have a messy cat and have used peroxide for years now. I keep a small soap-dish bottle of straight peroxide handy to pour on pet stains and lots of cheap paper towels to blot and rub. Works great for me — there aren’t many spots on my beige carpet this hasn’t been used on. Although peroxide will bleach the cat’s hair, it has never bleached anything else I have tried this on, but test on an inconspicuous area first. Hope this helps. Bonnie

— A little cornstarch in your salt shakers will prevent salt from clumping. Ruth, Winnipeg

— Sew a strip of carpet webbing two inches wide, tightly on the underside of a rug, close to the edge, to prevent it from curling up. Ruth, Winnipeg

— Brighten silverware by rubbing it with oatmeal. Ruth, Winnipeg

— I read your column regularly and have found a number of your suggestions to be very helpful. In your column in today’s paper, a lady wrote asking about how much vinegar to use as a laundry additive. I started using vinegar as a laundry additive after I took a microfibre cloth to do some cleaning and found it had been rendered impervious to water as a result of going in the dryer with dryer sheets.

My big problem was remembering to run down to the laundry room to put the vinegar in the rinse water. My solution was the purchase of a dryer ball, which is sold to dispense liquid fabric softener to the rinse cycle. I fill the ball with vinegar and throw it in with the laundry. The vinegar is dispensed at the correct time and it seems to be a sufficient amount.

I have to tell you my laundry has never been softer and vinegar is much more successful at removing long hair from dog towels and covers than anything else I have ever used — and it is considerably cheaper to use. Thank you so much. Liz

Reena Nerbas is the author of the national bestselling Household Solutions series. Her website is www.householdsolutions.org. You can contact her at Box 429, Blumenort, Man., ROA 0C0.