If Your Sheets Don’t Smell Nice After Washing, Maybe You’re Making One of These Mistakes

Even the most careful individuals can face this issue: putting sheets in the washing machine with good intentions but ending up with a less-than-fresh smell. Sometimes, they might even smell worse than before washing. Well, the cause can be one or more mistakes that all of us, consciously or unconsciously, make. So here’s what to do and how to avoid such mistakes.

Why Don’t the Sheets Smell?

Here are the mistakes not to make:

Dirty washing machine:

Every now and then even the washing machine needs to be cleaned and sanitized. Despite the constant presence of water and detergent, the machine can still develop bacterial growth, mold, and limescale deposits. These issues can lead to a bad smell that transfers to your sheets and clothes. Fortunately, cleaning the washing machine is simple: every now and then run an empty cycle with hot water and some white vinegar in the detergent drawer to keep it fresh and odor-free.

Stagnation in the drum

It isn’t just about water, it’s also about leaving sheets inside the drum for extended periods, sometimes with the door closed. The resulting damp smell ends up unpleasantly impregnating the sheets.

Washing

Using the wrong type of wash can also make your sheets smell unfresh. For heavily dirty sheets, opt for longer wash cycles to ensure thorough cleaning and freshness.

Stains

Connected to the previous point, if the sheet has several stains, it’s important to pre-treat the stains before starting the wash cycle. You can use a mixture of lemon and baking soda for effective stain removal.

Drying

Obviously, if you use the dryer, here too you will have to use the right program. But best of all would be to dry the sheets in the sun and in the open air.

Detergent

Finding the right balance with detergent is crucial. Using too little can result in less-than-clean sheets while using too much can lead to bad odors. The excess of the product, in fact, ends up retaining dirt and odors.