Having three little ones in the hot Arizona summer has made me realize something. Our house stinks. It's too hot to open windows and let it air out. The hot sweaty air, with garbage that seems to decompose the moment it's out of the fridge, with cloth diapers that always seem to need a good washing, and a cat that's stuck inside most of the time all combine to make our actually mostly clean house into one smelly place.
So this morning I said who cares about the electric bill? This place needs air. I opened all the windows I was able, turned on all the bathroom fans, the kitchen fan, the one ceiling fan, and the automatic fan on the AC. Diapers are being washed, catbox is getting scrubbed, trashcan is getting bleached.
Alas, I know this freshness is not destined to last. But for today, at least, we are going to bask in sweet smelling air.
4 comments:
This is why, for me, cloth diapers are only done for a stretch of time, and then given up once my nose has endured as much as it could. The past few days, Mary has been wetting her bed at night (she goes through periods where she's totally dry, then periods where she's always wet), and I could smell the urine-soaked clothes and sheets from my desk just outside the laundry room. It certainly was an incentive to do the laundry right away.
My husband especially has a sensitive nose, so for him I have to wash diapers more often than I normally would. Ladybug goes through those times too. Lately she's been dry, which I'm thankful for, but you're right. There are times when it seems she's always wet. And you know what else I've noticed? It doesn't matter how hot I wash towels, whether or not I use bleach, or whether or not they hang outside to dry (which I hate, because of the stiffness) they always seem to smell a little like mold. And I'm noticing it more with some of our other clothes as well. I'm curious if because it's so hot (and we keep our inside temp pretty warm) the mildew doesn't grow really fast. Now we don't have the humidity you all do, but do you notice this during the summer months?
Usually hanging them outside freshens them up for me when they smell moldy...or adding scented Bounce to the dryer. And I've been using Downy so that they are soft after line drying, which helps the smell too. Try adding vinegar to the rinse water as well. I've got bigger problems with my workout clothes which stink to high heaven, even after washing. I saw Tide had a "sports" detergent, but the store where I was did not have it in an HE "flavor". I soaked my shirts in vinegar water and that helped, until the next workout. Vinegar also helped me with the cloth diapers, so it really should help with moldy smells, too, right?
Yes! I tried vinegar in the final rinse today with the diapers (which in the small amount of time they had been sitting in the washer, seriously, like 5 minutes, they had all ready begun to smell) and they smell wonderful again. I know with some of my husbands really sweaty smelling things I use a cup of ammonia and that seems to help with that, but the mustiness is just awful.
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