How to Remove Musty Mildewy Smell from Clothes

 

Last month our basement breaker tripped and we were unaware that we lost power to our two sump pumps.  As a result, the basement flooded.  Needless to say, it was a mess.  The water was 4" to 5" deep throughout, so anything that was not in plastic boxes or up on shelves was soaked.  Including all the flattened moving boxes I had saved for when we moved again.  I wanted to pull my hair out and cry!  As if we didn't have enough work to do in the spring, now this!

Some of our stuff was up off the floor, but there were many boxes of stuff that were not.  Some of my nicer dress clothes and shoes that I rarely wear, a few large boxes of clothes that were earmarked to be donated, as they were too large, and a box of spring/fall jackets that were stored down there because they were out of season. I also had a few nice throw rugs and more craft supplies than I ever remember having!  

On top of all that the smell was awful.  A musty, mildewy wet odor that smelled exactly like what it was: wet basement.  If you've ever smelled it, you would not forget it.  UGH!  The clothes were the worst.  The smell of those wet clothes was just gross!  So after sorting everything (it really is amazing when you go through basement stuff, you find things that you never knew you had or still had) I filled a giant plastic tote with clothes and took them upstairs to wash.  I figured washing them would take care of the smell and then I could just repack them for storage or donation.  After washing a couple loads, I took a sniff and EWWWWW!!  They still had that awful smell, somewhat reduced but definitely still there.  

I was at a loss as to what to do, so I decided to take a look online and see if I could find some help on getting rid of "wet basement smell" on clothes.  I looked at many articles, blogs even on Reddit.  There didn't seem to be any guaranteed way that everyone recommended.  I decided to make my own method and see if it would work.  I sent my husband to the store and told him to pick up Tide Odor Defense Plus Oxi Liquid Laundry Detergent and also some Downey Scent Beads, preferably a floral scent.

I put a load of laundry in, poured in 3/4 a cap of Tide and half a cap of scent beads.  I washed them in warm water. (don't wash in cold, the beads will not melt)  When I pulled them out of the washer, they smelled wonderful!  Many of the items I dried on hanger, but some I did dry and they came out of the dryer smelling even better!

It Worked!

Not only was the smell gone but any stains from the dirty water were also completely gone!  I was thrilled.  It was gentle on my dressy clothes but did a great job on both odor and stains, even on blue jeans.  It was win/win for this problem, for sure!

That's my story of how I defeated musty, mildewy smells on clothes from my basement flood.  Oh, one more thing, this combo even cleaned and deodorized my small throw rugs, so I didn't have to throw them away.  That made me very happy, as good throw rugs are expensive to replace!  

So if you ever have the misfortune of a flooded basement, you know what to buy to save much of your stuff!