Try lavender water.
Add lavender water to a spray bottle and give your laundry a quick spritz before throwing it into the washer. Just enough scent will remain after drying to keep it smelling fresh for a long time. Don't love lavender? Try your favorite essential oil.
Rethink Your Washing Habits
A common mistake when it comes to doing the laundry is using too much, or too little, detergent. Too much can mean that the detergent isn't fully rinsed from the clothes and could create a bad odour, while too little could mean that your clothes aren't being cleaned properly.
Add a few drops of your favorite scented oil to a small spray bottle. Fill it with water and give it a few shakes. Mist your dirty clothes with it before adding them to the washer. Use scented detergents or laundry soap.
If your clothes aren't smelling fresh when they come out of your washing machine, it's probably down to a buildup of detergent, dirt or limescale inside your machine. The biggest symptom of this is your laundry smelling damp or musty, even when dry, as well as an unpleasant smell coming from inside your machine.
Baking soda is a natural deodorizer and brightener, and it's probably already in your pantry. To make your laundry detergent work harder, add 1/2 cup of baking soda to the rinse cycle of your washing machine.
If you're using a dryer, then make your clothes smell even better when they come out of the dryer by adding some Gain Dryer Sheets. Dryer sheets help give your clothes an even fresher scent. Add one dryer sheet for regular loads, or two dryer sheets for large and HE full loads.
Baking soda in the laundry can be a great addition for a natural fabric softener or controlling excess suds, while vinegar in laundry can be an amazing agent for getting those whites extra sparkling and banishing mildew odor. They help even the best laundry detergents to be more effective.
Once the washer is filled, before the wash cycle starts, drop in a cup of vinegar. Let it dilute for a moment, then add a half of a cup of baking soda. Run the washer, and dry as normal. Your towels will be recharged and like new, or better than ever!
Mold and Mildew Removal: Distilled white vinegar is powerful for removing mold or mildew from fabrics. Odor Removal: Using vinegar in laundry is also excellent at removing product buildup that can trap odor-causing bacteria, causing freshly laundered items to come out of the wash, smelling less than clean.
If you want to add vinegar to your laundry to help clean and deodorize your clothes, pour 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar into your washing machine instead of the detergent you would normally use. You can also pour 1 cup of vinegar into the last rinse cycle to act as a natural fabric softener.
What laundry detergent smell lasts the longest? The “Spring Meadow” scented Tide Pods are probably the best smelling long lasting laundry detergent because they leave you with clean clothes and fresh floral notes that last longer than many of the other scents on this list.
Mold & Mildew Odor: Why Your Laundry Smells Bad After Drying
You may have excess moisture build-up if you wait too long to transfer your clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. Or, extra moisture can build up and lead to mold growth if you forget to turn the dryer on and leave damp clothing in it for too long.
Signs Your Clothes Were Left in the Washer for Too Long
"That mold and that bacteria that starts to grow on damp clothes and environments, that's very pungent." Even if one item of the bunch smells, it's a good indicator that the entire load needs to be re-washed.
Take a clean cloth and dip it in some distilled white vinegar. Clean the inside of your dryer with this damp cloth and make sure that you wipe every inch. This includes the door, and the area under the rubber gasket in the door seal.
Mix a solution of one part vinegar or bleach to two parts water in a bucket or an empty spray bottle. Dampen a towel with the solution and wipe the interior of the drum, the door, and the rubber seal. Leave the door open and let the solution dry completely.
Leaving wet laundry in the washing machine means the fabric can't 'breathe' Leaving wet or damp laundry in the tumble dryer will also cause clothing to smell. Storing clothing in enclosed spaces (drawers/wardrobes) while they are still damp.