Spook Edwards, 126

So I was in the Hobbit Hole the other day and found a super cute shirt, totally riap roi, but it smelled like the bottom of a baboon’s cage.  I figured that after washing it’d be fine, but this was not the case. After three washes it still smelled!  I ended up asking one of my friends, who cleans houses for a living, what works to remove odors. She said to first try adding baking soda to the detergent. If you make your own detergent it should already have a healthy load of baking soda in it, just as natural toothpaste has a good amount.

However, this was an odor that wouldn’t die, so I ended up using a remedy she uses in the houses where chain-smokers live: simply soak the cloth to be washed/deodorized in plain white vinegar, then remove it and let it dry. Once it has dried, wash it again as you normally would and the odor, even smoke, will disappear!  Febreeze is also good, but leaves a perfumed smell and isn’t readily available here.

So the next time you’re in the Hobbit Hole and find something useful that smells like it came from the Bog of Eternal Stench, or if you’re about to give something away and it’s particularly odorous, try the vinegar trick!