- 3 days ago
Stinky, musty towels usually need less soap, not more, and the fix is simpler than most people expect. Here the problem is traced to detergent buildup, trapped moisture, and residue left in the fibers, then shown how to reset towels with a hot white vinegar soak before washing them again with only a small amount of soap.
The method continues with a vinegar rinse instead of fabric softener, since softener can coat towels and reduce absorbency. The final step is just as important: dry towels completely, preferably on a line in the sun and moving air, so they come back fresh, soft, and truly clean. Stubborn odors can also be treated with hotter soaks, washing soda, or extra sun when needed.
Created for anyone searching for laundry tips, cleaning hacks, towel odor removal, musty towel fix, and simple home cleaning advice. It is especially useful for viewers looking for practical washing and drying tips, vinegar laundry tricks, and old-fashioned towel care that helps prevent bad smells from returning.
The method continues with a vinegar rinse instead of fabric softener, since softener can coat towels and reduce absorbency. The final step is just as important: dry towels completely, preferably on a line in the sun and moving air, so they come back fresh, soft, and truly clean. Stubborn odors can also be treated with hotter soaks, washing soda, or extra sun when needed.
Created for anyone searching for laundry tips, cleaning hacks, towel odor removal, musty towel fix, and simple home cleaning advice. It is especially useful for viewers looking for practical washing and drying tips, vinegar laundry tricks, and old-fashioned towel care that helps prevent bad smells from returning.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00There is a particular small misery in reaching for a clean towel, one you washed and folded
00:05away yourself, and finding it smells sour and musty and foul the moment it touches wet
00:12skin.
00:13You washed it, you know you washed it, and yet there is that stink.
00:17And most folks, faced with this, do the very worst thing.
00:22They scrub in more soap, thinking the towel is not clean enough, when more soap is the
00:28very cause of the whole trouble.
00:30So today I am going to show you the old way to get your stinky, musty towels truly clean
00:37and fresh again, and, just as important, the few plain things to do so they never go stinky
00:43on you again, the way my mother and grandmother kept a towel sweet with a tub, a little soap
00:49and the sun.
00:51And here is the good news, it costs almost nothing and undoes the mistake most folks are
00:56making without knowing.
00:58Let me show you.
01:00Here is the thing to understand first, for once you know the true cause, the whole cure
01:05makes plain sense and you will never make the mistake again.
01:09Why do towels go stinky?
01:11It is not, as you would think, that they are not clean enough.
01:15It is the opposite.
01:17It is too much soap.
01:19When you wash your towels with too much soap, more than the rinsing water can carry away,
01:24that extra soap does not all rinse out.
01:27It stays behind, dried into the fibres, sticky and tacky, whether you can feel it or not.
01:34And that sticky residue is the whole trouble, for it holds onto dirt and body oils and the
01:40load of bacteria wash after wash, and worst of all, it traps moisture down in the fibres,
01:46and it is that trapped damp and the bacteria breeding in it that make the sour, musty stink.
01:52So the stink is not too little soap, it is too much, built up and never rinsed out.
01:58And that means the cure is not more soap, ever, but to strip that built up soap right
02:04out of the towels.
02:06Once you understand that, everything I am about to show you follows plain as day.
02:12And mind, this holds however you do your wash, by hand in a tub as I do, or by machine
02:18as many
02:18of you do, the rule is the same, and so is the cure.
02:22Now let me give you the way of it, quick word before we go further.
02:26My name is Esther Yoda, and the old household ways handed down to me, the kind I am sharing
02:32today, and a great many more besides, are far more than I could ever fit into one video.
02:38I have gathered the whole of them into a book, and you will find it at EliasYoda.com.
02:44If today's tips serve you, that is where the rest of what my mother and grandmother taught
02:49me lives, all in the one place.
02:52Now to the towels.
02:53My grandmother had a saying that fits this exactly, and it is one I have given you before
02:58because it is true of so much.
03:00That more is not better, and the woman who overdoes a good thing spoils it.
03:05She meant that in so many of the household arts, folk think that if a little of a good
03:11thing helps, then more must help more, and it is not so.
03:15Too much soap fouls the wash.
03:17Too much water rots the root.
03:20Too much of near anything spoils what a right measure would have served.
03:24And the stinky towel is the very picture of it, spoiled not by too little soap, but by
03:30too much.
03:30So here is her kind of wisdom, the right measure, applied to your towels, the resetting, and
03:37the keeping.
03:38The first step is to reset the towels, to strip out all that built up soap and the stink with
03:44it.
03:45And here is the star of the whole thing, plain white vinegar.
03:49And the old way to use it is a good hot soak.
03:52So take a wash tub or a deep basin, or your washer drum if that is how you wash, and
03:57fill
03:58it with hot water, as hot as you have.
04:00I heat mine on the stove.
04:02Into that hot water pour a good cup or two of plain white vinegar.
04:07And no soap at all, none.
04:09For this is a reset, and the whole point is to strip the old soap out, not to add more.
04:15One cup for a mild musty smell, two for a badly stinky lot.
04:20Now put your towels down into it and press them under.
04:23And here is the heart of the old way.
04:26Let them soak.
04:27Leave them in that hot vinegar water a good long while, an hour or two, or even overnight
04:33for a bad lot.
04:34For the soaking is what does the work, far better than any quick washing.
04:39The vinegar, being a mild acid, wants time to sit in the fibers and dissolve that built-up
04:45soap residue loose, and out with the residue comes all the trapped stink and the bacteria
04:52and the grime.
04:53And do not crowd too many towels into too little water.
04:57Give them room, so the water can move among them and reach every part, three or four at
05:03a time, rather than a great packed mass.
05:07This hot vinegar soak is the very same reset I showed you for stiff towels and tired cloths,
05:13only done the old patient way, in the tub, with time.
05:19Now the second step, once they have had their good long soak, wring them out well of that
05:25vinegar water and wash them as you normally would.
05:28But here is the whole lesson made real, so heed it.
05:32Use only a very little soap, a small measure, and truly that is all you should ever use on
05:39towels.
05:39If you are like most and pour on a great heap of soap, you will build that residue right
05:46back up and be stinky again in no time.
05:49So a scant little measure of your plain soap, whether it is a bar soap grated, or the homemade
05:56laundry soap I showed you how to make, or whatever you wash with, just a little of it, and no
06:02more, ever.
06:04Wash them through, agitate them well in the wash water, by hand or by your wringer.
06:09And because you used so little soap, it carries out clean in the rinsing and leaves no residue
06:16behind to start the trouble over.
06:19And the rinsing matters, so mind it.
06:22Rinse your towels well, in clean water, until the water runs clear of soap.
06:28For a poor rinse leaves the very residue we are fighting.
06:33And here is a lovely old trick for that rinse.
06:36My grandmother's answer to the whole notion of a softener.
06:40Add a splash of vinegar, half a cup or so, to your final rinse water.
06:45For folk nowadays reach for a fabric softener to make a towel soft.
06:50And I will tell you plainly, never to do that.
06:54For a softener works by coating the fabric in a thin, waxy film.
06:59And on a towel, that film ruins the very soaking up that makes a towel a towel.
07:05So it no longer drinks the water, and it traps the odors and the damp inside, breeding the
07:11very stink you fight.
07:13So no softener, ever.
07:16The vinegar in the rinse is the true softener.
07:19It carries out the last of the soap and leaves the towels naturally soft and fully drinking.
07:25And you need not fear the smell, for the vinegar airs away to nothing as they dry.
07:31Vinegar in the rinse, never a softener.
07:35Now the third step, and this is the most important of all for keeping the stink away.
07:41And it is where the old way shines brightest, the drying.
07:45And the drying is the line and the sun.
07:49Get your towels bone dry completely, all the way through, and do it promptly.
07:56For here is the thing, the same wisdom I gave you for the pillows.
08:00A towel put away, even a little bit damp, will breed the musty stink, for it is folded up,
08:07and no air reaches the damp, and the bacteria breed in that trapped moisture.
08:13And the next time you reach for it, there is the sour smell again, all your work undone.
08:18So it must be dried all the way through, before it is folded away.
08:24And there is no finer drying in all the world than my grandmothers and mine.
08:29Hang your towels out on the line in the bright sun and the moving air.
08:34The sun and the wind together dry them clear through, and here is the wonder of it.
08:40The sunlight itself is a natural freshener and sweetener.
08:44It helps kill the very bacteria that cause the odor, and it bleaches and brightens the whites besides.
08:52And it leaves the towel smelling of nothing so much as clean itself, that sweet sunned linen smell that no
09:01bottle can buy.
09:02So hang them in the sun and never fold a damp towel away.
09:06And if a rainy stretch keeps you from the line, dry them fully by the stove or in the airing
09:13place, bone dry, before they are put away.
09:16For damp is the enemy, however you dry.
09:19And that is the whole reset, the hot vinegar soak to strip the residue and the stink,
09:25the wash with just a little soap, the vinegar rinse in place of a softener,
09:30and the thorough drying on the line in the sun.
09:34Do those, and your stinky, musty towels come back fresh and soft and clean and sweet as new.
09:42Now, what if you have done all of that?
09:44The soak and the wash and the good sunning, and a towel still stinks.
09:49Then the bacteria are stubbornly dug in, and you want something stronger.
09:54And here, I will give it to you the old, plain way.
09:57Pour boiling water over them in the tub and let them sit in it as it cools, for heat and
10:03time kill much.
10:04Or use washing soda, that plain old laundry mineral, a good soak in hot water with washing soda dissolved in
10:11it,
10:11which is stronger than vinegar at lifting the dug-in grime, though mind it is harsh,
10:16so wear gloves and keep it from the children.
10:19And the sun itself is a fine bleacher for a stubborn towel.
10:22Lay the damp towel right out on clean grass in the full sun for a day,
10:27and the sun draws and bleaches the stink and the stain out wonderfully.
10:32Use the vinegar soak first.
10:34For most times, it is the residue that must come out before anything else will work.
10:39And only go to these stronger old ways if the vinegar alone did not do it.
10:43And a plain word of safety, as ever.
10:46Keep to these plain, safe things, and never mix your vinegar with bleach.
10:51For an acid and bleach together make a poison gas.
10:54If ever you use a bleach at all, keep it far from your vinegar and rinse well between.
10:59And keep the washing soda, being harsh, off your bare skin and away from the little ones.
11:05Those plain cares, and your washing is safe.
11:07Now think a moment about why we came to fight stinky towels by pouring in ever more soap and softener
11:13and scented product.
11:15The very things that cause and worsen the trouble.
11:18When a tub of hot vinegar and a little soap and a line in the sun fix it for pennies.
11:23It is worse than a plot, for no one had to arrange it.
11:27There is a steady fortune in selling us the great cap of soap and the softener and the scent beads,
11:33and none at all in teaching us that too much soap is the whole trouble, a little vinegar the whole
11:38cure,
11:39and the free sun the finest finisher there is.
11:42So the plain old knowing, that the right measure serves and too much spoils,
11:47and the sun sweetens what no bottle can, just stopped being handed down,
11:52because no one profits by your using less of what they sell and drying for free on a line.
11:57My grandmother washed with a right measure and dried in the sun, and her linen smelled of nothing but clean.
12:04And somewhere between her day and ours, folk were taught to drown the wash in soap and scent,
12:09and wonder why it stinks.
12:11The mending of it is a tub of vinegar, a little soap and a sunny line.
12:16You soak your stinky towels in hot water and vinegar, no soap, a good long while,
12:21to strip the residue and the stink out.
12:24You wash them with just a small measure of plain soap,
12:27and rinse them well with a splash of vinegar in the rinse in place of any softener.
12:32You dry them bone dry on the line in the bright sun, which sweetens and freshens as it dries.
12:38You use a hotter soak or washing soda or the sun on the grass for a stubborn one.
12:43And you keep the stink from returning by using little soap always,
12:47rinsing well, wringing well, and getting them promptly onto the line,
12:51never letting damp towels sit in a heap.
12:54And your towels come up fresh and soft and sweet and drinking, and stay that way, for pennies.
13:00That is how it comes home.
13:02One soaked towel, one sunned line at a time.
13:06The keeping of your own household back in your own hands.
13:09So here is what I would ask of you.
13:11This week, take those stinky musty towels you have been fighting with more and more soap,
13:16and give them the hot vinegar soak, and the little soap wash, and the good long day on the line
13:22in the sun,
13:23the way I showed you.
13:24And then come back and tell me in the comments how fresh and soft they came back,
13:28and whether you were as surprised as most folk are, that less soap was the answer.
13:33For I do love to hear of a trouble fixed by doing less rather than more.
13:37And tell me too, while you are there, your county and the age of your house.
13:42For the damp climates make the thorough drying matter all the more,
13:46and the sunny ones make the line a joy.
13:48And I learn from every one of you how the washing goes where you live.
13:52And if your own mother or grandmother had a way of keeping the linen sweet that I have not named
13:57here,
13:57tell me that most of all.
13:59For that is how this goes.
14:01We share what we were given.
14:02I read every comment, and I learn from you the way the old women learned from one another across the
14:08fence line,
14:09one wash day and one season at a time.
14:12Next time I will show you how to wash and keep the rest of your linen sweet and soft
14:17and lasting the same old right measure way, the sheets and the everyday clothes,
14:22with a good soak and a little soap, and the vinegar and the sun rather than a cupboard of scented
14:27products,
14:27so that your whole wash comes up clean and sweet for pennies.
14:31There is a right and an old way to keep a household's linens that runs on a tub,
14:36a right measure, and a sunny line rather than a heavy hand with the soap and the softener.
14:41But this week, you start with the towels.
14:44You soak them in hot vinegar water with no soap, wash them with a scant bit of soap,
14:49rinse with vinegar in place of softener, and dry them bone dry on the line in the sun.
14:54And you will understand, as my grandmother did at her own wash tub, that more is not better,
15:00and that too much soap is what fouls a wash, that a stinky towel is spoiled not by too little
15:06soap,
15:06but by too much built up and never rinsed away, and that the cure is not more but less,
15:12a soak of vinegar to strip it clean, a right measure ever after, and the free sun to sweeten it.
15:18The household kept the plain old way is the one that remembers how the old women washed with a right
15:24measure
15:24and dried in the sun, and kept every towel and linen soft and sweet and smelling of nothing but clean.
15:31And that is a thing we are only just starting to remember.
15:34Thank you so much for watching you, your Dad!
15:34Bye!
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