OK, I had read about his process for freshening bath towels using vinegar on several sites, and it seemed pretty far-fetched to me.  This weekend, as I was putting a load of towels in the wash, I decided to give it a try.  I have a HE top loading washer so I added about 1 1/2 cups of white vinegar and washed in the hottest water possible.  One challenge I have is that I have a high-capacity washer, but not a high-capacity dryer.  Don’t ask me how that happened!  It can take an entire afternoon to dry a load of towels, so although the instructions said to dry thoroughly in the dryer before hanging outside – I only dried about 50%. One good thing about living the in desert is that clothes hung outside can dry in a matter of minutes.  It has been 104-106 degrees this week, so imagine how fast my wet towels dried!

Once the towels were dry, I put them to “the sniffer test”.  I sniffed one stack of towels I already had clean and then a load of clothes done in vinegar before washing….there was a HUGE difference!  I never noticed the musty smell of my towels before I smelled a really clean load.  Try it next time you are doing laundry!

To freshen towels:

• Add 1 cup of white vinegar to your load of towels and wash with the hottest water possible – do not use any detergent or softener
• Once the cycle is complete, wash your towels as usual, using the hottest water
• Dry thoroughly in the dryer
• Hand outside in the sunshine for the afternoon – this is an important step!
• Fold your towels and administer the sniffer test!