Have you neglected to clean your washing machine? It can seem counter-intuitive at first — this is the machine that CLEANS things, so shouldn't it, by definition, be clean?
Nope. Dirt and grime from all of those dirty clothes doesn't wash away entirely and eventually builds up in your machine, as well as hard water minerals and possibly mold and mildew. So then you're essentially washing clothes in dirty water. Yuck.
The good news is, there's a cheap and easy fix. All you need is some white vinegar and a hot water cycle.
Run your machine on a hot cycle using about two cups of vinegar. Vinegar is great for cleaning and removing odors and as a bonus is non-toxic.
You should also consider scrubbing the inside of the machine with a vinegar and hot water mixture, including the soap dispenser, which gets especially gunky. Also get the rubber seals.
Another version, though similar, recommends using four cups of vinegar with the hottest setting and then pausing the cycle and letting it sit for an hour before continuing with the wash cycle. Then run it again, this time with one cup of baking soda.
