Most people don’t realize this, but dirty laundry acts as a breeding ground for bacteria and odors! One of the quickest and easiest ways to keep your clothes smelling fresh is to clean your laundry basket.
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Cleaning different types of laundry baskets is something most people don’t think about. But as time passes, they will find themselves with a laundry basket that is dirty and unpleasant to have to look at every time they walk by it. Typically a dirty laundry basket isn’t on the cleaning to-do list since most don’t know how to clean it. Here are some tips to help you clean your laundry basket!
Are you supposed to clean laundry baskets?
The answer to this question is obviously yes. All the clothes you toss into your laundry basket from the day have all kinds of particles and dirt.
This especially transfers to the cloth or fabric-type laundry baskets. Kids are known for rolling in the dirt and all kinds of things, and who knows what else they pick up along the way.
Over time, our sweat and damp clothes sitting in our baskets lead to buildup.
How often should you clean your laundry basket?
I would add this to your deep cleaning task. This can be very different for everyone could be once a month or every quarter. But I would not recommend going more than 3 months without cleaning your laundry basket.
Cleaning your plastic hamper is simple you can use a mild soap to wash and scrub it out. You can take equal parts of hot water and 1 cup of baking soda per gallon of water and scrub with a bristle brush. You can steam clean the entire thing if you own a steam cleaner. Once you clean the inside, wipe it down with a dry cloth or leave it outside to dry.
Cleaning your polyester mesh hamper, use cold water and a mild detergent. You can also use the baking soda solution mentioned above as well.
Washing your fabric laundry bag or insert these are the second easiest to clean as you can toss them in the wash with your clothes which is perfect for keeping all the yuck out of your clean laundry.
Use a good detergent and add vinegar to the wash to remove any lasting odors. I also love using Oxi-Clean, Laundry booster, and Borax for any stains.
Clean a canvas laundry basket you can soak this in the bathtub with vinegar or scrub it down with Pine-sol and make sure to air dry it.
How do you get mold out of cloth laundry baskets?
If you have a laundry basket that won’t stain with the use of bleach you can take one part bleach and one part water to wash it down and out. Otherwise you can try using Pine-Sol as it if effective disinfectant and laundry approved. (Just look on the bottle it says it).
Laslty if it is warm enough outside try to get your laundry basket outside for a fresh linen bask in the sun. The sun’s ultraviolet kills mold.
How do you clean a fabric woven basket?
For the smaller type verisons you may be able to toss them in the machine. But for larger ones you will need to use a soft brush and wash it down either inside the bathtub or outside with the hose.
How to Disinfect a Laundry Hamper
We talked a bit about using Bleach and Pine-sol but another favorite non-toxic cleaner that will disinfect is Clean Smart Spray this is my go too for quick and easy disinfectant that is non-toxic and doesn’t irriate.
How to Remove Laundry Hamper Odor
There are a few ways to remove laundry hamper odor and keep them at bay until your next deep cleaning. Just drop these inside your baskets to help elimnate odor, mositure or keep your basket smelling fresh.
- Arm & Hammer Odor Busterz Balls
- Activated Bamboo Charcoal Air Purifying Bags Odor Absorber
- Scented Sachet Bags
But more importantly do laundry more often. And if laundry is a hassle then check out my post on how to reduce your laundry piles.
But remeber to avoid putting wet clothing inside your basket.
Should laundry baskets have holes?
A well-ventilated laundry basket is the best option. I will be the first to say that I have three different laundry baskets in my home. And my least favorite one is the cloth-based one that matches my daughter’s bedroom set.
It’s not well ventilated, and I have to clean that one more often.
When your laundry basket doesn’t have proper ventilation allowing moisture to escape. All the clothes you pile on that contain moisture makes them the perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew.
And that’s what happens with my daughter’s canvas basket. At some point, I will have to get a new one. But she placed her wet clothes inside, and I had no idea until later that she did and ended up having to scrub the basket.
The second thing is that when we remove our clothes from the dryer, they are hot. They can also omit moisture. And so ventilated or baskets overall hands down are the best.
No matter what laundry basket you choose it you want to keep it all as simple as possible and easy to clean use whatever kind of laundry basket you want for decorative purpose and just add a laundry liner inside and boom just toss it in the wash each time you do laundry. And then just add a rotating routine of washing/wiping down the basket it’s self every 3-6 months.