Cleaning The Washer

Well first things first. Sorry for not posting two times a week like I promised but things got a little crazy this week. It's nuts because when you become a stay at home mom, you think you have all this time on your hands. Well that isn't the case. There always seems to be some sort of running around or errand that needs to be run, something needs to be cleaned, and someone wants you to do something for them. It's a never ending battle. But I love it!!!
 
Like this week I watched two babies a few days this week. As well as my great nephew. I also did a few hair cuts and colored hair also this week. Which leads me to my hair... It's still not colored. This also leads me to my story of how I cleaned my washer.

Last night while my husband was at work. I thought it would be a good idea to color my hair. (I should also mention I have a mini salon in my basement.) So I went down stairs to check on my color supply and see if I had the color I needed. As it so happened I didn't. So instead I waxed my eyebrows and lip.

But as I was downstairs in our basement playing beauty shop. I got the idea that I should clean the washer. It was also suggested to me before this that we should probably clean it. I should also mention that I'm not the one that usually does laundry in our house, my husband does. When we first moved in together, I asked him what job he wanted: laundry or dishes? Being he knows how much I hate laundry and how much he hates dishes, I feel it was a fair compromise.

On to the cleaning story and how to clean your washer. I have cleaned the washer one other time before but that was about a year ago. I have read that you should clean your washer two or three times a year. My suggestion is as often as needed. I normally clean it when things get a funky smell or if I don't like how it looks. So about once or twice a year.

Cleaning a washer is a little time consuming but is super easy. I will give you a list of things you need. I use bleach and vinegar but not at the same time!!! If you don't want to use bleach you could just do a vinegar cycle, but I kinda like the hint of bleach smell.

You need:
1-2 Cups bleach
2 Cups vinegar
A cloth or sponge to wipe it down
A toothbrush (optional) to get in the nooks and crannies.

Set your washer on the hottest setting and let it fill up with water. Once it is full of hot water pour bleach in washer. Let it sit for about a hour. (I ended up letting it sit for about two hours because I started watching TV.) Then come back and let it finish its cycle.

After that is done fill the machine back up just like you would with a new load of laundry except your washer is empty. Let it fill up with water like you did before and this time pour vinegar into the hot water and let sit for a hour. (I also ended up letting this sit for about two hours. I was talking to my mom this time)

After the time is up then all you have to do is get your cloth or sponge and with the vinegar water sitting in the machine use it to wipe the machine down. You can take the fabric softener thingy out and let it soak in the water as well, which is what I did. Make sure you wipe the inside as well as the outside.

It's amazing how dirty a washer gets but once your done it will look good as new! So after cleaning and wiping everything down to get it all pretty again, just start the washer like you did with the bleach. After that load is finished, you will have a beautiful washer and it won't have a funky smell.


This is a before picture of the washer. Yuck!!!

This is after being cleaned. Pretty!!!

 

 

If you have a high efficiency washer you can do the same thing but l would use less bleach and vinegar for each cycle. Also make sure you wipe down in between the rubber rings in those things because they can get super nasty and smell moldy after a while.

I hope you enjoyed this. I like sharing my projects with you. Next week I'm going to work on the new baby's bedding. I will post pictures of the progress. Should be fun!!! See you next week.

Sarah