Do you have a smelly travel towel? Soak it in vinegar to clean it up.
I have one of those microfiber travel towels. They’re great: they take very little space, dry up quickly, and after breaking in, they’re comfy, too. There’s just one problem with them: if you forget to let them dry, they will stink (like all towels) and it’s hard to get rid of the smell (unlike cotton towels).
This happened to me. I forgot my towel in the bag overnight and next morning it smelled like vomit. The smell didn’t go away even after washing the towel several times. In fact, the smell seemed to become even worse. I was ready to throw the towel away, but then a friend suggested using vinegar. I tried it and it worked great! The towel is non-stinky and usable again.
Here’s what I did:
- Submerge the towel into a solution of equal parts of vinegar and water. Leave it there for 24 hours.
- Rinse the towel.
- Wash it the usual way (machine wash warm).
I believe that using vinegar is a well-known method among the more experienced laundry-washers, yet my googling didn’t bring it up. Hopefully writing this down will help the next person with the same problem.