Cheap Tricks: $4 Home Remedies for Icky, Stinky Gym Clothes
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You use your gym clothes more frequently than any other garments in your closet—except, perhaps, your favorite jeans. Simply washing workout clothes, however, is not enough to keep a diehard fitness fanatic’s gear in tip-top shape. Sure, you can spend a lot of money on detergents formulated to eliminate the odors from your Lulu faves, but you probably have a cheaper solution sitting in your pantry right now. Here are four, easy-to-find grocery store laundry alternatives for when your standard detergent isn’t getting the job done.
White Vinegar
White vinegar is the solution to 80% of cleaning problems. Smelly gym clothes and cycling shoes? Not anymore. Dusty Burning Man gear? Clean. Add one cup of vinegar per gallon of warm water. Or, take a more liberal approach, pour a detergent cap of white vinegar into the wash with your regular detergent. Don’t forget, you should always wash gym clothes in cold water.
Baking soda
Adding about 1/2 cup of baking soda to your regular detergent when washing stinky clothes helps minimize that post-gym funk. Just toss it into the water when your washer is filling. Baking soda can also help rehab a well-loved pair of cycling shoes. Try a solution of water and baking soda, and liberally spritzed the inside of the shoes. While it can neutralize odors, it will also leave a gritty residue in your shoes; give yourself time to shake/wipe out your shoes before your next Spin class.
Image via Wikimedia/Creative Commons
Lemon juice
Lemon juice is a first-rate cleaning agent, which is why so many commercial cleaning products use it. Because it can work as a bleaching agent, you’ll want to add lemon juice to the water before you add your clothes to the wash, just as you would with chlorine bleach. Your clothes will come out citrus fresh.
Dryer sheets
While white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice will help remove odors, dryer sheets will keep the bad smells at bay. Instructors often suggest stuffing your cycling shoes or boxing gloves with dryer sheets to keep them smelling better. Really, this could work to neutralize trapped odors for any kind of enclosed gear.
Workout gear is expensive. You may have to replace running shoes every six months, (or less), but proper care can extend the life of your cycling shoes, weight training gloves, hand wraps, and gloves.
Got another cheap laundry trick? Hit us up at rockytstyle@gmail.com.