I bet you never thought you needed to clean your washing machine. It cleans our clothes, so it must be clean, right!? Wrong!

Our washing machines need regular cleaning too. Here is how and why.

First, just a small tip about washing your laundry...

Did you know that washing all your laundry together is a big no-no?

Yes, a big no-no!! Washing your underwear with your other clothing can cause E. coli and other nasty bacteria to spread to the other items!!

 YUCK!!!

Also, washing your dish rags with those same clothes can spread germs and bacteria like salmonella! Who knew!!??

To fix this nasty problem, wash undies with your whites in HOT water and bleach, or a color safe bleach if you have pretty decorative undies! The bleach combined with the hot water is the only thing to kill E.coli.

Wash your kitchen towels and rags with your bath towels in hot water with a color safe bleach if needed, separate from the other laundry.

Moving on...

What about fabric softener build up? You never thought about that either? Here take a look at this.



 



This is the inside of my fabric softener compartment. This is all left over residue!

This is what I wiped off from those pieces. You would think it would just wash away with hot water, but it did not budge. 

It was thick and greasy!! Not like bacon grease, but slimy!

Ok, now that I have revealed my dirty washing machine, I need to tell you that I had cleaned this one month before I took these photos!!

I wanted to test to see how dirty my washing machine actually got in a months time. Well, now I know!!

After seeing this, I stopped using liquid fabric softener!! I sometimes use the fabric softener pellets or just plain white vinegar.

So now that you know why, here is the how!

You will need a small toothbrush, hot soapy water and 2 cups vinegar.

Make up your hot and soapy water and scrub your machine clean. After you do that, fill your washer with hot water and add your vinegar. Let it run a full wash cycle. 

All done!!

Now your washing machine is all clean and sanitized!

After reading this did you go look at your washing machine?? 

I bet you did!! :-)