18+ Secrets for How to Make Your Laundry Smell Good

There is nothing better than clean clothes smelling good as you carry them from the laundry room.

If you’re unsure of how to make your laundry smell good, and for longer, this post is for you. Stay with me as I share a ton of tried-and-true hacks for fresh-smelling clothes you’ll wish you’d known sooner.

We all do laundry with the hopes that every load will meet our expectations — come out of the dryer smelling fresher than spring.

But if you’ve lost count of the times you’ve gotten a whiff of a musty smell on your just-cleaned laundry, you’d want to know how to keep this smell away for good.

Here’s some good news — this is a problem you can easily solve by familiarizing yourself with the little-known secrets to great-smelling laundry.

Ready to learn more about how to make laundry smell good? Let’s get into it!

How to Make Your Laundry Smell Good:

Add laundry and detergent first if possible.
Don’t overfill the washer with too many clothes.
Spray some essential oils on your dirty clothes.
Move your clothes into the dryer straight away.
Clean stinky clothes straight away and don’t let them sit.
Pretreat smell stains.
Use odor eliminating products.
Launder towels separately from clothes.

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Best Ways to Keep Your Clothes Smelling Good

When it comes to cleaning tasks, doing laundry ranks somewhere close to zero on the “fun chores” scale. But when the outcome is great-smelling laundry, it’s tempting to push this task’s score a little up the scale.

We all enjoy clean-smelling clothes — there’s just something calming about the lingering fresh scent of clean laundry.

Fortunately, there are many ways to make your clothes smell fresher than ever.

Here are different ways to make your laundry smell good after every laundry session:

Before and While in the Washing Machine

Tip #1 Put Water and Detergent First

It’s best to add water and detergent before tossing your dirty clothes into the washing machine. obviously, you can only do this with a top loading machine, and not a front loading washing machine!

Doing so allows the detergent to spread evenly in the water so that when your clothes get it, they can be cleaned thoroughly, leaving no room for musty smells.

It’s also worth noting that dirty laundry doesn’t call for excess laundry detergent or fabric softener. Using too much cleaning product causes product build-up on clothes, which attracts smelly bacteria and mildew.

If you have had that happen, click here and find out how to get rid of the smells in your washing machine.

Tip #2 Don’t Overfill Your Washer

When you overload your washing machine, your laundry won’t get evenly cleaned since detergent and water can’t move freely in an overfilled washer.

Try adding different amounts of clothing until you find the amunt that works for you.

Unevenly cleaned clothes will have that unpleasant smell you dread. This is why you need to stick to smaller loads of laundry at a time.

Tip #3 Try Out A Scent Booster

Another brilliant hack to make your clothes smell good is scenting dirty laundry before loading them into the washing machine.

To do this, you can buy a booster or make your own.

For a homemade booster, simply add a few drops of fresh-smelling essential oil into a spray bottle, add water, and shake the bottle well. Spritz this solution on the dirty clothes, then toss them into the washer.

Tip #4 Shift Your Load Right Away

Guilty of leaving wet clothes to sit in the washer for hours?

When you leave wet clothes in the washing machine for too long, odor-causing mildew will have a field day with your laundry.

Remember, the environment in your washer is warm and humid — the perfect environment for musty smells to occur.

So, if you want to make your laundry smell good, make sure you always shift the load of clothes immediately after the wash cycle ends.

Tip #5 Eliminate Musty Smells

To keep your clothes from smelling musty, here are a few tips to prevent this:

Always clean all the stinky clothes right away instead of letting them sit with the rest in the hamper for too long.
Rewash any clean wet clothes you had left sitting in the washer. They might have developed a funky smell while in the washer, so cleaning them again will help get rid of all the unplesant odors and make your laundry smell good.
When you finish using your washer or dryer, make sure you leave the door open for a couple of minutes to usher out all the musty smells.
Wash your washing machine once a month

Tip #6 Pretreat Smelly Stains

Don’t toss any stained clothing in your washer before clearing all the stains. Otherwise, the odor from the stains will spread to the other clothes.

To clear the stain, make a thick paste by mixing about a tablespoon of baking soda (or more, depending on the stain’s size) with a bit of water.

Baking soda is a super effective odor conqueror. Apply the baking soda paste on the stain, let it sit for a couple of minutes, then load the pretreated clothes in your washer.

Tip #7 Use Odor-Eliminating Products

Not all laundry detergents can get the stink out of smelly clothes completely.

Fortunately, there are several odor-eliminating detergents on the market that help deodorize clothes and give them a nice smell.

If you’re unsatisfied with the effectiveness of your current detergent, give an odor-eliminating laundry detergent a try.

Tip #8 Launder Towels Separately From Clothing

I get it. Combining different loads of laundry helps save time……..and energy.

But it’s not a smart idea to mix towels and ordinary clothes in the washer. Unclean towels often have a damp, musty smell that can transfer to the rest of the clothes.

If you want great-smelling laundry, you need to wash your clothes and towels separately in your washing machine.

In the Dryer

Tip #1 Use Wool Dryer Balls

To make laundry smell fresh after coming out of the dryer, make use of wool dryer balls.

These balls are designed to help clothes dry faster (and completely), which is a good thing since poorly dried clothes tend to emit a musty smell.

Tip #2 Try Out Scented Wool Dryer Balls

Scented dryer balls are known to make laundry smell amazing.

If you’re not lucky to find scented wool dryer balls in the store, you can still buy the fragrance-free ones and make use of your preferred essential oil to give the dryer balls a refreshing scent.

It’s easy breezy — before tossing these balls into the dryer, pour a few drops of fresh-smelling essential oil on them to make them fragrant.

These scented balls will make your clothes smell heavenly.

Tip #3 Let Your Clothes Dry Completely

Give your dryer enough time to dry the clothes completely. Otherwise, your unevenly dried clothes will leave the dryer with an unpleasant odor.

And for the best results, consider air drying your clothes when they come out of the dryer. The fresh air outside will help preserve the nice smell on your laundry and clear any funky smells.

Also, make sure not to overload the dryer. Your clothes need enough room to tumble freely and dry effectively, Drying your clothes all the way will keep your clothes smelling nicely.

Tip #4 Get An Awesome Fabric Softener

To keep your laundry smelling fresh and clean longer than usual, get a high-quality fabric softener. You’ll notice a huge improvement in how your laundry smells after cleaning. You may need to try different fabric softeners to see which ones work for your amily. I am allergic to a nice smelling fabric softener, unfortunately a fabric softener gets me all itchy. So be prepared to try some different ones to make your laundry smell good.

Tip #5 Give Natural Fragrances A Try

Another easy way to make your clothes smell great and have a long-lasting freshness is to use natural fragrances like lavender water or natural peppermint laundry soap instead of synthetic fabric softeners.

If you have lavender water, you can use it on your laundry’s final rinse cycle, spritz it on your clean laundry during ironing, or spray it lightly on your clean clothing when you hang them up.

Doing any of these will leave your clothes smelling fresh.

How to Make Your Clothes Continue Smelling Fresh Like Fabric Softener

fI you have ever wondered how to make your laundry smell good when you’re out of fabric softener, we have the answer for you.

Reusable fabric lavender dryer bags can do this job very well.

These are simply small, well-sealed muslin bags with dried lavender inside. But small as they are, they have lots of benefits.

Fabric lavender dryer bags will keep your clothes smelling amazing long after leaving the dryer.

All you need to do is toss a few bags into the dryer with the damp clothes and get ready to smell the best smelling laundry every!

How to Get Rid of Musty Washing Machine Smell

Does it always seem as though your clean laundry never smells fresh despite doing everything right?

The problem could be your washing machine.

Washing machines do get dirty. Dirty water and detergent residues from clothes can linger in a machine that’s hardly cleaned.

This can create a breeding ground for mold and mildew, so every time you load the clothes, they’ll come out smelling anything but fresh.

The solution? Clean your washing machine. Well-cleaned machines make clothes smell good.

To keep your washing machine from smelling, follow these steps as you clean it:

Pour about two cups of white vinegar into the detergent drawer
Run the machine on a hot water cycle (without any laundry in it)
Once the cycle ends, pour about half a cup of baking soda into the drum, set the hot water cycle again, and let it run. This will help get rid of the vinegar smell.
Leave the door open for some time to allow your machine to air dry.
Or you can use washing machine cleaner tablets and wash your machine once per month, this will help to make your clothes continue to smell good.

How to Make Your Laundry Smell Good: DIY Projects For Great-Smelling Clothes

If you’re all about the DIY life, here are a few easy DIY ideas for clean-smelling clothes that you should definitely try out:

#1 DIY Liquid Fabric Softener

To make a homemade fabric softener, follow these simple steps:

Mix around six cups of white vinegar, three cups of cold water, and two cups of a hair conditioner that smells amazing.
Add about a ¼ cup of this product for every laundry load

#2 DIY Dryer Sheets

Here’s how to make dryer sheets at home:

Cut a few squares of fabric from a lint-free piece of clothing. For instance, a clean, white cotton T-shirt you don’t wear.
Grab a jar, and pour some clean water into it, followed by a few drops of fresh-smelling essential oil. If you don’t have essential oil, add a high-quality fabric softener to the container in place of water.
Drop the dryer sheets in the solution, and let them soak for a few minutes.
Grab one or two homemade dryer sheets, squeeze them to get rid of the excess solution, and throw them in the dryer with your laundry.

Once you remove the clothes from the dryer, return the used dryer sheets to the jar for later use ( seal the jar well).

The above tips will definitely help to make your clothes smell awesome!

#3 DIY Scented Crystals

To make scented crystals, you’ll only need two key ingredients — essential oil and Epsom salts.

Here’s how to go about this:

Transfer about two cups of Epsom salts into a glass jar
Add several drops of your favorite essential oil into the jar. If you’d like to create your own signature scent, feel free to mix different essential oils.
Close the jar, then give it a good shake to mix the two products evenly
Add about 2 or 3 tablespoons of the scented Epsom salts to your laundry’s rinse wash cycle

#4 Homemade Citrus Oils

Another simple way to make clothes smell good is by using citrus oil. To make citrus oil for your laundry, follow these steps:

Get a couple of oranges and remove the peel from each of them
Place the citrus peels in a small saucepan, add some olive oil, and let them heat up on low heat for a few minutes.
Let the mixture cool down, then use a funnel to separate the peels from the citrus-flavored oil. Transfer the citrus oil into an airtight bottle (you can refrigerate it).
To use, add a few drops of citrus oil right after adding laundry detergent.

Doing this will help to make your laundry smell good – big time!

#5 Save Money With Scented Paper Towels

.Here’s how to make (and use) scented paper towels for laundry at home:

Grab a couple of paper towels and pour a few drops of your preferred essential oils on them.
Throw the scented paper towels in the dryer together with your clean laundry. You can reuse these scented paper towels next time if they’re still in good shape.

How to Get Fresh Smelling Laundry: Final Thoughts

There you have it — 18+ different ways on how to make your laundry smell good.

There is nothing nicer than fresh laundry scent on just-cleaned-and-dried laundry. When your clothes come out of the laundry room smelling anything other than good, it’s kind of deflating.

You just washed the clothes, shouldn’t they smell good?

Luckily, this will no longer be an issue for you because I’ve filled you in on the best tips on how to make your laundry smell amazing every single time.

There are many different ways for how to make your laundry smell good, and the key is finding the method that works best for you.

Whether you prefer using scented detergents, adding essential oils to your load, or hanging your clothes outside to dry, the goal is to make your laundry smell fresh and clean.

With a little bit of effort and experimentation, you can figure out which method works to help make your clothes smell good every time.

What’s dod you do to keep your clothes smelling good? And how do you keep all the musty smells at bay? Please share your experience with us in the comments below!

18+ Secrets for How to Make Your Laundry Smell Good

How to Make Your Laundry Smell Good:

Best Ways to Keep Your Clothes Smelling Good