/ Source : TODAY

If your washing machine is smelling worse than your sweaty workout shirt, it's time to give it a good cleaning. Yes, even washing machines get dirty, so it'south helpful to know how to clean washing machines.

Laundry soils, detergent and hard-water minerals build upwards in areas you lot can't see and mold and mildew tin can thrive in the washer lid and the door, according to green-cleaning jitney Leslie Reichert.

And then how do yous de-funk a washer? Reichert suggests using these easy green-cleaning tips every half dozen months to avoid any issues. Here'due south how to clean washing machines with vinegar and baking soda.

How to clean a front-loading washing machine:

What you'll need:

  • White cleaning vinegar
  • Spray bottle
  • Microfiber cloth
  • Baking soda

What you'll practice:

  1. The starting time footstep is cleaning the washing car with vinegar. But before cleaning the washer pulsate, spray the gasket with white vinegar and wipe with a damp microfiber textile. The safety gasket at the front of the washer, specially in a high-efficiency (HE) washer, accumulates water, hair, scum and mildew.
  2. Set the washer to the highest level and the hottest water temperature.
  3. Add two cups of white cleaning vinegar to detergent dispenser.
  4. Run information technology through a complete cycle.
  5. Run some other cycle on the highest level and at the hottest h2o temperature, this time calculation one-half cup of baking soda to the drum.
  6. When wheel is done, wipe inside pulsate of washer with a damp microfiber fabric.
  7. While you're at it, wipe down the forepart of the machine, too.

How to clean a top-loading washing auto:

What you lot'll need:

  • White cleaning vinegar
  • Microfiber fabric
  • Toothbrush
  • Baking soda

What you'll exercise:

  1. Set the washer to the highest level and the hottest setting.
  2. Hither's how to clean a summit-loading washer with vinegar: Add four cups of white vinegar to the wash cycle.
  3. After the cycle starts, pause the machine and allow information technology to sit down for an hour.
  4. During this time, wipe downwardly the top of the washer with a microfiber cloth dipped in the hot vinegar water.
  5. Use an quondam toothbrush to scrub the fabric softener and bleach dispensers.
  6. After an hr, go on the wash bicycle.
  7. Then run some other wash cycle using one loving cup of baking soda.
  8. At the end of the cycle, wipe the top inside of the washer tub with a microfiber material to remove any scum.

Ane concluding tip: Prevent mildew and mold past leaving the hat or door open when not in use.

Now that y'all know how to clean your washing machine, the washer will be ready to clean your clothes once more!

Using interviews with specialists, online reviews and personal experience, TODAY editors, writers and experts have care to recommend items we really like and hope yous'll enjoy! TODAY does accept chapter relationships with various online retailers. So, while every product is independently selected, if you buy something through our links, we may become a small share of the revenue.

This article was originally published on May viii, 2015.