Even though your washing machine is responsible for cleaning your clothes, every once in a while, your washing machine needs to be cleaned as well. If your washing machine is starting to smell funky, here is how you can get rid of that smell.

#1 Clean The Seals

Around the door of your front load washer is a thick rubber seal. The purpose of this rubber seal is to keep water from leaking out when you are using your washing machine. Unfortunately, moisture can also get stuck inside of the seal on your washing machine door, which can lead to a build-up of mold and mildew if you don't clean the seal on your door.

Take a dry rag and wrap it around your hand. Then, take your hand and reach inside of the seal on your washing machine. You may be able to flip the seal outward, or you may have to curl your hand around the seal to clean it. Run the rag or cleaning cloth along the seal, and be sure to push it all the way down to the bottom of the seal. Once you have cleaned about ¼ of the way around the door, rotate the cloth or rag to a clean spot and continue on. You should be able to remove any build-up mold and mildew this way.

Next, saturate your rag with some anti-mold cleaning solution and wipe around the inside and outside of the seal again. This will kill any mold and mildew that remained behind after you wiped it away.

Finally, use a dry rag again to be sure that you are not leaving any moisture behind as you clean.

#2 Clean The Basin & Hoses

To clean the basin of your washing machine, you are going to let your washer do most of the work. Put a cup of bleach into the detergent compartment on your washing machine; make sure that there is nothing inside of your washing machine. Then, set your washing machine to run the longest cycle with hot water, and add in an extra rinse cycle. This should kill any mold or mildew that may have been lurking inside of the basin.

You may to need to run another cycle again, this time without any bleach, to ensure that all the bleach residue is gone from your machine so you don't accidently bleach your next load of clothes that you put in your washer. This will also ensure that any remaining mold and mildew is killed. This process will clean the basin and hoses in your washing machine.

You can prevent your washing machine from getting dirty by repeating the cleaning steps above every few months or having your cleaning service repeat these steps for you. You can also help keep mold and mildew at bay by opening up your washing machine door and letting it air dry when you are done with a load; this allows the moisture to escape and prevents mold and mildew from taking hold. 

If the mold has gotten out of control for these simple steps, contact professionals, such as SLC Environmental.