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The original was posted on /r/japanlife by /u/nidontknow on 2023-09-27 05:41:02.

Despite regularly cleaning my laundry machine with specialized cleaners, always keeping it open to air dry, and running the “self cleaning + ion” function, I could never manage to stop some laundry (specifically hand towels and bath towels) from smelling funky. They’d always smell fine after hang drying, but as soon as the hand towel would get wet, it started smelling musty/rank.

My solution:I started adding bleach to my daily laundry in very small amounts. I use a .5:1000 bleach:water ratio. For example, when I put my load in, I push the start button and it tells me “20L” of water will be used. I then measure out 10ml of bleach and add it to my detergent cup with the detergent.I make sure that any white clothing/towels are on the top layer of laundry underneath where the water will pour into the drum - just incase.

(By the way, I tested most of my colored items of clothing with a bleach/water mix on an inconspicuous part of item. There was no effect, so I moved forward with adding it to the laundry. I’d recommend you do the same. Here is how you do it )

**The Result:**Fantastic!!! I’ve been doing this daily for two weeks and my laundry smells great. None of my colors have been damaged. I switched to washing my bath towel every other day, and still no mustiness at all.

I’ve had only 1 issue where there was some color bleeding. It was a new green sweater, and it turned some of my whites a little minty. The colors of the minty whites have since washed out and our now back to normal. This is a game changer for me.

Proceed with caution though.

I’m not too particular with most of my clothing, but if there is something of my wife’s that she’s really keen on, I’ll skip the bleach for that load.