Does the armpit fabric of your t-shirts smell like the back of a hyena’s ass? Do your clean sports bras have that lingering pungent aroma that makes you wanna throw up in your mouth a little? Do any of your towels or dish clothes smell like a musty sewer rat sunbathing atop a heap of steamy, hot trash?

Then you need some vinegar, baby.

I have seen this trick around the web for a few years but never really paid it any attention. That is, until my kids threw some balled-up wet dish rags onto the laundry floor. I didn’t discover the rags until a day or two later. The rags smelled so dang terrible. GAH!!! 

First I tried to wash the the rags. But no luck. The rags were still as stank as ever.

Then I tried adding more detergent to the laundry. No luck again. The musty funk remained.

But alas! On the third try I added approximately 3/4 cup of vinegar to the laundry, and wallah!! Holy shizzz, it worked. It freakin’ worked! The smell was gone. In fact, the rags smelled way better than they have in a very long time.

What exactly is the science behind this? Vinegar kills odor-causing bacteria. For years I’ve been doing this trick right here to keep my sports bras smelling fresh, but adding vinegar to the laundry is an extra layer of anti-funk protection to make your sports bras last even longer.

If your clean clothes are suffering from any sort of stank that just won’t wash out, pick yourself up a $2 gallon of vinegar. Unless you have some sort of ungodly level of funk that defies all of nature, this cheap and easy vinegar trick might work for you. We also use vinegar at our house to clean and disinfect the kitchen countertops, and to freshen up the bathroom sink and toilets in-between cleanings.

BONUS TIP: Use Apple Cider Vinegar to avoid the stomach bug. Find out more about it in my post, Proven Methods to Avoid Stomach Flu. There are over 200 comments on this post with insights from readers who have used this method to keep their family well throughout stomach flu season.

Edit: Thank you LaShaune D. for pointing out to me on Facebook that baking soda is a great little addition to fight off the stankiness as well. Try that in addition to the vinegar!