Frugal Friday--Save the Towels

I sometimes get personal here and today is going to be one of those days.  Have your towels ever gotten that funk?  I mean that stinky moldy smell that just won't go away no matter how many times you wash the towel?  

I hope it's never happened to you, but I have a feeling I'm not alone.  

I'm happy to report I have found the solution.  


I used to have these fabulous lavender towels.  They were great.  Wonderfully absorbent, crisp yet fluffy, great color; really everything you could want from a towel.  Then they got the funk.  

Finally, one Saturday I had had enough and I decided that I would just cut off one end of the towel and turn the towel into a few cleaning rags... you know for those desperate moments when I do actually clean something.  

Then the craziest thing happened, I used bleach on my new rag, it didn't fade the towel AND the stink went away.  WHAT?  Yep so I tried it out on some more towels that were starting down that bad path and figured the worst that could happen is that I would have some more rags.  

Turns out that 1/4 c bleach + cold water wash + detergent + stinky towels = no more stink-i-ness.  

In full-disclosure I have had a few spots on my dark green towels that faded a little (something into a shade of pink, which I'm told is better than 50 shades of gray), and then my multi-colored towels have a little fade spot too, but it's not noticeable.  

So do this

and avoid having your towels come out like this.