Cleaning the Washing Machine

I love it when things are clean, but I hate cleaning. I am much more motivated to do some deep cleaning than the day-to-day cleaning the counters, vacuuming, etc.

I never knew that you needed to clean your washing machine until recently. We bought our washer/dryer about 6 years ago and I just never thought about cleaning it. Thankfully, I am addicted to Pinterest and saw this post on cleaning your top loader. I did this about 3 months ago and I was so excited to see what a difference this made (I know, I am a geek that gets excited about cleaning). It is recommended to do this every 6 months, but now that I notice how dirty the washer gets, and I have dirty boys and a black lab running around the house, I couldn’t wait 3 more months to clean.

Here are my before pics (I have no light in my laundry room so my pictures aren’t great)-

I used 1 quart of distilled vinegar and 1 quart of bleach.

First, I set the washer to the hottest setting and started the longest cycle.

I had to stand nearby and check for when the water filled the machine (I didn’t time it, but it was probably about 10-15 min). Then, I added 1 quart (4 cups) of bleach. I closed the lid and let it agitate for a minute. Then I let that sit for 1 hour.

After that, I closed the lid and let the whole cycle run through.

When that was done, I filled the machine with hot water like before and added 1 quart of distilled vinegar. I let this sit for an hour as well. While it was sitting, I dipped an old rag into the vinegar water and used that to wipe clean the lid, knobs and other spots that weren’t soaking.

After letting the cycle run all the way through again, it looked like I had a new washer! I keep pointing it out to my husband who ooh’s and ahh’s (he is well-trained ;)!