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How To Keep Your Dish Rags Clean

Kitchen rags or dish rags are the most overlooked pieces of clothing in the house. This is surprising because they are the most used around the kitchen. We use them to clean countertops, wipe dishes after cleaning and generally used while cooking to hold hot lids and wipe away spills. You cannot afford to ignore a dish rag after use and they need to be kept clean at all times. Rinsing and hanging them up is not enough and they need time to be properly cleaned to avoid a bad smell. Dish rags are very sensitive and if left an unattended they can be a breeding area for kitchen bacteria which causes a bad smell.

If not cared for, dirty dish rags at home can spread bacteria around, putting you and your family at risk of getting diseases. Here are some tips on how you can take care of your kitchen rags and how to keep them from smelling before your pickup and delivery dry cleaner in Chicago comes for the next batch of laundry.

Have a ton of dish rags



You can never have enough of dish rags in your home. The reason is that you need as many as you can so that you can regularly change them after use. It is recommended that you change dish rags at least once a day. This not only guarantees hygiene around your kitchen but also reduces the chance of your rag having that bad smell that comes from too much use.

As you go shopping for dish rags, check that you buy thinner rags which are lighter in weight rather than standard cloth. Thinner rags are easier to clean and they take a shorter period to dry so this means you can find a place in your kitchen to hang them once you clean and rinse them.

Boil dish rags once a week

The reason why you need to boil dish rags is to avoid buildup of bacteria and to deal with stubborn smells. All you need to do is clean your dish rags and let them dry first. After they dry, boil water in a large pot and add about half a cup of white vinegar. Put your clean dish rags in the water and let them boil for fifteen minutes. This way all the bacteria, mildew and mold that may have formed get killed. Remove the pot and allow it cool off then wring the dish rags and hang them on drying rack.

Laundering dish rags

If you have the high-temperature cycle washing machine then laundering your dish rags will ensure that your rags don’t build up on smell. All you need to do is set aside all your dish rags and do not mix with any other laundry. Set your washing machine to very hot temperature for the wash and rinse cycle ensuring that your cycle is set for a long time. Add one cup of vinegar and your usual detergent.  When done, dry them at very high heat which helps to eliminate the smell.

How to store unwashed dish rags

You may not have time to wash your dish rags as often as you would like and piling them up gives the bacteria time to form and in turn, you get a bad smell. You can sort this problem by taking your dirty dish rags and put them in a plastic bag and seal them off nicely. Then put them in your freezer until you get the time to wash them. The cold temperatures prevent mildew, bacteria and molds from growing. Ensure that the plastic bags are well labeled so that they don’t get mistaken for food.

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