This post is sponsored by Febreze.
While playing on a sports team is an essential part of being a kid, the smells that come with the equipment involved can really create a stink. Summertime is here, and the kids are playing outside and generally being more active, but their sports gear doesn’t have to stink up our closets, cars and gym bags. Today I’m sharing my tips on how we keep Vienna’s ballet gear fresh, pre- and post-practice.
Have you become a Bond Girl yet?
1. Take everything out of the gym bag and air it out after use, preferably outside in the sun for a deodorizing effect. Don’t leave used gear in an enclosed bag; make sure to empty it out as soon as you get home.
2. Between washes and for things that can’t be washed in a machine, spray sports uniforms, shoes, and bags with Febreze Fabric Refresher until they’re damp. Our ballet studio has Febreze in their costume closet too, so you know it works. Let air dry. Febreze FABRIC with OdorClear Technology cleans away odors in two simple ways: it seeks out tough odors and cleans them away by deactivating and replacing them with a light, fresh scent.
3. Leather ballet slippers can only be spot cleaned. Canvas ballet shoes can be washed in a machine on delicate with mild detergent (no bleach or fabric softener) and air dried.
4. Handwash any costumes or sports clothing made out of delicate fabrics such as lycra, spandex, tulle, cotton, linen, or knits. Wash more durable sports uniforms on the delicate cycle and hang dry to preserve the elasticity and color. Protect anything that could snag such as ballet tights in their own lingerie bag. If using a washing machine for sports clothing, use the delicate setting, avoid the bleach and fabric softener, and always hang dry. Get a laundry drying rack if you don’t have one already.
5. Use a clothes steamer for anything with wrinkles on it, or hang items next to your shower while it’s in use to gently get the wrinkles out.
6. Pretreat tougher stains, such as the darker spots on the bottoms of tights with a bar of soap in the sink.
7. Put smaller things in a plastic ziploc bag and place in the freezer for a few days. This is a trick I learned for making jeans last longer between washes too. The freezer helps get rid of bacteria.
8. Come up with a system on where to hang and store your kid’s sports gear. Our laundry room is in the garage, so that’s where things tend to stay for us. Install a sports gear hanging rack or even an open locker system (a.k.a. hall tree) for each person in the family.
9. Get your kids involved in the cleaning process. Not only does that mean one less task for you, but it teaches them how to take care of their stuff at a young age.
Share your tips in the comment section on how you manage and eliminate odors from your child’s youth sports gear!
Sponsored by Febreze. Thank you for supporting the brands I love that make this blog fun to write!
