How can I prevent my t-shirts from picking up a funny odor in my dresser drawer? I'm told my dresser is maple

Question

I wash my t-shirts thoroughly, they smell great coming out of the washer and dryer, I fold them and stack them neatly in the dresser drawer. There's nothing in that drawer but clean t-shirts, yet whenever I pull one out, they always have an unattractive, odd smell to them. I often have to rewash one or spray it with Febreeze just to wear it, and Febreeze isn't completely effective.

Other clothes in the dresser pick up the odor too, but nothing ends up smelling as bad as my t-shirts. They seem to pick up the odor the worst, and of course they're worn closest to the face, so it's pretty difficult to ignore the scent. It's not a chemical or food-like odor, so I'm sure that it's about the wood. I'm told that my dresser is made of maple.

I'd considered sachets, but I wasn't sure if that would be effective enough to spend the money, or if there might be any other solutions, perhaps even some old-fashioned remedy from back in the day when more things were still made of real wood.

"anjelkake" and any other rude, ignorant people like her need to know that I am very quick to report idiotic, offensive behavior to Yahoo. I'm not rude or stupid in my posts, so I give no one cause to be rude to me. If you want to be stupid, go do it elsewhere.

Answer 1

I would buy some drawer liners. They come in beautiful colors and prints and have a nice feminine scent. This would keep your clothes from laying on the wood. You could also tuck some new dryer sheets between or around your shirts. An open box of baking soda might absorb some of the odor before it gets into the fabric of the clothes. If you get very desperate, you could try sealing the wood inside the drawers. Go to a paint store and ask them what to use on maple. I know what you mean about the wood smell. I don't like it, either.

Answer 2

You could put a good smelling bar of soap in the drawer, baking soda might help , and dryer sheets would help. But first I would line the drawer with some liner paper and below the paper I would sprinkle a generous amount of carpet deodorizer ( Like carpet fresh, )under the liner paper . They have flowery or vanilla fragrance . If the odor is from the wood you might go to the paint store and find a sealant to seal the grain of the wood . But until you can do that Try the soap , baking soda, dryer sheets or the carpet fresh

Answer 3

Take the drawers outside and let them sit in the sun for a couple hours or longer,, sounds like something they used building the furniture,, or the drawers may be pressed wood which releases formaldehyde,, the sun should get the odor out,, after that put in your shirt and add a sheet of fabric softener in the drawer with them.

Answer 4

Place small candles in the drawer between the clothes (light smelling, not strong) or some great-smelling bars of soap. Or - take everything out of the drawer and sprinkle with baking soda and allow to sit for 24 hours, repeat as needed until drawer no longer smells funny.

Answer 5

Put an unused dryer sheet into the drawer. The t-shirts will pick up the scent of the dryer sheet. It is a very inexpensive way to solve this problem.

Answer 6

I have had the same thing with my dresser for the last 20 years. You can line your dresser with either the dryer sheets, or some places sell drawer liners that have a scent to them. (Crabtree and Evelyn sells them)
You can also make your own sachets.
Take either an old pillow case and cut it up, or some kind of material that you might have lying around, put potpourri, or scented powder, or something scented.....in it and tie up the piece of material to secure everything in a little bag. Or....spray some old/clean socks with you favorite perfume and wad the sock in a ball and throw in your drawer.....or.......or....or.....

Use your imagination.

Answer 7

I use fabric softener sheets a lot.

Also, check your magazines & some sales advertisements. Sometimes there are perfume/cologne samples inside the pages. Tear them out, open them up & place those in your dresser drawers or linen closets. They're free, smell nice & last a long time.

Answer 8

I have had this problem forever myself! I have always had maple dresers and experience the same smell. My friend suggested putting baking soda in stocking through out the dresser. I haven't actually tried it yet. I usually throw my t-shirt in the dryer with a dryer sheet for a few minutes before i put it on!

Answer 9

I have maple dressers too. I've found that my tshirts smell funky if I leave them in there for a long time- the best thing to do is either use dryer sheets or sachets. If you don't want to spend the money, you can make your own. That's what I do.

Answer 10

My first thought is this dresser an old or antique dresser? Lots of the very old wood does carry an odor that is almost impossible to eliminate. Most of the answers given were good, although they mainly just mask the odor. Sunlight, baking soda, and vinegar would all be possible choices to eliminate odor.