Happy President’s Day, friends! I did lots of fun things over the Valentine’s Day weekend, but I also did a few not-so-fun things~like some necessary household cleaning chores. It’s not glamorous (to say the least), but come see how to clean the detergent dispenser drawer in a front-load washing machine!
Cleaning is not one of my favorite activities. And I”m guessing it’s not one of yours either. But, someone must do it, right? Over the weekend while I was catching up on laundry (another not so fun chore) I noticed the detergent dispenser drawer in our front load washing machine had grown spots of mildew. Really gross looking! I didn’t take a picture of it because (A)-it was so disgusting, (B)- I didn’t think of it at the time, and (C) I really didn’t think I would blog about it. But once I found out how easy it was, I thought I had to share my new knowledge with you.
We own a front-load Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer set. We bought them on Facebook Marketplace when we first moved into our current house. With all of the other moving expenses, we didn’t feel like spending thousands of dollars on a new set, so we went with gently used. I cleaned them thoroughly and they’ve worked great since. Here they are in our laundry room/Butler’s Pantry.
Over time though, mildew appeared in the detergent dispenser drawer. The picture below is one I found on the internet. Disclaimer: It’s not mine, but I thought it would demonstrate when you should start thinking about cleaning your detergent dispenser drawer. Also, mine was much worse.
Yesterday I decided to clean it! The detergent drawer is simple to remove. See the gray lever on the upper left, beside the word prewash? You simply depress the lever as you gently pull. The drawer slides right out!
Once you remove the drawer, the plastic pieces lift easily off of the main housing. I cleaned them by spraying the pieces all over with Fantastik All-purpose cleaner. (Most any cleaner will do.) After they soaked a while, I used a clean, damp cloth to wipe off the icky mold and mildew. For the difficult to reach spots, I used an old toothbrush and Q-Tips dipped in Clorox.
It looked better already! The underside of the tray has a deep groove that was hard to clean and there were still a few traces of mold in the tough to reach spots. So, I popped all of the pieces in my dishwasher on the top rack and ran it on the short cycle.
When all of the pieces were clean and dry, I reassembled the drawer. It looks practically brand new! No more mold and mildew!
I was feeling quite pleased with myself over my sparkling clean and mold-free detergent drawer. But as I was about to replace it in the washing machine housing, I noticed this distressing sight. (No judgement please. I had NOOOOOO clue!) Yikes!
Once over my initial shock, I sprayed the inside thoroughly with Kaboom Shower, Tub & Tile Cleaner with Oxi-Clean. It boasts it will clean mold and mildew with “No hard scrubbing.” This mildew was still extremely stubborn, so I ended up using a damp Brillo pad to scrub the smooth surfaces and a toothbrush to clean the rough spots in the top of the housing. TIP: Be sure to wear gloves, you don’t want to mess with mold!) After it was clean, I rinsed the inside of the drawer well with water and wiped it all down. MUCH, MUCH BETTER!
Crazy difference, right? And to think this was trickling down into our wash! Yikes!
I’ve never owned a front load washing machine before, so honestly it never dawned on me to clean the drawer and its housing. Now I know how simple it is to clean, I’ll be sure to stay on top of it!
***NOTE: To make sure I flushed out all of the cleaners and mold, I ran my empty washing machine on the “whitest whites” cycle with hot water and bleach.
Typical of my cleaning ADD, one thing leads to another. But now my entire washing machine is clean inside and out and I feel so much better about washing our clothes, and later our grand son’s clothes in this machine. Aren’t germs sneaky? Anyway, I had a different, more fun post I planned on sharing today, but consider this my public health safety announcement post. I hope you have a great day today, and if it’s a holiday for you, ENJOY!!! Let’s chat soon?
xoxo Dell aka Mrs. Clean. (Not to be confused with Mr. Clean, who scared the crap out of me as a child.)
2 comments
You are so right, front load washers can be a challenge to maintain mold free. To prevent what you discovered in the drawer for the detergent I remove the drawer when I am finished the laundry for the day and set it in my laundry area sink to completely dry. I take a hand towel and push it into the open drawer area in the washer to completely dry it out. I let it sit open for an hour or so and then put all the dry pieces back together again. Haven’t had any mold growth since I started doing this.
Thank you for your feedback, Karen! I would never have thought to remove the drawer after each load~that’s a great idea! I wonder if you just left the drawer open would work as well? I’ll give it a try! Hope you and Dennis are well. xo Dell