Reena Nerbas

Dear Reena: I packed a wet bathing suit coming home from a Hawaiian vacation a couple of winters ago and, even though I unpacked it and washed it right away, it has a mildew smell.

I rewashed it, hung it up to dry, tried special bathing-suit soap and washed it in vinegar, with no luck. I couldn’t part with it, so I put it in a cupboard with my two other bathing suits.

When I pulled them out recently, all three had a mildew smell. I rewashed, hung them outside, let them sit in water with vinegar and rewashed them with vinegar and bathing-suit soap — to no avail.

I’ve worn two of them in a chlorine pool several times this winter and still the mildew odor remains.

I always wash and hang them to dry right after use. Any chance at all I can remove the smell? What is the best thing to do?

Louise Before washing your bathing suits in the machine, soak them in hot water and borax. Borax contains no phosphates and no bleach, but is wonderful at zapping hard-to-handle odours.

If you cannot find borax, use a generous amount of Oxy Clean or baking soda instead.

Dear Reena: I have laminate floors and when the felt floor protectors on chairs fall off, they leave a sticky residue on the floor. I have tried Goo Gone, dish soap with a microfibre cloth, even scraping with the scraper I use on my ceramic top stove, and nothing gets it off. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Barb

Using a hair dryer, heat the area to loosen the glue. Next, smear the area with smooth peanut butter, then lift the adhesive off the floor with the help of a plastic putty knife so that the floor does not become scratched.

Feedback from readers • Re. the question about removing dog bloodstains from a carpet: I have a messy cat and have used peroxide for years. I keep a small soap bottle of straight three per cent peroxide handy to pour on pet-made stains, and lots of cheap paper towels to blot and rub. Works great. There aren’t many spots on my beige carpet that this hasn’t been used on. Although peroxide will bleach the cat hair, it has never bleached anything else I have tried this on, but test it on an inconspicuous area first.

Bonnie • A little cornstarch in your salt shakers will prevent salt from clumping.

Ruth • Sew a strip of carpet webbing two inches wide, tightly on the underside of a rug, close to the edge, to prevent it from curling.

Ruth • Brighten silverware by rubbing it with oatmeal.

Ruth • In a recent column, a woman wrote asking about how much vinegar to use as a laundry additive. I started using vinegar as a laundry additive after I took |a microfibre cloth to do some cleaning and found it had been rendered impervious to water as a result of going in the dryer with dryer sheets.

My big problem was remembering to run down to the laundry room to put the vinegar in the rinse water. My solution was the purchase of a dryer ball that is sold to dispense liquid fabric softener to the rinse cycle.

I fill the ball with vinegar and throw it in with the laundry. The vinegar is dispensed at the correct time and it seems to be a sufficient amount. My laundry has never been softer. Vinegar is much more successful at removing long dog hair from dog towels and covers than anything else I have used, and considerably cheaper. Liz

Every user assumes all risks of injury or damage resulting from the implementation of any suggestions in this column. Test all products on an inconspicuous area first.