Eliminating mildew odour from swim suit

Also: Removing residue from laminate, writes Reena Nerbas.

Q I packed a wet bathing suit coming home from a Hawaiian vacation a couple of winters ago. 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. 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 — all to no avail. I’ve worn two of them in a chlorine pool several times this winter, and still the mildew odour remains. I always wash and hang dry right after use. Any chance at all I can remove the smell? What is the best thing to do?

A Before washing your bathing suits in the washing 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 locate borax, use a generous amount of Oxy Clean or baking soda instead.

Q 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.

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

FABULOUS FEEDBACK FROM READERS

Just reading the question about removing dog blood stains from carpet. I have a messy cat, and have used peroxide for years now. I keep a small soap dish bottle of straight 3% peroxide handy to pour on pet stains, and lots of cheap paper towels to blot and rub. Works great for me; there aren’t many spots on my beige carpet this hasn’t been used on. Although peroxide will bleach the cat’s hair, it has never bleached anything else I have tried this on but test on an inconspicuous area first. Hope this helps. Submitted by: Bonnie

A little cornstarch in your salt shakers will prevent salt from clumping. Submitted by: 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 up. Submitted by: Ruth

Brighten silverware by rubbing it with oatmeal. Submitted by: Ruth

Note: 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.