Cleaning Goalie Gear... or anything else incredibly smelly!!

Good morning, all!

Okay, you may not have a goalie in YOUR house, but I think that you might be able to use the concept with things that need super cleaning.

If nothing else comes out of all this experimenting with cleaning products and I don't make another thing, it will have ALL BEEN WORTH this one idea!  Seriously - anyone else live with a goalie?  My daughter put on pads at 7 years old and it's always been the bane of my existence as both her mother and her coach to try and get them clean enough that we want to be around her when she's in her gear! 

It's not her (or any goalie's) fault  - it's a natural phenomenon... stinky gear!  I washed it and washed it over the years.  She'd spray it - wash it in the machine - clean by hand - hang it out in the spring air...nothing.  It was always pretty stinky!

This past Easter break, she brought the shorts, neckguard, top and shinguards home with her from college.  I said, "Hey, let's try some of this cleaning stuff I've been working on," and we headed to the bathroom.  After 2 hours soaking in the solution, a rinsing and air drying - OMG!!  They smelled brand new!!  Seriously!  Where has this been all my life???

Okay, enough with the exclamation points and question marks - I think you get the picture.  Here's the what you need to do (info will be going to ALL goalies I work with for the rest of my coaching career and needless to say her college coach and teammates are thrilled!)

Goalie Gear Cleaning Solution

1. Fill the bathtub with about 10 inches of HOT water.
2. Pour in 1 cup of baking soda.
3. Add 1 cup of washing soda.
4. STIR THE TUB to help it dissolve.
5. Add 1 cup of vinegar (I wondered how much of a reaction I was going to get - only a wee bit of bubbling.)
6. STIR AGAIN.
7. Add your stinky stuff and make sure all the pieces are good and saturated.
8. Walk away - yes, the room may smell a bit like pickles, but walk away and let it do it's magic.
9. 2 hours later, come back, drain the tub, rinse what you've been soaking in cold water and squeeze the excess water out.  I also found rolling the pieces in a towel helped tremendously.
10. Let air dry.

Note: 

• Goalie shorts have pads that slip into pockets on the inside.  REMOVE all of them and wash separately so that the solution can be properly rinsed off.
• That being said, they are usually foam.  They float.  We lessened the solution and put them in the dishpan ... with a plastic cover over them...and a rock...and a huge stone bowl... finally with a Pampered Chef stone jelly roll pan on top to submerge them! 
• FYI - when we put the goalie shorts (without the pads) in the bathtub solution there were zillions of tiny bubbles  (you know like when you pour hydrogen peroxide on a cut?) all over them...just sayin...

Parents, family members and friends will be forever grateful to me for this, I am telling you!  If you use this with anything else, let me know how it works!

Have a wonderful day,
Carrie