If you have clothes that have been contaminated with mold, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably to just throw them away and be done with it.  Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to just throw away clothes like this and buy new ones right on the spot, so what can you do when clothes get moldy?  If you have some spare time and a bit of persistence, you can get rid of the mold on your clothes and avoid having to buy new ones. 

Most fabrics can be completely rid of mold after being washed a few times, but unfortunately mold usually causes different color stains.  If it is a bunch of white clothes or sheets that mold has gotten on, using bleach to get rid of the stains will probably work, but they need to be treated with some pre-wash stain remover before you wash them to make sure and get all of the stain out.  The longer you let them set without treating them with anything, the further in the fabric the stain will set and the harder it will be to get rid of it.

You can use an old toothbrush to scrape the mold off of these clothes with, but it is best to not do this without some kind of gloves on.  Mold can cause skin rashes if it gets on you, so wear some rubber gloves, especially if you have any hang nails or cuts on your skin.  The spores can get in your skin through these and turn into a nasty infection.  

After you are done scraping the mold off, soak the clothes in a pre-wash spray for between 30 and 45 minutes; wash it in the washing machine afterward.  After the cycle is completed, take them outside and let them dry on a clothes line, if you have one.  Do not use an artificial heat source to dry your clothes.  Allowing them to dry naturally is the best way to make sure that the stain, if it is still there, is not set further into the fabric.

Unfortunately, if mold gets onto a jacket that is made of real leather, there is not much hope to remove the stain from this.  Since leather is an organic material (the skin of an animal) and it obviously a porous surface, mold sinks into this material and thoroughly stains it.  The color cannot be completely restored.

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Mold grows everywhere, but sometimes we humans give it a little help by some of the habits we exhibit in our daily lives.  We do not always know when mold is present, though, or what may cause mold to grow or what prevents it from growing.  There are a few different things that you can do in order to keep mold off of your stuff and out of your house, but you will not be able to get rid of all mold from your living environment.  It is in the air we breathe and on the ground we walk on; only when it starts to grow in colonies can we see it with the naked eye.  While you cannot completely get rid of it, you can help prevent it from growing in colonies on your personal belongings.

Any fruit and vegetables in your kitchen should be checked for mold every day or so and anything that is showing spots of mold should have the mold either cut out of it or simply thrown away.  Do not allow mold-contaminated fruits or vegetables to stay in your refrigerator or next to anything else.  

If you have a baby or babysit one on a regular basis, odds are good that you have some baby bottles in your kitchen.  They are made of odd shapes these days and sometimes you cannot get them completely dry and this includes some toddler “sippy” cups that have hollow handles that allow liquid from juice or milk inside.  If they are not cleaned properly and dried thoroughly, mold can grow in them.  The solution?  After washing them and drying them, put them in your freezer until you need them again.  Mold does not like to grow in cold temperatures and if the bottle has been washed immediately before being put in the freezer, it should be sterile.

Also, any wet clothing should never be thrown onto carpet and left there or even really on any floor.  Once they stay there for over 24 hours, mold can start to grow on these and if the wet item is at the bottom of a dirty laundry basket or even worse, on the bottom of the floor of a closet underneath dry dirty clothes, it can contaminate everything else that it touches.  The best way to deal with wet clothing from a swimming pool or from being outside in the snow is to wash it as soon as possible and do not put it in the same basket with dry clothes.

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