anyone else have a stinky washing machine???

who knew that washing machines can stink?!? like of all places, where things are constantly being washed with soap and hot water. yet despite all of this our machine has been seriously stinking for like months and our clothes have been taking in the smell too. i have tried different homemade remedies to solve this problem, doing just water and vinegar cycles for example, but nothing worked. that is until yesterday when i went into all things being eco, which by the way is a super cool store, pricey, but the woman who owns it is very nice. she instructed me that more than likely my front loader was growing mold in the rubber seal. so i went home and low and behold, there was mold. i didnt even know that part could be cleaned. like, why would you make a product that always has water in it to have crevices like this that can grow mold?!? doesn't make sense to me....here's a pic of the nastiness:

and that was allllllll on the inside. so this woman at all things being eco suggested i try tea tree oil. it has disinfectant properties and is organic and won't kill you if you drink some, which i always prefer. this is what it looks like:

so i wiped this all over and cleaned my machine and than ran a hot cycle with some borax and vinegar and caster soap. the tea tree oil is quite a strong smell so my washer smells like it now but hey, that's better than mold!

in the end, i like that i avoided pulling out the bleach or harsh chemicals. i like that it took me five minutes. and i like that there are people in chilliwack who are more intelligent than me on the ways of a washing machine. me and my clothes thank you.

cheers to being green:>