How to Clean Your Washing Machine!

Every now and then, we need to deep clean the machines that help keep our homes clean! Cleaning your washing machine will help it keep cleaning your clothes well and ward off the funky smells that can sometimes go along with front loading washers.

I shared some Stories on Instagram about cleaning my washing machine and had so many people ask if I had the info on my blog somewhere that I decided to write a quick post about it. So let’s head on into our laundry room and I’ll show you how to get your front loading washing machine looking (and smelling) like new! (post includes affiliate links; full disclosure statement available {here})

Room sources: Tangerine wall decals  |  Butcher block counter – IKEA  |  Ceiling light  | Over the Door Ironing Board Hanger | Rolling cart between washer & dryer |  Brass & Acrylic Cabinet pulls (Golden Champagne finish) | Glass Storage Jar  | IKEA Laundry room cabinets

1. Clean The Drain Pump Filter

Do you have a small access door on the front of your washing machine like this? (most front loaders but not all do)

Behind it is where your drain pump filter is and it’s something you should clean out every few months! First open up the access panel:

And then to make things easiest, pop off the cover (if your cover is more difficult to take off than mine, it’s ok to leave it on too). Grab a large shallow dish (it’s not a bad idea to put a towel down on the floor too) & place it in front of your opened access door, pull the small hose out as far as needed, twist off the hose cap while holding the open end over the bowl, and let the nasty water drain out:

Gross! Now it’s on to the filter – twist the filter to the left to unscrew it. If you’ve never cleaned it before you might find all sorts of nastiness in there! Here’s what mine looked like (it’s been about 6 months since I cleaned it):

Take it over to a sink, give it a good cleaning with soap and water, and wipe it dry. Before you put the filter back in, take a cleaning cloth to wipe out the filter opening. I simply shove a small microfiber cloth in and twist it around:

I use these microfiber cleaning cloths throughout my washing machine deep clean – they clean SO much better than paper towels. I switched to using them for all of my house cleaning and will never go back! The exact ones I have are {these 11.5″ square lint free cloths}.

Now we’re ready to move on to the next step…

2. Clean the Detergent Dispenser Drawer

Pull out your dispenser drawer where you should find a tab to push that will allow you to completely pull the dispenser drawer out:

Take the covers off of the bleach and fabric softener bins (if they’re removable like mine) because the inside of these bins are the areas that tend to get the grungiest:

I use a cleaning cloth to give it an overall scrub in the sink with soap and water and then use {this mini deep clean brush} to scrub off the more stubborn spots:

Dry everything off, do a quick wipe-down of the inside of the compartment where the detergent dispenser goes,

put the covers back on the bleach and fabric softener bins and then insert the detergent dispenser drawer back into the washing machine. Next we’re going to…

3. Clean the Door Seal

The next step in how to clean your washing machine is to tackle the door seal. It’s is the part of your washing machine that typically accumulates the most grime. Along with cleaning this easy-to-reach part of the seal:

it’s important to peel back the seal from where it meets the metal drum and clean there too:

I spray both areas of the seal with diluted bleach (I add about 2 tablespoons of bleach to my 16 oz spray bottle and fill the rest with water),

scrub all the way around the drum with {this same mini deep clean brush} we used on the detergent dispenser,

and then use the flexible pointed tip on the other end of the brush to get any gunk out of these holes and crevices:

Then wipe the entire seal down well with a cleaning cloth lightly dampened with diluted bleach to clean away any grime that was loosened up by scrubbing.

4. Clean the Inside & Outside of the Glass

Next, scrub the glass on the door – both inside and out! The inside of mine accumulates hard water stains so I clean it by spraying it with vinegar (I put a towel on the floor first to protect it), letting it sit for about 30 mins, and then wiping it off.

If you don’t have any hard water deposits on yours you can spray the vinegar on and then immediately wipe it off without waiting.

5. Run a Cleaning Cycle

The last thing to do is run a cleaning cycle with a cleaning tablet which is going to help clean any areas you missed or can’t easily reach. A lot of washers like mine have a specific cleaning cycle (mine is “Tub Clean”) but if yours doesn’t, just run it on a normal cycle with hot water. The cleaning tablets I like best are {these Active cleaning tablets}:

You simply add a tablet to the drum of your washer (not the dispenser) before running your cleaning cycle. And with that… you’re done and your washing machine should be looking and smelling like new! Since I shared every little detail of what I do, it might seem like a really time intensive process but the entire deep clean takes me less than an hour.

How Often Do I Need to Deep Clean My Washing Machine?

How often you need to do clean your washing machine depends on how well you take care of it between cleanings. There are several quick and easy things you can do to keep your washing machine cleaner longer including:

• Leave the door open and give the seal and inside of the door a quick 30 second wipe-down after you’re done with laundry so your washer can dry out.
• Switch from using liquid to powdered detergent (I like Powdered Tide) and don’t use liquid fabric softener. An appliance repair person gave me the tip to switch to powdered detergent a few years back and it definitely helped with odors. Apparently liquid detergents and fabric softeners contain fats that can contribute to the stink often associated with front loaders.
• Run a cleaning cycle every 1-2 months using a cleaning tablet like {these}. If you have hard water, an occasional cleaning cycle with vinegar in the dispenser can be helpful too.

If you do these things, I’ve found doing a deep clean twice a year to be enough while more frequent deep cleaning might be needed otherwise. 

What About the Dryer?

The dryer lint trap and exhaust vent are the two biggest things to maintain on your dryer since trapped lint can be a fire hazard. Along with emptying the lint trap after each load, occasionally use a dryer lint brush or vacuum attachment to clean out lint trapped further in the machine (next time you empty your lint trap, peek down in there with a flashlight and see if you have a build-up of lint).  I clean out mine using {this flexible vacuum hose attachment} hooked up to my cordless vacuum:

Just like with the washing machine deep clean, I only do this about twice a year. As for the dryer exhaust vent, mine is really short so I can easily clean and vacuum it out from outside but if you have a longer run, consider trying something like {this dryer vent cleaning brush} that cleans up to 30 feet of dryer vent or hiring a professional vent cleaning service once a year.

And with that, we’re done! If you haven’t already seen it, another laundry-related post that you should check out is my laundry stripping recipe. And some other favorite cleaning posts include:

How to Clean Hardwood Floors

Shark vs. Dyson Cordless Vacuums

How to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances

XO,