Why I Should Always Check the Pockets

"Something stinks in the laundry and my computer crashed!"

"OK.. I'm leaving the grocery store now, I can check the laundry when I get home. What's wrong with the computer?"

"I don't know! It crashed and I can't get it to reboot off the recovery disk and I'm supposed to leave and I don't have time for this bullshit and the clothes really stink!"

"OK.... I'll figure that out as soon as I get home"

This was the conversation my husband and I had as I was leaving the grocery store on my cell phone. I get home and stick my head in the dryer and sure enough, the clothes reek. They smell like fish. Which might not be so uncommon except that my husband doesn't like fish. So I don't cook it. I rarely feel like eating it, so if I want it, I get it at a restaurant.

I stick my head in the washer, it smells clean. So I rewash the clothes. They still smell like fish.

I run a "clean washer" bleach cycle on the washing machine. The bleachy goodness smells nice a fresh now.

I wash the clothes again. On Hot. With Stain Treat. With a Pre-Wash. With a Double Rinse.

They still smell like fish.

I search the vast intelligence of the interwebz. Powdered detergent was the only thing a fellow domestic goddess was able to use to get fish smell out of her laundry. So I go in search of powdered laundry detergent and try again.

Then my husband comes home from the gym - he's solved the mystery.

"you said the clothes smelled like fish right?"

"yeah"

"well.... I had my fish oil capsules in my pocket and didn't take them last week"

"Oh that explains it - it's your fault!" >this gives me great joy because I know I can work this into a shopping trip<

So I literally sniffed out the offending pocket and tried washing the clothes for the 5th time sans 1 pair of jeans. This was promising.. with the exception of about 3 items, the rest of the clothes smelled alright. I sniffed each and every article. A little disappointed about my foiled shopping plan, I put the clothes in the dryer.

When the cycle finished, I went out to fold the clothes to put them away. I open the door and the delightful odor of a shopping trip comes gently wafting to my nose. That's right... 5 washings and I could. not. get. the. smell. out. I had to trash the clothes. UGH. Lesson learned - I will ALWAYS double check the pockets even though 99.9999999999% of the time they are empty. My husband is usually really good about that. Most of the clothes ruined were his, but I'm not one to miss an excuse to go shopping. I'm just grateful his work clothes were not in that load.. that would have been a much more expensive trip.