Photo courtesy of cafemama

I like to think of myself as a frugal, savvy girl. Mind you, I said “like to.” Unfortunately, wanting to be frugal and actually maintaining the discipline to be frugal are often two very different things for me. I’m weak. I admit it. So I make concessions. I try to prioritize. I justify one purchase by avoiding another. It’s not a perfect system, but my bank account and I haven’t had a falling out just yet, so I must be doing relatively OK.

One thing I have a hard time spending money on is workout clothes. When I go to the gym, I’m there to work out, not to impress anybody. There are those who say the gym is a great place to meet people, but I do not live in an episode of Sex & the City. Anyone who thinks I’m going to find a date during my workouts has never been to my gym. That being the case, if I’m going to spend money on a new outfit, I’d much rather it be one people other than doughy, late-middle-aged suburban men in nylon track suits are going to see. New workout clothes might motivate me off to an extra gym visit or two initially, but new boots or jeans motivate me off my couch into a more active social life. I know where my money is best spent; this is not rocket science to me.

As a result, I’ve had some of the same cotton tank tops in my gym bag rotation for five years or more. They’re not holey or threadbare just yet, but I have to admit—five years of workouts has left them a bit, er, ripe around the edges. Ordinary detergent was no match for the stank. Even baking soda, miracle odor eliminator that it is, couldn’t lift it out. I was about ready to admit defeat and cut the non-stinky parts into cleaning rags when I remembered that my friend the Internet knows everything and I’d yet to ask for advice on this one.

It should come as a surprise to exactly no one that the Internet did, in fact, have a suggestion for me, and that suggestion was something as simple as vinegar. Vinegar is good for lots of laundry woes, it seems, from removing odors to protecting colors to strengthening pantyhose. Who knew? (Well, lots of people did, I’m sure, but I wasn’t one of them.)

To get the gym stink out of my workout clothes, I basically made a tank top marinade. I put the clothes in a wash basin, filled it with water, and added a cup of vinegar. I let it sit for a few hours, then ran the tank tops through the wash again, and magic! My workout clothes no longer smell like the end of my workout before my workout even begins.

There’s a science behind this solution, of course, and if you’re more science-minded than I am, you may have already figured it out. It turns out the reason vinegar-based marinades work to tenderize meat is that vinegar relaxes the protein in the meat to break it apart. Protein is also the source of sweaty odors, and vinegar breaks those down, too, so they can be more easily removed. Or so Bill Nye the Science Guy would probably explain it. Given the 1001 varied and unrelated things vinegar is good for, the “It’s just magic” explanation seems equally plausible to me.

Whatever the reason it worked, I’m happy to report that I can probably talk myself out of buying a new workout wardrobe for at least another season now. New boots, however? That’s another story. I’m tackling this budget problem with baby steps, obviously.