You find a pile of wet clothes in a corner of your teen's bedroom, or better yet, wet beach towels left in their trunk to ferment. When he/she finally decides to find the source of that stench, unless you find it first, they have no idea how those 'spots' got there!

Well kids, it's called mildew. Depending on how bad the damage is, and what kind of fabric is stained, it may or may not be a fixable problem.

Items that can tolerate bleach (white, colorfast) can be washed with chlorine bleach and the warmest water allowable for the fabric.

If the item cannot take bleach, then the next best thing would be to soak it in warm water with soap and borax.

If this doesn't work then you could try combining a 1/4 tsp of colorsafe bleach and a 1/4 cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide and rub on stains with a clean cloth, until gone, then launder & lay in the sun for extra measure. Also, when laundering the items, add a little baking soda to help get rid of the odor.

When it comes to mildew stains & odor, some items may be beyond help.