Oh my god. My bag just stinks lately. I definitely sweat a lot and it's gotten pretty hot and humid lately, but my lord this is out of control. It seems like only a couple of weeks ago (really) that I threw it in the washer, but it didn't seem to do the trick. I think one of the main problems is my strap pad (which I didn't wash recently). Gosh, I wore my bag out to lunch, sweated a bit at the shoulder pad/strap and now my shoulder smells like stank. This is seriously awful. I was going to buy a new bag soon anyway (this one is coming up on the 4 year mark and has been through a lot), but I'd still like to be able to salvage this one from the punishment of my corrosive sweat.

Yikes.

Suggestions? Citrus degreaser?

Jason

I'm not that gross... really...

Febreze.

Let your cat have at it. Then you will not notice your own sweat.

Wash it in the bathtub....that's what us messengers do, and we know ALL ABOUT stanky bags. I only wash mine twice a year, but it's always fun to see what kinda of weirdness is lurking deep within the pockets after 6months of work and play.

The lady at the local cleaners said she would clean it for $3.50.

Match.

Try soaking/scrubbing it with white vinegar before washing.

the smell will always return.

Dry clean???

sell it on Ebay as 'nearly new, authentic messenger bag'.

The stank is part of the whole mystique. Leave it there. No-one at work will touch your bag, and you can bring in whatever you want

NO. Don't use crap like Febreze, and don't go to the laundry lady and don't dryclean.

If you can machine wash, do so, but do a presoak of white vinegar. Put the bag in a big basin/bucket with vinegar and water and let sit for several hours. It's the best deoderant out there. The smell of the vinegar itself fades after a short period of time.
You can get a gallon sized container for about 2 bucks at better supermarkets anywhere.

OR, if you're afraid of that, then you can soak in a solution of baking soda in water--overnight's good. Baking soda is a natural antibacterial and will kill all the stink-fostering bacteria. Same with vinegar.

One more option is Arm and Hammer's Washing Soda. Stuff's great. But it may cause any fabric to fade.

Stay away from commercial stuff--they actually aren't that effective, will only cover the smells and will eventually cause more stink.

so you're saying that the Tide is bad for washing it?

Washing machine. Although KirkeIsWaiting's suggestion does impart the ability to upgrade post sale. . .

try putting one of those Arm and Hammer de-stink box things in there. I mean, if it can work in my fridge then I think it could de-stink anything. Also I use Arm and Hammer in my shoes. Once they start to stink I just sprinkle a little bit in my shoe, tap it around, usually wear them a bit to make it sink in, but that works too.

Tide makes me break out. Even from before I turned into a closeted Eco-nazi environmentalist fanatic. Of all commercial detergents, I find it to be the most corrosive. Tide and most other detergents are bad in large quantities; it's generally bad for the environment; and ultimately, it's unnecessary. But if you want to use it, just supplement at the beginning or end with vinegar. Really. Trust me on this. It works.

And the suggestion above this one refers to Arm & Hammer, which is baking soda, which is one of the several things I suggested. Generic baking soda works just as well. And just to be clear, vinegar and baking soda (though not together) are generally the only things one needs to de-stankify anything. My girlfriend moved into an apt. a year ago that had been occupied by a woman who had obviously had a different standard for personal hygiene than most people here in the States. The room and surrounding apt. space had a lingering odor of BO. Basically, it seemed she bathed less, or washed her clothes less than most people. I've never really believed that Lysol and other crap like that works, so I got online and found suggestions for alternative approaches. Vinegar is highly touted. Something I read talked about getting rid of cigarette odors by putting a bowl of vinegar in the smelly room for a day. I did this in girlfriend's place and it worked like a charm. The odor completely vanished (fresh air is also good in conjunction with the vinegar.) I use it to rinse my clothes in the wash all of the time--it's a totally effective fabric softening rinse; far cheaper and far more effective, too. It also doesn't strip the fibers from your clothing the way commercial/industrial fabric softeners do. If you machine wash your bag, pre-soak in vinegar for a few hours or even overnight, then wash like normal, but add 1/4 cup of vinegar in the 'fabric softener' tray. Your bag will come out clean and crisp.

Do a search on about.com under vinegar, and you'll find quite a few suggestions.

My strap is the worst part of my bag too. It sucks up my sweat like a wino with mad dog. I don't want to risk the vinegar, but I'm defintly going to give the bakins soda a try.

You don't trust me on the vinegar, do an experiment on some ratty, smelly rag you don't care about (maybe an old bandana or some naisty underhose.) Just soak in vinegar, then rinse it and let it dry.

vinegar as odor-reducer link:
https://frugalliving.about.com/cs/tips/a/blvinodor.htm

vinegar uses link:
https://frugalliving.about.com/cs/tips/a/vinegar.htm

If it's so great, why doesn't everyone use it? Once upon a time, everyone did, then WWII ended and newly-expanded chemical corporations (e.g. Procter & Gamble) had to shift their business from military contracts to peacetime profit-making. Voila, an industry of personal hygiene and general cleaning products with questionable efficacy and serious environmental impacts was born.

Seriously, vinegar's one of the most underrated household items out there, along with hot water.

Another tip for killing bacteria on your stuff--when you wash or soak in water, use the hottest you can find. For the above poster, if you use baking soda, dissolve it in boiling water (unless this might cause your straps damage.) One of the most effective ways of killing bacteria is hot hot water.

peripatetic, thanks for the info. I got an odor prob in my now apt that I'm dealing with, too. I'll try the vinegar.

update. so I cleaned my kitchen sink and left the bag to soak in there with a half gallon of vinegar mixed with water. The sink was a little less than halfway full, so I hope it didn't dilute the vinegar too much. unfortunately, when I woke up this morning, there was no liquid in the sink. this either means that it slowly drained out over the course of the night due to an improperly placed and malfunctioning drain-stopper, or one of my roomates undid it. I threw the bag in the washing machine this morning with some regular detergent. when the cycle was complete, the bag still had soap suds all over it, so I'm going to run it through again, this time with some more vinegar as Peripatetic suggests (thanks for the info btw, you rock). i am confident in the vinegar advice. vinegar kicks general ass all over the place. man, have you ever thrown some vinegar onto a pile of sauteed onions and blackbeans in the pan? delicious! and vinegar on chips. salt and vinegar potato chips. 99cent utz style. green and yellow bag. amazing.

mmmmmm. skittle-brau.

i will let you know the final outcome. t-minus 32 hours. (i'm factoring in drying time...won't be able to wash the bag again until i get home from work).

Smear it with peanut butter and then lick it clean with the help of a four-legged friend. It works every time.

From the movie "Road Trip" (via imdb.com):

Kyle: It's not cheating if you spread peanut butter on your balls and let your dog lick it off.
Kyle: Because it's your dog.
Rubin: Jesus Christ!
Kyle: You know, because it's YOUR dog, get it?
Rubin: Yeah, we've got it.

Man, I wasn't even trying and I still referenced a movie. But I guess that one is a sort of cultural let motif.

Sorry, anytime I hear about dog's licking peanut butter, that line runs through my head.