The Mothball Brawl: Overcoming Smells and so Much More
I purchased 5 pairs of size 1 baby shoes on Ebay for less than $12 including shipping. They were SO precious, looked brand new, and I HAD to have them! I was so excited when they came in only two days after winning the bid and paying. I opened the large envelope they arrived in, and WHAM!!! I almost fell over backwards. What in the world was that smell??? I had never smelled anything quite like it. Yet, here it was… emanating from this seemingly innocent envelope and these terribly precious shoes. I imagined instantly upon breathing in that odor – an old house, long forgotten, dusty and nauseating. How could anything this cute smell this bad? I only considered that question for a moment when I realized that my children are very cute, but occasionally they smell very bad as well.
I did not recognize that this smell was the smell of mothballs until after I had shoved them in a drawer full of clothes hoping that they would smell better the next time I opened it. I still don’t know why I did that. I thought that perhaps the envelope had made them stink for some reason, but only in the back of my mind. The shoving into the drawer was done without much thought, and I regretted it when I actually did open the drawer. For not only did I have very smelly shoes, but a drawer full of very smelly clothes. Just what I had time for with 3 very small children. Just perfect.
So here I was, wondering what I should do about this, and my friend knocked on my door. She passed over the threshold of the door and immediately said, “What is that smell???” I sighed loudly and explained what had happened, then I gave her a shoe to smell. I told her how they smelled like an old house, only worse somehow. She said, “They smell like mothballs! Gross!” I said, “Really? Mothballs?” Yay! I was overjoyed. I had something to Google, and I could actually get rid of the smell! Or so I thought.
For if you Google “get rid of mothball smell”, you don’t get much help. “Air it out” is pretty much the general consensus. There are a few other options, but not for things that will not retain their color or shape after such remedies. So I was back to square one. And to make it even worse, (I’m almost too embarrassed to even record this here) I had already left positive feedback with the seller. I know. I’m much too trusting, and I really thought that the smell was temporary and happened in the mail system somehow. So having already aired them out for two days to no avail, I emailed the seller and asked her very politely to please make sure that no other items she sells smell like mothballs, because it is not good business nor good morals. Afterward, I had the fleeting and very common feeling of regret for not being ruder. I quickly shook that off and comforted myself with the knowledge that I would feel much worse if I had lost my temper.
Anyway, having aired the shoes out for over a week, I got depressed and shut my window, leaving the shoes there for another week, pretending that the entire situation had never happened, not wanting to deal with it. My aforementioned friend even asked me one day if I had gotten the smell out and when I told her I had not, she asked me if I was too depressed about the entire situation to even deal with it. I was.
Finally, I decided to just use my imagination and try to get rid of the smell myself. I put the shoes in a sink full of hot water with some Dawn dishwashing liquid. I left them there all day long, and at the end of the day they actually did smell slightly better. But not enough for my daughter to wear them, yet. I was slightly disappointed because I like things to work the first time so that I can move on to better things. So I put them in the window to air out some more to see if that would work. Two days later, I took one pair which were a plastic like material and wiped them all over with rubbing alcohol. It was worth a shot, I thought. It actually helped until the alcohol dried. Then the smell was back. So… last night, I put that pair of shoes in a large bowl with a lid and added some alcohol soaked cottonballs. And I am pleased to say that it worked. And wouldn’t you know, when I took the next pair out of the window to see if the alcohol bowl would work for them, the smell had already left that one and the remaining three pair. I was very happy.
So if you need to get the smell of mothballs out of shoes or fabric, soak them in Dawn dishwashing liquid first. Then air them out until they dry. Then try alcohol. Beyond that, you’ll have to use your own imagination, because the internet wasn’t much help at all!
As far as my personality, I haven’t much hope of that changing, but that is quite alright. I’m happy with who I am. If I let the occasional person railroad me, I believe that the payoff is worth it for the times when I am actually inspiring to someone by my everyday lifestyle. People come to me constantly for advice or a listening ear because I respect myself enough to respect others, and I love myself enough to love others. My ongoing wish for people everywhere is that we would learn from our history, when everyday people had honor and respect for all mankind. (Minus prejudice, which is another story as well.) There was honor for ourselves and our family unit and there were certain values and codes that we all held dear. It created a society with much less crime and hatred and stress, and it paved the way for communal growth and common ground. That is my wish… that we could regain common ground and honor and respect ourselves enough to honor and respect others.
