Hi all,
Hubby and I live in a humid area and have an ongoing battle with mildew on just about anything stored in a cupboard or wardrobe, or even clothes left hanging behind a door. My house is fairly old but not damp and this has been a problem everywhere we've lived in Sydney since we're not big fans of using air conditioning and we always have a spare room which isn't used frequently. It's a pain to clean mildew off every so often, so I'm doing my best to reduce our belongings as much as poss. Wrapping things in cloth and vacuum bags helps but you can't do that for everything. I also use Damp Rid in containers to draw the moisture out of the air. I think the Damp Rid is reasonably effective but the crystals need replacing regularly, at some cost financially and presumably environmentally as I pour the liquid from the containers down the toilet.
Does anyone use a natural alternative? My research has turned up the following things, but I'm not sure of effectiveness:
Rice (possibly with borax added to deter pests)
Cat litter
Bicarb soda
Salt
Charcoal - I have some charcoal sachets but I'm not sure how effective they are...
We do have a dehumidifier, bought when we lived in a damp house, which we could run for an hour facing each open cupboard every so often. Anyone do this?