How To Clean Gum From A Dryer

Hello friends! This isn’t a kooky cookie recipe or a pretty decorating post, and there aren’t even any cute pillows. I’ll promise to make it up to you soon, because this needs to be shared. Right now, I’m feeling strongly that you knowing how to clean gum from a dryer… could possibly save your marriage. Just saying.

If you follow me over on Facebook, you’ll know we recently had a chewing gum incident. Let me preface this by saying I love my husband very much. And he never leaves gum in his pockets. Ever. Or so I thought. And that thinking is what got me in some trouble.

You see, I innocently transferred a clean load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, turned it on and walked away. When it happily chimed to let me know the drying process was complete, I opened the door to a minty fresh smell. But in addition to the clothing being minty fresh & dry, it and the dryer drum both had a healthy, haphazard glob of gum smeared on them.

As I sorted through the load, with it sticking to my hands like it had a clammy, gooey case of static cling, I was extremely happy that I’d only added two of my garments to the load. A darling maxi dress and an old spaghetti strap tank top. Whew. The rest of the load consisted of older clothing and casual wear. A few pieces were salvaged, but I was ultimately more concerned about the dryer. Not as easy to replace. 

The gum had unfortunately kind of semi-dried onto the drum and it was not budging. 

I tried wiping. I tried scrapping. I asked for ideas on Facebook.

I ignored it.

There were other things that needed my immediate attention and I figured the gum would probably stick around. I also kind of figured I’d let my husband tackle this one. Total honesty here? I was a tiny bit irritated with the situation and I really didn’t want to deal with it. After some of our obligations were taken care of, my hubby had the idea to run the dryer back-to-back on ultra hot (sanitize) with some old work jeans. That turned the spearmint white smears blue. I’m guessing a bit was transferred to the old work jeans (you can’t see or feel it) but mostly I think it dried it down. I was now concerned with the blue transferring onto lights, so I was not convinced this was a solution. So, he ran a load of old white tee-shirts we use for rags through the dryer. No blue. 

I still wasn’t feeling it. 

So today while he was at work, I grabbed my Mary Kay Waterproof Eye-Makeup Remover & some cotton balls, stuck my head in the dryer and went to work.

I didn’t use the wood cuticle pusher shown, I had just grabbed it as a “maybe” tool. You can see the blue color and fibers that stuck to the gum on the cotton ball. It was great to really see visible results as I worked. 

I was making slow progress… and it was hard on my bad knee, but it was working.

Then my husband came home. And damn him, he wanted to help. He quickly suggested a Magic Eraser, grabbed one, applied some of the eye makeup remover and had the rest clean in two shakes. 

What a way to steal my glory right? I mean, here I was… scrubbing tiny bits at a time with a single cotton ball, and he has to ride in like a glorious knight with shining cleaning skills, and save me.

Ladies. The moral of this story is, if your husband (or pretty much anyone) wants to clean dried-on gum out of the dryer for you. 

LET THEM.

I hope you never need to reference this “cleaning gum out of the dryer” tip, but if you do, the waterproof makeup remover worked so well to break down the gum compound and loosen it up, and the Magic Eraser added just the right scrub and wipe power!

Thanks Mary Kay. xo ~ Shannon 

In Short, “How To Clean Gum From A Dryer”

• Run your dryer on the hottest setting with some old rags, towels, jeans… whatever.
• Use Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover and a Magic Eraser.

Subscribe for free today to receive all my latest DIY tutorials, decorating ideas, upcoming projects & more, sent right to your in-box!

Join us on our adventures... and let's make our houses "homes" together!

Your email address will never be shared or sold. I promise!