Home odors can be caused by a number of things whether it was a result of something someone did or if you inherited smelly odors from the previous homeowner. The good news is that most odors in your home can be eliminated. We also seem to have problems with odors coming into our home from our neighbors and from outside.
How to Eliminate Odors in Your Home
- Stinky kitchen odors- The kitchen is probably the room in your home, and mine, that smells the most. When you are cooking odor-filled foods like cabbage or fish, put a bowl of white vinegar on the stove while you are cooking so that it absorbs any odors. To help with any odors in your fridge, take an empty plastic container with a cover, poking holes in the cover. Add baking soda to the container and place in your fridge.
- Stale bathroom air- Bathrooms can easily get stale air buildup from the humidity and being closed up most of the time. You can remedy this by putting a small bowl on the sink area or back of the toilet. Add some cotton balls to the bowl that are soaked with orange essential oil.
- Musty mattress smell- To eliminate a musty mattress smell, spray the mattress with Lysol to get rid of the odor-causing bacteria. Also, each time you change the bedsheets, sprinkle baking soda on the mattress, let it set for 20 minutes and vacuum.
- Stale odor-filled closet- Closets can get musty and stale odors once in a while. To help with this, take a pair of clean socks, fill with coffee grounds and hang in the closet.
- Cigarette smoke- Even if you don’t allow anyone to smoke in your home and you have a rule they must smoke outside, smoke still finds its way into your home and stays there. One of the best ways to get rid of smoke odors is to pour vinegar on a small towel and wring it out. Now, walk through the house swinging the towel in the air and this will get rid of the smell in no time.
- Kitty box odors- There is nothing worse than the smell of the cat litter box when you walk into a house. The best solution for this is activated charcoal that is especially designed for pet odors. Activated charcoal is nothing more than charcoal that has been activated so it becomes porous, essentially absorbing odors. Just put the charcoal in the litter box or somewhere near it.
What do you do to eliminate odors in your home?
Faye Gates says
Thanks for the tip on cigarette smoke odor. Is there anything vinegar can’t do?
Tamra Phelps says
Oh, boy, at some point we have had all of these, lol. At one point we had neighbors who were so filthy, we couldn’t open our windows! We left that apartment pretty fast!
Aria H. says
Sometimes the kitty box gets a little smelly, so we sprinkle some baking soda in it. But if the smell is persistent, that means you need to dump the box and clean the inside of it.
We also have Poo-pouri on top of the toilet for anyone to use for bathroom smells, lol.
Sarah L says
I use essential oils in a water spray.
David says
We use activated charcoal for the musty smell in our basement. It doesn’t do anything for the humidity, but the smell is greatly diminished.
Elizabeth says
I stick fabric softener sheets in jacket pockets to keep them fresh as well as the closets