8 Easy Ways to Tackle Common Household Odors

No matter how clean you keep your home, there will inevitably be a time when you’re going to need to tackle an odor problem.

Household smells come from a variety of places – from cooking in the kitchen to playing with your pet. And while these smells are a fact of life, it doesn’t mean you have to live with them.

If you have an unwanted smell inside your home, check out this list of eight easy ways to tackle common household odors.

Baking Soda

This kitchen ingredient is one of the best ways to tackle odor throughout your home. In the kitchen, sprinkle a little baking soda in your trash can to remove stubborn trash smells. And an open box of baking soda in the fridge will absorb all kinds of food odors inside the appliance.

You can also use baking soda to tackle odors in the bedroom and living areas. It’s great for freshening up your mattress. Just sprinkle baking soda on the mattress and allow it to sit for 30 minutes, then vacuum it up.

You can do the same on your carpet and rugs to remove odors there, as well. And if your pet’s bed needs freshening up, sprinkle baking soda on it, too.

Fresh Air

On a warm day, there is nothing better than a little fresh air for removing smells from your home. Simply open the windows or doors on each side of your home to allow the fresh air to flow through the entire house.

Fresh air is great for removing musty odors, as well as refreshing stale air in your home after it has been shut up for a long time. Opening your windows also helps remove strong food odors and burnt smells from the kitchen. So the next time you have a cooking mishap, start by opening a window to combat the smell.

Vinegar

Vinegar is another wonderful natural deodorizer that works in every room of your home to tackle common smells. Start in the kitchen by deodorizing your dishwasher with a cup of vinegar. Just fill a dishwasher-safe cup with vinegar and place it in the top rack. Then, run a regular washing cycle to instantly deodorize the appliance.

You can also use vinegar to remove food smells from your microwave. Fill a large microwave-safe cup with at least two cups of vinegar and place it in the microwave. Run the microwave for five minutes and carefully remove the cup. Use a damp sponge to wipe away any stuck-on food and breathe in the fresh-smelling microwave.

Vinegar also works well as an air freshener. To make your own natural air freshener using vinegar, mix a solution of half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle and spray the room to remove odors in the air. Or you can use it to clean and refresh your carpet. Saturate the carpet with a solution of vinegar and water and allow the mixture to soak for at least an hour. Blot away any excess moisture and allow to air dry to deodorize the carpet.

Hydrogen Peroxide

For set-in odors in carpets and on upholstered furniture, there’s nothing better than a little hydrogen peroxide. It even works well on strong odors like skunk and pet urine.

Mix a quart of hydrogen peroxide with ¼ cup baking soda and a few squirts of liquid dish soap. Be sure to wear gloves when cleaning with this mixture. Start by testing a small area to ensure it won’t leave a stain, then pour or spray the mixture directly on your carpet or furniture to remove stains and odors quickly. Let it soak for 24 hours then blot away any excess liquid and allow it to air dry.

Lemon

Lemons are another great odor solution. The fresh scent is a great way to cover obnoxious odors and replace them with a great citrus smell. You can use lemons in the kitchen to freshen up your garbage disposal. Just drop a few lemon peels in the drain and run the disposal to instantly remove the smell.

And lemon-flavored drink mix is a great way to clean your dishwasher. Simply pour a packet in the detergent area and run a regular cycle to freshen up a smelly dishwasher.

You can also use a lemon to freshen up a smelly cutting board. To clean your cutting board, cut a lemon in half and dip it in salt. Then, rub the lemon over the cutting board and rinse the smells away.

Bleach

Sometimes natural cleaners aren’t enough to tackle strong odors throughout our home. A bathroom is a place that can be filled with bad smells, so using a strong cleaner like bleach to tackle the mold, mildew, and urine smells makes sense.

To tackle tough toilet odors, clean the toilet bowl with a toilet bowl cleaner then pour ½ a cup of bleach into the bowl. Allow the bleach to soak for a few minutes before flushing. Bleach can also be used to easily clean up mold and mildew that may be making your bathroom smell musty.

Coffee Grounds

Another great household deodorizer is coffee grounds. The grounds quickly absorb odors throughout your home. You can place them in your refrigerator to absorb bad food smells. And coffee grounds also work well to freshen your kitchen cabinets. Just place a container of coffee with holes punched in the lid inside the cabinet to replace bad food smells with the fresh smell of coffee.

Essential Oils

With so many scents to choose from, the options are endless with essential oils. You can use them to create your own natural air freshener by placing a few drops of your favorite oil on a cotton ball and placing the cotton balls throughout your home.

Or you could use the oil to add scents to some of the cleaning solutions I mentioned above. Add a few drops to the air freshener recipe, for example, to sweeten the smell of the spray and mask the vinegar scent. Or add some essential oil to your baking soda before you sprinkle it on the carpet to remove odors and add a fresh scent to your rugs.

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