Rather than plugging deodorizers into your electrical sockets or lighting an arsenal of scented candles, use a few household staples such as baking soda, distilled white vinegar, coffee grounds, vanilla extract and lemons to get rid of odors once and for all.
Sprinkle baking soda on heavy furniture: your mattress, sofa, chairs, and carpets, and let the powder sit for at least an hour. Spray baking soda dissolved in water on curtains, clothes, bedding, and covers to easily deodorize them. Vacuum up the excess baking soda.
A weird smell in a house can come from numerous sources, including appliances, furniture, carpets, fabrics or issues like mold or mildew. Occasionally, odors may be caused by sewer gas, natural gas leaks or animals that have died between walls, in attics or under decks.
Febreze Odor-Fighting Air Freshener
This GH Seal-star spray quickly tackles airborne cooking odors, smoke, must and more with its cyclodextrin technology that surrounds odor molecules and pulls them from the air. And all this performance comes at a great price, making it our Best Value pick.
Baking soda absorbs bad smells from old food scraps and other garbage before it reaches your nostrils. If you're all out of baking soda, try using dryer sheets for stinky trash cans. The fabric softener from the sheets will grab smells and replace them with a pleasant laundry scent.
Add about 25 drops of your favorite essential oil to 2 tablespoons of baking soda and stir to combine. Lemon and lavender are great choices, but eucalyptus is my favorite because of the refreshing scent. Pour the baking soda and essential oil mix into the water and stir. Then funnel the water into your spray bottle.
Bad breath, body odors from sweating, and infrequent change of sheets, pillowcases, or rugs can all contribute to a stale scent in the morning. For those of you who live in apartments with small bedrooms and poor air ventilation, stagnant air is quite common.
It's often described as musty and earthy, and may even smell like rotting vegetables or plants. You might notice a musty smell, but not be able to see any mold growing. In this case, you should look for areas that might be exposed to water. Mold needs moisture to grow.
Body odor is caused by a mix of bacteria and sweat on your skin. Your body odor can change due to hormones, the food you eat, infection, medications or underlying conditions like diabetes. Prescription-strength antiperspirants or medications may help.
Some of the best odor eliminators are coffee grounds, tea, vinegar, oats, and baking soda. Leaving a bowl of any of these odor absorbers out in a room that's due for a little freshening up will help clear out the less-than-pleasant smells from the air.
'Leave a bowl of vinegar out overnight,' advises Saskia Gregson-Williams, cookbook author and founder of Naturally Sassy. 'In the morning, the vinegar will have absorbed all the unsavory smells and your kitchen will be as fresh as a daisy. '
Baking Soda
Baking soda is a fantastic odor-absorber. Carpet and Upholstered Furniture - Sprinkle baking soda on surface, let sit 30 minutes or overnight, then vacuum away to freshen and remove odors. Bedding - Refresh your mattress with baking soda.
Baking soda absorbs impurities in the air, which is why it can also be used as a deodorizer. If you use it for that purpose, it does the job for thirty days. But if you accidentally leave the pack open, it's better to replace it for the same reason.
The smell of mold is usually quite foul and unpleasant, and it grows stronger over time as the mold starts to spread and sporulate. “Musty” and “stale” are the most accurate descriptors of what mold smells like. The musty odor is a result of the hodgepodge of mVOCs produced by the mold and released into the air.
Mold will smell musty and stale. But if the mold has been growing in your home for a long time, the smell will be stronger like how sweaty socks or rotten meat smell.
Common symptoms include sneezing, coughing, congestion and eye irritation. It rarely causes serious illness or death but may worsen asthma symptoms. You can't cure a black mold allergy, but a healthcare provider can diagnose it and help treat your symptoms.
The musty smell that comes from your linen closet is caused by the combination of mildew and bacteria. The main culprits are moisture, warmth, and lack of air circulation.
Over time, this stagnant water sitting in the pipes can build up bacteria and produce pungent odors throughout the night. If you notice blockages but don't do anything to remedy the situation early on, you can soon suffer from sewage backup.
The smell that arises is due to the bacteria that live harmlessly on everyone's body. When the bacteria mix with sweat released from your sweat glands, it can create an unpleasant odor.
Spread baking soda over carpets and big furniture
With a large colander, sprinkle a deodorizing powder like baking soda on carpets and big furniture. Let it sit for at least 30-60 minutes. Then vacuum it up, using your vacuum attachments on couches and chairs.
Better Ways to Freshen the Air
Vinegar – White vinegar is an effective natural deodorizer and mild disinfectant. Combine a teaspoon of vinegar with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle then lightly mist the air (you can also stir in a few drops of essential oils).
Deodorize the Room
Unpleasant odors lurk in the carpets, rugs, and upholstery. To remove these musty smells, fill a dish with half an inch of white vinegar and leave it out in the room until the smell dissipates.