Eliminating Household Odors

     From old musty smells, to mildew, smoke, cigar, pet odors, and urine. Household smells can be ugly and difficult to get rid of      The methods of eliminating the bad odors will obviously vary depending on the type and severity of the smell. Some methods are extremely involved and will require time, my goal is to give you quick and helpful tips that will make the challenge easier.
Below are a few tips I find most useful.
Common Household Items That Can Help Eliminate Odors
SSome useful and commonly found household items can eliminate odors very effectively me useful and commonly found household items can eliminate odors very effectively
1. Baking Soda
   A common item found at any market, baking soda cuts through bad smells by neutralizing the pH levels. It’s safe and effective to sprinkle throughout the house or spread open boxes throughout the house
2. Vinegar
   Probably the safest and most effective method because it neutralizes the bad odors and works as good if not better than baking soda.  Whether it’s left in a bowl or sprayed around the house, it works wonders.
You may shy away from using it because as you spray undiluted vinegar, it has a strong scent, but it quickly disappears along with the bad odors you’re wanting to get rid of.
3. Coffee Beans
   Both whole beans and ground beans work wonders in absorbing bad odors, but it’s much easier to use whole beans unless you’re willing to clean up a possible mess with coffee grounds. All you need is a container with 6 to 7 ounces of coffee beans placed throughout the house, this will help eliminate bad smells.
4. Oats
   Thats right, oats can absorb bad smells. Pour it in multiple bowls and leave it throughout the house, it’s not only a healthy grain for the body but it absorbs bad smells very well.
     Here are a few very popular odor eliminating recipes.
First, make sure you’re wearing gloves to protect your hands, get a bucket and a rag ready.  Fill the bucket with the following ingredients:

• Four parts warm water
• Two parts hydrogen peroxide
• Two parts white vinegar
• One-part boric acid

Use the rag to dip and wipe down hard surfaces, porcelain, vinyl etc… Do not spray it on fabric or carpets because it may cause discoloration, but it’s a great cleaning, and bad scent eliminating recipe.
Humid environments may have the old musty smell.  Unfortunately, that smell gets into fabric and lingers, you’ll never be able to get rid of it completely but here are a few steps you can take to make it better.
First, try to isolate the smell, once you find the source, if it’s a single area, treat it individually by by drying it out.  If the entire home has a musty odor, here are some steps you can take

• Run a humidifier in the house non-stop.
• Run fans while using a humidifier to minimize the moisture.
• Place activated charcoal in the home, it’s charcoal in pure form but will usually take an entire week to absorb the bad odor but this along with the fan and humidifier should really help.
• If the home is carpeted, sprinkle baking soda throughout, this will absorb a lot of the moisture.

Depending on the severity of the odor, you may try a few or all the methods at once to attack and eliminate the bad smells quickly.
     Stick to a fragrance-free air freshener like Lysol disinfectant spray or even Zeolite, a natural mineral that absorbs odor without a masking scent.
Dealing with Smoke or Cigar Smells   
Here are some steps you can take to eliminate bad odors

• Remove any ashtrays and put them in the backyard or outdoor area.
•  Place fans throughout the house.
• Leave all windows and doors open the entire time your cleaning
• Sprinkle baking soda on the carpets throughout the house.
• If time allows it and the furniture is fabric, air it out in the backyard.
• Vinegar and coffee beans are natural and affordable. Place a bowl of vinegar or coffee beans in every room.

Removing Bad Urine Odors
     I don’t think there’s anything worse! You know exactly what I’m talking about. A urine scent in the home is an automatic turn off.
Bad odors due to urine are usually isolated to a certain area, or at least you hope they are unless it’s pet urine throughout the house. Urine odor is much easier to get rid of when it’s fresh. Here are some things you can do to deal with this bad odor efficiently and without sacrificing too much on labor. Besides pulling up the carpet and getting rid of the padding underneath, there’s no way to get rid of the scent completely, but there are a few options that will help. The best you can do is go throughout house or the affected area and neutralize the urine which is an alkaline base with an acid-base product like vinegar. Once you’ve done this, you can spray a heavy duty disinfectant to treat the odor. This is a great way to temporarily eliminate or minimize the urine related bad odors from the carpet, but you can still follow other methods mentioned above to treat the overall environment.

• Place a bowl of vinegar in every room.
• Air out the home by leaving windows open
• Put fans throughout the house to air it out.
• Use a fragrance-free disinfectant throughout the house including the treated carpets

Removing Bad Odors from Furniture

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If the furniture has an unpleasant smell, try moving it to the outdoors to air out if possible. If it’s a strong odor or when the situation doesn’t allow you to move the furniture, try these methods.
Sprinkle baking soda on the furniture the first day and vacuum it up the next day, this may be time consuming and will not cover the entire furniture like the back side but will work well on fabric covered benches or chairs with fabric in the seating area only. A couch sprinkled with baking soda. It will be vacuumed up the following day.Spray the furniture with two parts water, one part vinegar on the first day and the next day wipe it down with dryer sheets or use Fe-breeze.
Another product that’s affordable and works well on furniture is OdoBan. One gallon can make 32 gallons of usable product. Using a spray bottle, fill it 3 parts water, one-part OdoBan. Once you spray the furniture, make sure the surface is nice and wet. Allow the furniture to dry indoor or outdoor. This product doesn’t mask the smell but gets rid of it completely.

Some easy and yummy ways to eliminate some "Not so Bad" household odors is by baking a pie or even as simple as popping a bag of popcorn.

Thanx for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit!!