Five Ways to Deodorize Your Home
While there are perhaps fewer topics as unsexy as musty home smells, they must be addressed! As we continue to spend more time at home than ever before, we’re using all our homeware more and more. While they appreciate the company, the unfortunate consequence is the musty odors that sometimes creep in. In times like these, we’re reminded that the things that keep us happy and clean could also use some cleaning themselves.
As much as we’d like to time travel back to college, now is not the time to whip out the old bottle of Febreze and spritz the problem away. Let’s keep that icky product in 2004, shoved in a dorm room futon. Instead, I invite you to consider some nontoxic options which I promise are more effective at kicking those odors to the curb. Here are five ways to eliminate stale smells that require little more than baking soda and vinegar. Onward we go!
1. The Cutting Board.
Let’s cut to the chase...is there nothing worse than biting into an apple you’ve just sliced only to be confronted with the unmistakable taste of garlic! Nothing worse. To eliminate those unfortunate garlicky oniony smells that are seemingly embedded in your wooden cutting board, I recommend lime and salt. Not just for tequila shots, these two ingredients work MIRACLES on cutting board odors. Simply pour one to two tablespoons of table salt (I recommend buying a big container of cheap iodized salt for cleaning purposes) on your cutting board. Squeeze half a lime (or lemon) directly on the salt to dissolve it, then scrub the board with lime for a few minutes and rinse with hot, soapy water. Repeat on the other side. And voila! Your cutting board is ready to report to apple slicing duty.
2. The Sink Drain.
While we’re in the kitchen, let’s pay a visit to the kitchen sink, shall we? If your home isn’t blessed with a garbage disposal, food and other debris can sometimes build up in the drainpipe and lead to an unfortunate smell. Not to worry, that’s no problem a little baking soda and vinegar can’t fix. Simply dump one cup of baking soda (look out for the larger bulk versions at the grocery store) down the drain, let sit for fifteen minutes, and then chase it down with 1/2 cup white vinegar. Now wait another fifteen minutes as you listen to a mellifluous symphony of bubbles and pops, which means the baking soda and vinegar are doing their job. After fifteen minutes, pour some boiling water down the drain and voila! Makes perfect scents.
3. The Washing Machine
The moment you detect a stale, mildewy odor in your just-washed t-shirt is a sad day indeed. Especially sad because the washing machine had one job and totally blew it. Enter our nifty baking soda and vinegar combo. Simply pour two cups of vinegar directly into your detergent dispenser (or the drum if your machine doesn’t have a dispenser) and run it on the longest cycle at the hottest temperature. Then sprinkle 1/2 cup of baking soda into the drum and run it on the same setting, which eliminates any lingering mold and mildew. In the future, you can kick musty smells to the curb by keeping your washing machine door open when not in use.
4. The Dishwasher
Inside of your dishwasher smelling less like a lemon-scented something or other and more like an amalgam of mystery dinner foods? Here’s how to fix that. Place a cup filled with vinegar on your top rack, then run on an empty cycle (the vinegar will remove old odors and dissolve any grease coating the inside of the machine). If you have any lingering food particles in your dishwasher, follow up by sprinkling one cup of baking soda directly on your bottom rack and run a short cycle. Voila! Your dishwasher is as good as new. While we’re on the topic of cleaning the inside of things, did you know that you can by pop your microwave turntables in the dishwasher? Just in case yours is looking a little grimetastic.
5. The Carpet
Since we spend some time putting our socks, feet and slippers on all of our carpets, it might track that our carpets could use some deodorizing every once in a while. If you guessed baking soda might somehow be involved in this operation, you guessed right. Saving the easiest of deodorizing tasks for last, so here’s how it’s done: sprinkle baking soda liberally right from the box onto your carpet, let sit for a few hours, then vacuum it all up (or shake it out if you have the outdoors at your disposal). And voila! Another musty case closed.