Nine Tips to Get Rid of Bad Smells
in Common Household Locations
© 2018 Health Realizations, Inc. Update

A clean home really shouldn't smell like anything; it should have the unsullied, pure feeling of a fresh breeze when guests arrive or friends stop over. Of course, if your home is for sale and or you're simply living in your house, you know that a dizzying array of scents waft through the air at any given time -- your seafood medley pasta dinner, your spouse's favorite (and three-day-old) t-shirt, your daughter's cheerleading backpack, and, of course, Rover. Each smell can quickly put off people with allergies or discriminating sensitive, sinuses. Your friends, prospective home buyers and you too can become uncomfortable when visiting or walking through a home or an open house when smells permeate areas of a residence.

A "like-new" fresh scent is best achieved when there is nothing whatsoever to smell versus trying to cover up smells with scented sprays or even fresh baked bread that mix with other odors.

How to get that "unlived-in" scent to your very-lived-in home? It's simple with these incredibly effective, and safe, remedies to remove all types of bad smells from common household locations.

One aside, remember that a truly "clean" home should not smell like an artificial pine tree or giant lemon, either. These scents come from harsh cleaning supplies that often contain toxic ingredients. Cleaning products from toilet bowl cleaners to spray cleaners to laundry detergents have been linked to cancer, reproductive problems and damage to the central nervous system, so you're best off avoiding them entirely.

Top Natural Methods to Remove Odors

1. Use baking soda. Put it in your drains or sprinkle it on your carpets or upholstery (let it sit for 15 minutes, then vacuum it up) for a natural deodorizer. If someone in your home smokes, you can also put baking soda in the bottom of ashtrays to help absorb the odor, or right into stinky shoes.

2. Lemons. Lemons are another natural deodorizer. Rub them on your cutting boards and put the peels (chopped up into small pieces) into your garbage disposal to freshen it up (you can also use grapefruit, lime or orange peels for this purpose).

3. Freshen the air and your drains with vinegar. Vinegar combined with baking soda is a powerful freshener for drains. You can also put vinegar into a spray bottle and use it as a natural air freshener (the vinegar evaporates and the "vinegary" smell goes away too). Or, put a cup of vinegar in the kitchen to absorb cooking smells.

4. Essential oils for fresh fabrics and air. Fill a spray bottle with water and a few drops of your favorite pure essential oil (try vanilla, peppermint, or lavender). Spray it in the air or on fabrics to remove odors.

5. Put it out in the sun. The sun is a great deodorizer. Put everything from musty suitcases to clothing outdoors in a sunny spot, and it will become fresh-smelling in no time.

6. Open the windows.As long as you don't have allergies, take advantage of the warm weather to let some fresh air into your home. It will make everything smell cleaner.

7. Hydrogen peroxide for mildew and mold. To get rid of musty smells and mildew, such as in the basement or in your bathroom, mix one part 3 percent hydrogen peroxide with two parts water, put in a spray bottle and spray the area (let it sit for an hour or more before rinsing).

8. Newspapers for smelly plastic containers. To remove stubborn smells from food-storage containers, put a few pieces of crumpled up newspaper inside, put the lid on and let it sit. Change the newspaper every couple of days, and soon all of the odor will be gone.