15 Genius Hacks to Absorb Odor from Your Kids, Pets and House

Foul odors inside the house are not worth keeping around. These not only create a negative impact on your health and way of living but also leaves a bad impression on your guests.

Food, animals and other musty smells settle inside the rooms and are hard to leave. Just like there are a lot of things that lead to the stinks that you notice in your house, there are also stringent measures involved that can help in eliminating these and making your house a clean and healthy place to live.

There are a number of ways for making your house a perfect place for living without the use of hazardous room fresheners and other sprays. Let’s have a look at some of the best ways you can utilize to get fresh scents for your house.

Baking Soda	Baking soda naturally kills and absorbs odors  rather than masking them. *Use for 24 hours for best results
Citrus and Hydrogen Peroxide	Mix 50/50 Hydrogen peroxide and water. Add 1/2 cup lemon juice. Clean the mess and the smell should disappear.
Charcoal Briquettes	Best kind: natural activated charcoal in a bowl, near the smell will work. In the morning, throw it out, & the smell is gone.
Coffee Ground	Old coffee grounds are great for absorbing odor and also neutralizing some odor. How? Put the coffee grounds in a bowl near the smell overnight. In the morning throw the grounds away and the smell should be gone as well.
Plants	Plants clean the air and make it smell better. (Ivy, Lilys, a snake plant, ferns) are a few of the plants that are great for a bathroom to absorb odor naturally.
Wood cat litter	Regular cat litter is ok if you have it but wood cat litter absorbs odor easier and is more effective than the clay kind.
Clearing out Kitchen Odors	Clean the kitchen daily to remove any lingering smells.
Running Disposal of Garbage	At least twice daily.
Refrigerator Odors	Wipe out your refrigerator and dishwasher.  Non-toxic, hydrogen peroxide is best for paces that store food or dishes
Clean microwave	Don’t overlook your microwave. Clean under the glass and the top, walls, sides to remove smells.
Cleaning Appliances	Same as microwave.
Proper Hygiene for Pet Cats	Cats clean themselves but you should clean their litter daily to remove any smells in the area and prevent them from peeing on anything on the floor.
Kids	A daily spanking and cleaning will do wonders for kids…:-) Seriously. Wash your kids daily to keep them clean. There is no award for the smelliest kid.
Get Rid of Damp and Musty Smells	Get a dehumidifyer or water absorber to remove excess moisture. This will remove smells as well since mildew and mold won’t grow.
Killing the Mold Inside House	DIE mold! If you have mold you must clean it completely or it will likely come back. Clean the area, remove the moisture & keep it below 50%.
Trash can bottom	Clean this whenever it is dirty. Guys…just do it. I hate this chore as well but it is well worth it. Pro tip: if you trash can is too far gone then get a new one. The plastic cans absorb odor and are harder to clean after a while.

1. Keeping the Baking Soda Out

In addition to cooking purposes, baking powder is all about minimizing smells after it absorbs odor. So, this can be placed in an open box inside cabinet where you store the pet’s toys and treats, or another ideal option is the shelf where you’re hanging the color.

This would be ideal for cutting down on dog odor. Also, the baking soda can be sprinkled on carpets and you can let this rest overnight for absorption of bad odors and vacuum this the following day.

Pro tip: Keep a box in your freezer and fridge. It will eliminate smells and keep it smelling great.

2. Cleaning with Citrus and Hydrogen Peroxide

The hydrogen peroxide and citrus remain other great bases meant as pet cleaners. The citrus is natural enzymatic solution for cleaning and upon combining this with hydrogen peroxide you’ll simply get a great odor neutralizer.

3. Minimizing Smells with Charcoal Briquettes

Similarly, to charcoal water filter, charcoal briquettes are usable as it absorbs odor and moisture from the air within your house. These work well in all house rooms. You can place these in metal trays. And there are other options as well: sew pouches or using old sock and also hanging these in inconspicuous areas. You can line basket with plastic and foil and lay charcoal briquettes.

Make sure that you’re having natural briquettes without any mesquite or simple-light additives.

4. Using Coffee Grounds for Odor

Coffee grounds are usable for emitting strong odors and these neutralize and overpower strong odors such as onions, garlic, etc.

This is a little costly compared to the baking soda, but it is ideal for masking odor. Also, with strong coffee smell with raw grounds, you can repel deer and rabbits as well.

5. Having Plants and Flowers Inside House

Rather than going for scented candles and synthetic air fresheners, a lot of indoor plants emit fresh and attractive smells that can be enjoyed in a natural manner, so while keeping these plants you’re far away from any foul odors and the requirement for replacing scented products.

To keep your house smelling fresh you can have plants such as Jasmine, lavender, citrus, scented geraniums, etc.

6. Cleaning cat litter

Most pet cats are picky when it comes to bathroom habits, so unless you’re looking out to deal with a lot of mess accompanying foul smells, it’s better to have a quality litter box and clean it time to time. If cleaning these often doesn’t suit you, it’s much better to choose boxes that clean by self. These are automatic cleaning boxes and work well for eliminating bad cat litter odors from the house.

We have a cat and use wood cat litter. It is much better at absorbing odors than the clay kind, which ends up breaking apart and making a huge mess.

7. Clearing out Kitchen Odors

This is an essential measure for clearing and left out smells from cooked and raw food. The kitchen is one of the major sources of foul smells and you need to ensure its proper cleaning for best results. When it’s about the kitchen it’s much better to wipe out any bad odor before it even begins. Make sure to clean out any left out residual food scraps inside your garbage disposer. Also make sure to have regular cleaning for the kitchen pipes.

Trash pandas will rip open your trash if you leave full bags outside of your home. Put trash in your trash can…even if you are lazy and don’t want to go outside because it is too cold, rainy or hot. I’ve been there and have regretted it in the morning. Picking up trash after a raccoon gets into it is the worst!

8. Running Disposal of Garbage

Disposal of garbage is ideal to get rid through any expired food, unwanted leftovers with discarded peels. Also, the disposal is often mostly ignored by houseowners until any clogging begins or the sink stops working.

Running garbage disposal regularly ensures that your house doesn’t have any foul odors. Even if you haven’t got anything for grinding up, you can turn the water on while running disposal in every few days for moving parts around. Otherwise the disposal freezes up, starts rusting with corrosion. Leftover food gradually hardens over time which results in clogs and unbearable smells.

9. Looking for Refrigerator Odors

Clean your refrigerator…including the drawers and hidden compartments where your salad dressing has spilled or moldy cheese is hiding.

Besides a poor cleaning schedule for fridge, there might be other causes as well such as poor air circulation, water leakage and various other malfunctions.

Make sure the fridge vents are not blocked by your toddler’s milk or covered up with leftovers. This can prevent cold air from getting into the fridge and can lead to other problems.

10. Cleaning Appliances

Daily use house appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerators, dryers and washing machines must be cleaned thoroughly for avoiding buildup of any foul smells. For washers, its best to keep the door open a little bit when it doesn’t remain in use, also take the cleaning laundry out of the washer when there is no load.

The main objective here is to avoid buildup of any dampness. For dishwasher cleaning, you can often soak these in soapy water and later on rinse it. Another thing you can do is to sprinkle a little bit of baking powder in the tub bottom for running normal cycle.

For the dryers the main issues are the damp lint which is found mostly in vents of the dryer. Fixing this is simple as you need to remove the vacuum and lint with other trapped dust and dirt.

11. Having Proper Hygiene for Pet Cats

The health of your pets along with their daily hygiene also impacts the smells inside your house. Having a healthy coating along with its skin would start with its good nutrition along with parasite control, but good grooming is helpful as well.

Regular combing and brushing, the cat would be completely clean and hygienic despite all the dirt and dander that he caught outside.

12. Pitching the Kids

Quick cleaning would be a sure way of getting quickly rid of any unwanted odors that you can bear more. This also helps with an organized approach for cleaning the house with tasks getting divided for everyone.

Also, this would further be helpful for the children to learn about the essentials of cleaning with a special emphasis on removing household odors.

13. Get Rid of Damp and Musty Smells

These are not only issues faced with old houses as new ones also have damp issues. To move towards a sweeter and better smelling house, the trick would be to have a clean air flow, with proper ventilation of dry air. In the winter season, even in freezing temperatures, it is vital to remember to provide house with fresh air daily.

For neutralizing mold smells you can also try vinegar bowls and place these in cupboards overnight. If you’re still noticing scent after all this you can leave coffee bean bowls or a bowl of sodium bicarbonate inside each cupboard for a few weeks – this creates a lot of difference.

Mustiness and dampness are a direct outcome of moisture and in case these ways don’t work, you can consider investing in a dehumidifier for your rooms.

14. Killing the Mold Inside House

By mold most people think of this as single type fungus on moist surfaces. However, in reality, over thousand species of mold exist only in American houses.

Mold colonies are not only present indoors but can be seen in house exteriors as well. However, before this mold start emitting a foul smell, this would thrive behind baseboard or walls for several months or for years as well.

Not only mold has a foul smell but it is one of the most hazardous contaminants for sensitive groups as these travel through air and get inhaled in lungs leading to allergies, asthma along with various other conditions of respiratory nature.

To remove mold the best approach would be to go for natural cleaning agent such as hot water, vinegar, baking powder, bleach, essential oils, etc. All these cleaning techniques for mold removal would vary depending on the object or space that you intend to clean and this is useful as it absorbs odor.

Visible mold can be removed with the help of a soft brush or a toothbrush while gently sweeping over infected areas.

15. Odor Removal from Household Trash Cans

Hotter weather means invitation to foul smells, pests and annoying sticky leaks from household garbage cans. It’s best to make use of these tips for removal of unpleasant experiences with garbage cans.

It’s best to bag the garbage and loose trash must be avoided.

Recyclable containers must be rinsed when they’ve come in contact with food. The recyclables must not be bagged, so its essential clean containers for minimizing hygiene issues.

Occasional rising for trash can with water and soap is necessary whether it emits smell or doesn’t. This is among the best ways for preventing unpleasant odor buildup.

You can also try 1:3 vinegar to water solution for spraying down can insides.

In addition to all the above listed measures if you’re considering the use of air fresheners for masking odors, this would only make matters worse.

Instead of plugging in deodorizers within electrical sockets and lighting a collection of aromatic candles, the use of these natural household remedies would save you costs and once for all you would get rid of all foul odors as this method absorbs odor without compromising on your health.