You walk into your kitchen and your nose immediately wrinkles — you’ve just been smacked across the face with a nasty odor, one that wasn’t there when you went to bed last night. Is it coming from the trash? The garbage disposal? The fridge? The possibilities are vast, but all you know is that odor needs to GO.

So what do you do? Well, most of us would probably do the same thing: light some candles and bust out the air freshener. Do your best to cover the stink as effectively as you can.

This might be our knee-jerk reaction to a smelly home, but is it the best way to tackle to the odors? As it turns out, probably not.

Think about it; how helpful is burning wax, spraying chemicals, or using some plugin device that hardly works to freshen your home? When you think about it, it doesn’t seem like the most effective way to cover odors.

That’s really all you’re doing, covering odors. What you want to do, in actuality, is get rid of odors permanently.

Melissa from Clean My Space has basically given us video-guide of how to deordorize your home, no artificial sprays involved. It’s so much easier than we might imagine, too! As it would seem, we’ve been complicated things just a little too much.

What’s the magic trick? Cleaning the source of the stink.

Smelly fridge? Purge it by tossing expired foods and giving the whole appliance a much-needed wipe down. Stinky sneakers or gym bag? Clean the offending shoes or clothes!

The answer to our smell problems is to get to the root of the problem and clean the object itself.

Don’t worry, Melissa has a few other tricks up her sleeve. Looking to clean a larger, stinky area? You don’t have to scrub every square inch, not with these deordoizing tricks.

LEAVE OUT VINEGAR

Here we are again, wondering how vinegar can quite literally solve all of our cleaning woes. If your kitchen (or any room) itself stinks, and you can’t track down the source of the smell, leave out a bowl of white vinegar in the room overnight.

When you wake up in the morning, you’ll find the room smells fresh as ever.

BAKING SODA

Most of us probably have a box of baking soda in our fridge to neutralize smelly foods. But if you’re finding the stinks are taking over, make sure to switch out the box.

And guess what? Baking soda isn’t just great for the fridge, you can put some powder in the bottom of your garbage or in a smelly cabinet to nix odors.

VACUUM REGULARLY

A lot of smells get drawn out, and not in a good way. Why? Because they tend to get caught in our carpets. Vacuuming regularly can soak up nasty odors, especially if you use baking soda on the rug or use a specialized deep cleaner.

 

These are just a few ways you can attack the root of your smelly home! You can also put plants (like aloe) in your home to freshen the air, not to mention simply open up doors and windows to let air circulate.

If none of these free methods appeal to you, you can also make these DIY air fresheners to make your home smell lovely in an all-natural way.

What do you think of this approach to deordorizing your home? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.