Pour some vinegar in a small bowl, then let sit overnight to erase odors. No-wax floors. Mop with a solution of ½ cup vinegar to a half gallon warm water for a clean, rinse-free shine. Carpet care.
To achieve continual freshening after painting a room or during a party where guests are smoking, fill a small bowl with distilled white vinegar and place it in a spot where it will not be spilled like the corner of a bookshelf or cabinet. Refill the bowl as the vinegar evaporates.
'Leave a bowl of vinegar out overnight,' advises Saskia Gregson-Williams, cookbook author and founder of Naturally Sassy. 'In the morning, the vinegar will have absorbed all the unsavory smells and your kitchen will be as fresh as a daisy. '
Deodorize the Room
Unpleasant odors lurk in the carpets, rugs, and upholstery. To remove these musty smells, fill a dish with half an inch of white vinegar and leave it out in the room until the smell dissipates.
If you use a light hand with the vinegar, the aroma will go away on its own in 30 to 60 minutes, particularly on solid surfaces. If it's on a soft surface, it may take a day or so. Air circulation can make the vinegar aroma dissipate more quickly. The vinegar aroma will go away when it's dry.
Vinegar. Vinegar is an especially useful odor solution for spot cleaning. It's also great for smells due to mold or mildew, as it can actually remove the fungus as well as the odor. To treat your carpet, mix white or apple cider vinegar with warm water in a ratio of one part vinegar to two parts water.
Some of the most effective household cleaners aren't meant to be mixed. You probably already know never to combine harsh chemicals like bleach and ammonia (or really, bleach and anything). But common pantry essentials that are often used for cleaning — like baking soda and vinegar — shouldn't be mixed either.
Distilled white vinegar is the one most often used in cleaning, for its antibacterial properties. It also acts as a deodorizer and cuts grease.
Spread baking soda over carpets and big furniture
With a large colander, sprinkle a deodorizing powder like baking soda on carpets and big furniture. Let it sit for at least 30-60 minutes. Then vacuum it up, using your vacuum attachments on couches and chairs.
Effectiveness: Baking soda tends to be more effective at removing deeper, tougher odors. It neutralizes both acids and bases in the air and on surfaces. Versatility: Vinegar is a multi-purpose solution that can clean various surfaces as well as eliminate odors. However, its strong smell often lingers after use.
Baking soda is probably one of the most useful tools in eliminating odors from your home. Instead of masking odors like air fresheners and candles, baking soda absorbs and neutralizes them.
They found that the combination did a fairly good job of deodorizing (the baking soda) and cutting through grease (the vinegar). So Forte said they recommend it for, say, a bad-smelling drain or to remove light grease buildup, but not as a replacement for a commercial drain-clearing product or a plumber.
-Pour a few inches of baking soda into shallow bowls and leave them uncovered around the odorous rooms of the house for a few days. Baking soda is great for absorbing the smells, but it doesn't happen instantly. -Combine with vinegar and use it in lieu of soapy water to scrub down particularly odorous surfaces.
Pour baking soda into the drain (about half a cup), followed by one cup of white vinegar. Cover the drain and let it sit for 30 minutes. After waiting, boil a kettle of water and dump all of the boiling water down the drain to flush out the loosened clog.
Instead of using harsh chemicals that could potentially damage your pipes, unclog a drain and refresh it by pouring in a homemade drain cleaner made up of ½ cup of baking soda and 1 cup of vinegar. Always keep the ratio one-part baking soda to two parts vinegar for the best drain cleaner for kitchen sink gunk.
You should use a ratio of 1:2 baking soda to vinegar. In other words, if you're using ½ cup of baking soda, use 1 cup of vinegar, or if you're using a cup of baking soda, use 2 cups of vinegar.
Add ¾ cup distilled water, one tablespoon vodka, and five drops of lemon essential oil to the bottle. Attach the spray bottle top and shake to combine the mixture. Spray the odor eliminator around the room as needed.
Rinsing is not necessary! If you're simply using a vinegar and water solution to wipe and disinfect, you won't need to rinse. However, if there's also plenty of dirt and grime you're wiping away, you may also want to rinse with some extra water.
But there's one thing we're a little less crazy about: that smell. Yeah, vinegar can be seriously pungent, and even if the smell does dissipate over time (which it totally, totally does), we very much understand that you might not have the time to wait, or might just not want to.
Several common household items (most notably baking soda and white vinegar) contain powerful properties that eliminate smells without the use of chemicals. But less-commonly known products like coffee and vodka can do wonders when it comes to eliminating, not simply covering, bad smells.
To use white vinegar to deodorize a couch, pour white vinegar into a spray bottle and get to work on cushions and armrests! If you're concerned about the vinegar altering the upholstery, spray a small amount of white vinegar on your couch in a discrete location and wait overnight.
A small bowl of baking soda on an upper shelf will absorb odors without adding any chemical smell. You can also put a few drops of essential oil on cotton balls and place inside a roll of toilet paper which will release the scent every time the roll is turned.