Your room smells like a dead animal The vinegar will absorb the odor (your room will smell a bit like salad for a few days, but it's worth it) and over time the smell will dissipate.
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.
Keep things dry with a dehumidifier in your basement, and try leaving out a bowl of vinegar for around 15 minutes to neutralize any odor.
However, vinegar actively looks for things to bind to. In most cases, it won't take more than 5-15 minutes for the smell to go away.
Distilled white vinegar can be used as often as you'd like to help remove odors. It is less expensive than commercial products, environmentally friendly, safe for use around pets, and contains no harsh chemicals.
Apple cider vinegar naturally eliminates odors without using chemicals, so dilute it with equal parts water, add to a spray bottle, and spritz it around your living room for a fresh clean scent. Studies have shown that ACV kills bacteria, so it can improve your indoor air quality.
Some of the best odor eliminators are coffee grounds, tea, vinegar, oats, and baking soda. Leaving a bowl of any of these odor absorbers out in a room that's due for a little freshening up will help clear out the less-than-pleasant smells from the air.
#1 - Baking soda
Baking soda is one of the best items you can use to absorb bad smells. You can leave an open box or bowl of baking soda in your refrigerator and sprinkle some in the bottom of your trash cans to neutralize foul odors that tend to develop in these places.
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.
While vinegar is a magical cleaner that you can use on almost any surface, its strong odor can make cleaning a little bit of a challenge. Of course, over time, the smell will dissipate, but you shouldn't have to wait around for the smell to fade.
So, does boiling vinegar actually clean the air? The short answer is no, as far as current scientific research is concerned. Acetic acid, the active component of vinegar, is capable of killing pathogens, but only through direct contact.
White vinegar contains acetic acid, which neutralizes odors by killing the bacteria and mildew causing the bad smell.
It has powerful antimicrobial properties that may help ease skin infections and soothe irritation. As a mild acid, ACV may also help restore the natural pH balance of your skin.
When vinegar evaporates, you get vapor of acetic acid as well as water vapor. You can easily smell that the acetic acid evaporates too. “Pure” vinegar evaporates completely, leaving no residue in the bowl.
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.
Yet a few inexpensive household essentials you probably have on hand already—vinegar, salt, coffee, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide—will neutralize most noxious odors around your home and in your vehicles.
Combine a teaspoon of vinegar with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle then lightly mist the air (you can also stir in a few drops of essential oils). It smells a bit vinegary at first but dries odorless leaving no bad smells or vinegar scent.
Baking Soda.
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.
These two common household materials can serve as natural cleaners to remove grime and keep your surfaces clean. Because vinegar and baking soda are on opposite ends of the pH scale, they can be combined and used as effective cleaning solutions.
Let it sit: Wait a few hours or ideally overnight for the baking soda to absorb the odors. Vacuum: Vacuum up the baking soda.
Breathing vapours with high levels of acetic acid can cause irritation of eyes, nose and throat, cough, chest tightness, headache, fever and confusion. In serious cases damage to the airways, a fast heart rate and eye damage can occur. An accumulation of fluid in the lungs may occur and may take up 36 hours to develop.
Use Less Vinegar in Your Cleaner
Dish liquid is a perfect additive to limit the vinegar smell. Mix a milder solution than the standard 1:1 vinegar and water spray, and add a few drops of dish soap. Shake the bottle gently to mix the ingredients.