We all want to smell good. Entire industries are based on manufacturing products that will make our hair smell good, our bodies smell good and even our clothes. But how good does your home smell?
Here I put your sense of smell to the test: how many of these items are cleaned and refreshed daily (as needed) or at least every week?
Here are the ten smelliest offenders in your home:
1. Pets and babies
Pets and babies are my number one smelliest offenders. You'll want to keep that diaper pail and litter box in check twice a week. And have some sort of pet hair removing device or method that you see to every day.
Babies can take a clean sofa and turn it into a smelly sponge in no time flat, so be sure to wipe down any furniture where your baby eats and spits up. And keep those burp cloths, bibs and blankies laundered.
2. Microwave and oven
The microwave and oven are my number two smelliest offenders. Think of the microwave as an offender of the worst kind when it comes to smelling up your home. Every time you use the microwave, it is like turning a fan on next to food that has been sitting out for days and blowing the smell throughout the entire house.
Use a paper towel or small cloth to cover your food every single time you use the microwave. Especially if you have a self-cleaning oven, there is no excuse to leave your oven full of burnt food drippings. If you have no intention of wiping it out, turn on the self-cleaner once a week before bed (unless your oven is rarely used, like mine-too busy cleaning to bother with cooking).
3. Kitchen sink and disposal
The kitchen sink and disposal are my number three smelliest offenders. We do our dishes and rinse out the sink and consider it clean. It looks clean; therefore it is clean, right? Nothing could be more wrong!
The kitchen sink and disposal is a cesspool of festering germs and it smells like one, too. Every week, scrub it down with some Soft Scrub or gel bleach and run the disposal under hot water for a few minutes. It takes less than five minutes, and it will make your kitchen smell like it just had a deep clean.
4. Garbage
The kitchen garbage as well as the bathroom garbage are my number four smelliest offenders. Empty the kitchen garbage can every single day. Whatever is in there, it's making your kitchen smelly.
The bathroom garbages are tricky because they don't fill up as quickly, so we assume they don't need to be emptied. But they introduce some of the WORST smelliest offenders. I suggest emptying all the bathroom garbages into the kitchen garbage, so it will be taken out that day, at least one or two times per week.
5. Bathrooms
The shower, bathtub, bathrooms sinks and toilets are my number five smelliest offenders. These are like the kitchen sink, just because they appear clean, does not mean they are clean.
The shower floor is probably the grimiest place in your home. A little Soft Scrub or gel bleach will do wonders for it and same goes for the tub and sinks.
One of my favorite tricks to keeping the toilet less smelly is opening the tank and putting a Clorox bleach tablet inside. Every time you flush, it will smell like it was just cleaned. And it is so easy to do!
6. Dirty laundry
The dirty laundry is my number six smelliest offender. Don't even mess with wet towels. Wet towels are some of the worst offenders.
Keep towels hung separately with enough room to breathe and dry completely. And never throw a wet towel onto a pile of dirty laundry. If you must, drape it over the top of the laundry hamper, so it doesn't absorb all the smell from the laundry and act like a smelly diffuser in your laundry room.
Keep laundry moving through the washer, dryer and hampers. And if you do leave laundry in the washer, by all means re-wash it and don't worry about it. For Heaven's sake, we all do that and it is not skin off your washer's back to run it again.
If, however, you are running it for the fourth and fifth time, you may be in denial of the fact that eventually, you will need to put some laundry away.
7. Bedding
Bedding that hasn't been washed recently is my number seven smelliest offender. Sheets that are very slightly damp with sweat and covered in sloughed off skin and hair"¦ sounds gross, huh?
Just take my word for it and wash your bedding. Having a second set of sheets for each bed will really help this process, so you can change the sheets and make the bed then and there and get to washing the dirty bedding later.
8. Shoes
Third place from my last smelliest offender is the shoes accumulated throughout the home. Shoes need to be kept in a shoe basket near the entrance of the home or in the closets in a shoe caddy.
Shoes should never go on top on the couches, bed or, heaven forbid, the kitchen table. Train your kids to put their shoes away beginning at a very early age. I don't know what to tell you about your husband or wife who comes home from work and kicks off his or her shoes and thinks they magically get put away. Shoes are dirty. They are necessary but dirty. Keep them in their rightful place.
9. Floors
Second to last place on my list of smelliest offenders is the floors. If you have wood floors, sweep them every day. And vacuum carpets and shake out rugs every day. Floors are the celestial kingdom for germs and smells.
My favorite cleaning tool is my Bissell Steam Mop, and I use it frequently to freshen up my kitchen floor. Have young children at home? Chances are there's more food on the kitchen floor than ended up in their little tummies. Make best friends with your broom and your mop.
10. Windows
The windows, or I should say how often they are kept closed, is my last smelliest offender in the home. One of the easiest ways to get your home smelling nicer is opening all the windows while you get your cleaning done. Make it a habit.
At least open a window to the main family room where everyone congregates with their coats, shoes and backpacks. Open the bedroom windows while you're changing the sheets. I love to open the windows and let the fresh air in.
This article was originally published on Alicia Walters Blog and has been republished here with permission.
