am the ONLY one who thinks a clean house...

[lilmsjess]

should SMELL clean?

sure, of course it LOOKS clean, right? but does it not just make good sense(especially since we're smokers), that the house SMELL clean? PLUS, i ALWAYS look for reasons to buy "wallflowers" from B&BW hehe...

i won't lie, i can be a pretty sloppy person, just take a look at the 3 laundry baskets of clean clothes in my room(LORD i hate putting clothes up)...BUT when i clean my kitchen and bathrooms, i want them to look AND SMELL clean....

do you ladies have any at home solutions? i used to buy my favorite body spray, and mix it into an empty bottle cleaner with water, but fh doesn't like my old scent, and i just LOVE my "original" one too much to dilute it, heehee...tonight is my night to get my sleeping schedule back on right, as me and alex have been kinda sick, so we've been napping WAY more than normal, so i've been getting like 8 hours of sleep, but only 2-3 at a time...so tonight, i restore the apt after destroying it lookin for my wallet, and rearrange the Living room so that i can keep alex out from underneath the computer desk :rolleyes: SO nosey, just like his daddy ;)

[gwenshack]

Do you have a garbage disposal in your kitchen sink? Sometimes smells in the kitchen can emanate from there. I like to put a stopper in the kitchen sink, fill the sink with hot soapy water and then pull the plug and turn on the disposal. This allows the hot soapy water to run through the whirling blades and really cleans them out well. And if you use lemon dish soap your kitchen ends up smelling like lemon.

As for the bathroom, I typically clean that with Clorox Cleanup and then it smells bleachy. But to me, bleach smell equals clean smell.

You could always try one of those Glade Plug In things. I've never tried them though so I can't really comment...

[lilmsjess]

Do you have a garbage disposal in your kitchen sink? Sometimes smells in the kitchen can emanate from there. I like to put a stopper in the kitchen sink, fill the sink with hot soapy water and then pull the plug and turn on the disposal. This allows the hot soapy water to run through the whirling blades and really cleans them out well.

yea i do that with the disposal...ew!:worm:

as for bleach, i have bad asthma, so while i do use it, the constant smell drives me insane with breathing issues, and it triggers MAJOR migraines...

well, i must get off for a bit, i need to rearrange the LR, and i'm moving the desk=good bye, one wed:sob: oh no, what will i do when i get tired of moving furniture...better do the desk first :rofl:

[Century Guy]

I'm a freak when it comes to smells. I agree with you, I want my place to smell clean/fresh. It embarrasses me if I have a guest over and there is ANY sort of "odor" to our house. (Which there is at times due to having a dog, a cat, and a four year old.)

For the garbage disposal: There are lemon smelling "drops" that you can put down in your disposal that is supposed to help. It works...for a time. Look in your detergent aisle at your grocery store.

The carpet: This is work, but it smelled SO good after I did this: Use a product called "Capture." It's a bottle of liquid that you spray the carpet with...and then a powder that you sprinkle on to the carpet. Using a long handled brush, you brush the powder into the carpet that has been sprayed...and then let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Vacuum up. Removes stains/dirt GREAT, and leaves your carpet smelling incredibly fresh.

Febreeze...is your friend.

Glade plugins also, but to me, it only masks smells. I'd rather get rid of the source.

Don't just vacuum your floors...do the furniture as well. And if you can't do upholstery cleaning now and then...again...Febreeze is your friend.

My $0.02.

(Told ya I was a freak. Especially for a guy.)

[moonrai1980]

i like usuing kaboom it works well and i also use a mixture of baking soda and vinegar to clean wood floore and to get rid of dust. it only smell wierd for a minute but neutralizes any bad odors leaving the house smelling clean.

[amisteratwisterandme]

I really like Febreeze. The smell is nice without being overly strong.

[lilmsjess]

ha! we have like *8* bottles of febreeze in different scents lol

i have the beachy scented one in my car, chris uses the "new car" scent in his car, and i have like 4 or 5 different ones for the house...BUT something i've noticed, is the scent goes away after a few hours, and it doesnt seem to neutralize...BUT tonight, i'm washing the seat covers for the couch, and fh says "well i pour half a cup of febreeze into the washer when i do the couch"...mr know it all lol...but, i just may try that...i put the purple lysol(with febreeze:rolleyes: lol) in the laundry with his coveralls, cos they smell like diesel nonstop, and the lysol has DEFINITELY helped with that!

[SkippyNXC]

ha! they actually make detergent w/febreeze in it... as well as dryer sheets w/febreeze... i use em both b/c i love the way they make my clothes smell...

i love a pretty smelling house, n like the wallflowers but they bother FH... he says they're too strong n give him a headache... which i can see they do get a bit strong in the wrong places... i have the auto febreeze in my car b/c i spilt garbage juice on my back seat n lets just say my friend has since dubbed my car "snatch car" b/c of how it smelled for 2 days afterwards while on a freggin road trip!

try cleaning the car apolstery w/turtlewax apolstery cleaner... letting it dry then febreezing it... THAT makes all smells go away LOL and makes for clean car seats ;)

it may also help, if u have carpets, to have em steam cleaned or shampoo'd or something... there's usually odors trapped in there that vacuuming won't take care of... we actually bought a lil steam cleaner @ target for 80 bucks n i LOVE it... just seeing how much dirt n grime comes up from a freshly vacuumed rug... worth the WHOLE 80 bucks LOL

[SkippyNXC]

oh n i saw on "how clean is ur house" (great show to get cleaning tips btw!) they told the person to put half a lemon down the garbage disposal n grind it up to keep it clean n fresh smelling... haven't tried it yet b/c i haven't had a garbage disposal til i moved here back in june LOL

[Ginger]

I must be in the minority. I don't like Febreeze or any other "fresheners", to me it's like you're masking foul odors. A clean house should have no smells, or maybe a faint smell of Windex, Fantastik, or PineSol. (PineSol is the best smell in the world to me... I think of home.)

I have the same feeling of "bathroom sprays", it just smells like bathroom stink and flowers, which makes me want to barf.

[mitch]

Both DH and myself are smokers plus we have an indoor Cat that roams the house. Being a cleaner for a living i'm always scrubbing something. Re-arranging stuff and general sorting out. With tonight being the last night in our old house i will be like a mad woman making sure everything is spotless.

We got the keys for the new house today and i was round there this afternoon cleaning skirting boards, tiles and kitchen units.

As for odours. I use an air-freshner called "Oust" it eliminates the smells and doesn't just mask them. I have asked friends who visit if they can honestly smell the Cat-Tray and they have given an honest answer of no.

I use "Shake N Vac" on the carpets. And wash the Drapes regular. Make sure Ashtrays are emptied regular and never leave rubbish in the bin inside overnight.