Bad Smells Don’t Have To Be!

Bad smells disturb our well-being and that of our fellow human beings. But that doesn’t have to be the case if you take a few tips to heart!

Everyone knows bad smells : smelly shoes, smelly refrigerators, smelly shoe cupboards, smelly toilets, bathrooms, laundry rooms and cupboards. But bad smells all have one cause: poor hygiene.

Bad smells are caused by bacteria

In the vast majority of cases, bad smells are caused by bacteria, less often by fungi. What we perceive as bad smells, however, is subjective: some people find the smell of cabbage soup in the hallway stimulating their appetite, for others it is already a smell.

Our article today is not about bad smells caused by digestion or poor personal hygiene, but about bad smells that occur in everyday life, for example in the refrigerator or in shoes.

These bad smells are mostly caused by poor hygiene in combination with moisture. This can often be observed in bathrooms in particular, when insufficient ventilation results in excessively high humidity, giving the toilet and shower a strong odor of its own … Find out what you can do against individual bad smells!

Smelly in the fridge

Many are familiar with the smelly refrigerator. But the stink in the fridge rarely has anything to do with smelly cheese, but usually with odor-causing bacteria. They are happy about barely visible leftovers on the surfaces, on the walls or on the door rubbers and develop a characteristic “refrigerator smell”.

Clean your refrigerator regularly, at least once a month. Clear out everything and at the same time check for spoiled food. Then wash all surfaces with a solution of hydrogen peroxide or vinegar essence with water. Many small parts can also be cleaned in the dishwasher.

It is also important that you not only clean the surfaces of the refrigerator and disinfect them with vinegar or hydrogen peroxide, but that you also wipe the items that you put back in the refrigerator just as thoroughly. This includes, for example, jam jars, sauce or beverage bottles, containers and tubes, cans, etc. You will see that your fridge will never smell again!

Smelly shoes

Shoes that stink even when dry are put in the freezer or freezer for one night to kill the bacteria in them. Only then can you spray the inside of the shoes with special shoe deodorants. However, this only makes sense if you take care of your own feet afterwards so that the problem does not recur! Sports shoes can also be washed in the washing machine without hesitation.

Smelly toilet

Here, too, odor-causing bacteria are at work – and not too scarce! In addition, there is ammonia from urine or mold. Bacteria and molds love moisture, which is why they often live in bathrooms and develop their odor-intensive lives. Only hygiene helps here!

Urine stone smells like ammonia and can only be removed with special cleaners. Once removed, it is up to you to prevent it from re-forming by cleaning the toilet regularly. Be sure not only to clean the toilet in the bowl and under the rim, but also to keep the toilet seat and the outside of the bowl thoroughly clean.

Bad smells from the drain

Bad odors from the drain are caused by leftover food, edible fats or hair that is rotting in the drain pipe. It is obvious that only removal of these foreign substances solves the odor problem.

As a preventive measure, you can take the following measures against bad odors from the drain:

• Use a strainer over the drain to catch any leftover food or hair.
• Pour a pot of boiling water down the drain once a week.
• Clean the siphon as soon as bad smells appear.
• Don’t use a pipe cleaner.

It is also important that you take these hygiene measures in the sink, shower or bathtub, so as not to give the odor-causing bacteria a breeding ground.

Bad smelling clothes

Often jackets or other items of clothing that have been hanging in the closet for a long time no longer smell fresh when you take them out of the closet. You can prevent this “stuck” odor with simple rules:

• Never hang unwashed clothing in the closet.
• Please only put / hang clothes that are completely dry in the closet.
• Do not overfill the cabinet so that air can circulate.
• Shoes don’t belong in the wardrobe.
• Put the closet in a dry, well-ventilated place.

If you pay attention to these simple basic rules, bad smells in the closet will also be a problem of the past. Simple hygiene measures are important in the entire household, so that bad smells simply don’t stand a chance!