Every home has a place where clothes are stored. Most of the time it is the closet. Unless we have closets to put our clothes, purses, suitcases and shoes, our rooms would be all cluttered. However, these “mini-rooms” have a great disadvantage – they can absorb odors. Which can be the reason for the terrible smells of clothes. The general feeling is that they have never been washed before.
Usually when we are outside, our clothes absorb different aromas or perfume and when put back in the closet, it picks up the aroma. Of course, the biggest aroma-picker are shoes. If you tend to store shoes together with your clothes, then most probably your closet smells horribly.
Musty smell should also be considered. This is due to bad ventilation or no ventilation at all. Most of the time closets are kept closed as not all of them have doors with slats. Considering these facts, no wonder why closets aren’t odor free. If you want to keep them fresh and clean, you need to follow a couple of steps. Here we will give you a few tips on how to provide a nice atmosphere in your closet.
Some of the tips provided here might be obvious, others may surprise you. Read on.
How to get rid of bad smells
- Before you proceed to any freshening of the closet, make sure you first give it a proper clean. Dirty closets will hardly keep your clothes fresh, regardless of the methods you use to make this happen. A good cleanse of the entire area will remove some of the bad odors that have accumulated for a long time.
- Our first advice is to air your clothes outside for at least 15 minutes before you put them back in the closet. If you store shoes there, a good idea is to use a shoe spray. The latter is designed to neutralize various odors that come from feet.
- Another way you can go is to use dryer sheets. Putting these in the shoes will keep them fresh while they are in the closet. Dryer sheets can also be put in the closet to freshen the air.
- Our next suggestion is to use potpourri sachets. They can be hung on the hangers. Sachets can be homemade as well. Use cotton balls or fiberfill stuffing material and wrap them in a square of another material. Then you can spray your favorite perfume or cologne but only under the condition that you aren’t sharing your closet with someone else.
- Using cedar chips also works. This is one of the best ways to keep your closet fresh and odor-free. Not to mention, they even help rid moths from the place.
- In the corners of the closet place a few pieces of chalk in a bag. They will help absorb odors.
- Our last suggestion is using charcoal briquettes placed in an aluminum pie tin. Put the tin on the floor somewhere at the very back of the closet. This will help prevent the air from getting stale or musty smelling.
CAUTION! Note that if you have a pet at home, you should be careful about what items you put on the floor of your closet, especially if your animals are allowed to go there! You know how curious pets are, dog and cats in particular. If they swallow anything you left on the floor, you risk jeopardizing their lives. So, if you have pets, the best place to put all the items listed above is somewhere high where animals will not be able to reach.
It is not that difficult to maintain a clean and fresh closet if you follow the tips mentioned above. The thing you should not forget is that in order to keep the place freshened in the first place you need to clean it. So if you don’t remember when you last cleaned your closet, it’s time to do it now!
