Unpleasant smell in the closet with clothes: how to get rid of it

Causes of smell in the closet

The unpleasant smell in a closet with clothes can be different: putrefactive, musty (damp), cigarette, amber of “old age” and others. Before you start fighting the stench, you need to find out why this problem occurs. Most often, one or more of the following causes are found:

poor ventilation and high humidity;
harmful insects (dust mites);
improper storage of things;
expiration of the shelf life of the cabinet, poor-quality furniture material.

Also, sometimes a situation may arise when a small child or pet climbs into the closet and leaves his “surprises” there. Be that as it may, without eliminating the source, it will not be possible to get rid of the stench once and for all.

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Smells can affect our mood and sense of self. To create a pleasant atmosphere in your home and a good start to the day, a linen closet fragrance is the best option. It permeates clothes with a pleasant smell, thereby creating comfort and improving a person’s mood. Manufacturers produce fragrances for every taste, but if you can’t find a suitable one, there are several ways to make a cozy home with your own hands.

How to get rid of the smell of cigarettes

Of course, all things that have such a scent must be thoroughly washed and dried. As for the cabinet itself, its surface must be treated with a weak concentration of vinegar solution, this will not only eliminate the smell, but also disinfect the dressing room. It is also recommended to hang a damp cloth inside for half an hour, which will absorb unnecessary odors. Finally, the shelves and walls should be thoroughly wiped with a dry cloth. Old cigarette smell is rarely removed the first time; several procedures will be required.

To eliminate the cigarette smell from the closet, you will have to wet clean it several times.

Popular fragrances

There are several main directions in which the smells of flavoring agents differ. By choosing a group of your favorite scents, it will be easier to decide on a specific one. All smells are divided into:

fruity - this includes numerous citrus aromas, apple, exotic fruits. These scents are not too sweet, have fresh notes and can give a summer mood even on gloomy autumn or winter days;
wood - perfect for a man's wardrobe. Discreet, tart, refreshing aromas that emphasize status, perfect for young business people;
conifers – the aroma of the forest invigorates and gives a feeling of freshness, perfect for lovers of tent holidays, reminiscent of a vacation during everyday work;
floral - scents for beautiful ladies that give a feeling of lightness, spring and summer, helping to remain feminine and graceful even in jeans or business trousers. The aroma of your favorite flowers can lift the mood of any girl;
green tea is an unobtrusive scent that reminds you of moments of relaxation with a cup of your favorite drink. Suitable for connoisseurs of airy aromas with a slight sourness;
berry - the smell of summer and fresh berries can lift your spirits at any time of the year and the weather outside the window. This scent will be appreciated by young girls and ladies who are always 18.

Among the popular scents, everyone can find a scent to their liking. If there is none among them, there is always the opportunity to make a flavoring yourself. This will allow you to create your own scent that will delight you and set the mood for the whole day from the very morning.

Ways to eliminate odor

When it comes to your wardrobe, there are several ways to remove smell from your linen closet. Whichever one you choose, you can count on effectiveness only if you use the product correctly and only after eliminating the cause.

Perfume

Some housewives try to remove the unpleasant smell from the linen closet using perfume, however, not everyone does it correctly. There is no need to splash or pour toilet water on clothes and closet shelves; this will do more harm than good. It is enough to simply place an open, empty perfume bottle with your laundry. A subtle and pleasant aroma will envelop the contents of the cabinet, but you can only enjoy it if it is perfectly clean.

Soap

This method, similar to the previous one, can be used only after thoroughly cleaning the closet and washing things. Any toilet soap with a fragrant aroma is placed in a bag made of natural fabric and simply placed on the shelf (the larger the volume of the cabinet, the more such fragrances). By the way, this will not only make the linen fragrant, but also protect it from moths.

Ventilation

It is necessary to ventilate the closet both to prevent unpleasant odors and to eliminate them.

Ventilation is a simple, effective way to eliminate unpleasant odors.

This measure implies the following actions:

Completely empty the cabinet of its contents and leave the doors open;
Treat it with hot dry steam using a hairdryer;
In sunny weather, hang or lay things out on the street, on the balcony, and in the cold and humid season, after airing, dry the clothes with the hot air of a hairdryer (if the fabric of the product allows, then with an iron);
Carefully, not too tightly to each other and to the walls, arrange your wardrobe items in the closet. It is advisable to carry out such a procedure regularly at least once every six months, even if there are no aromas at all.

Milk bath

The original method using milk allows not only to neutralize the stench, but also to prevent the formation of mold. Pour a small amount into a pan, heat, and then transfer to a previously emptied cupboard. The doors must be closed tightly. To complete the procedure, you need to remove the pan with the cooled milk and after a while put the things back.

Sachet for linen

The foreign name refers to ordinary fabric bags filled with various fragrant herbs: lavender, calendula, mint, rose. Women used this method in Rus' back in ancient times, when there were chests instead of closets and there were no special scented household chemicals. However, dried sweet-smelling plants are still considered effective in combating foul odors. It should be understood that such devices do not help to eliminate the smell, but only to temporarily muffle it, that is, cleaning and washing still cannot be avoided.

Sachets have been used to eliminate unpleasant odors since ancient times.

Odor absorbers

There are products that themselves do not smell of anything, but at the same time they can eliminate the unpleasant odor in the closet with clothes. These include zeolite, activated carbon and baking soda. Any of these options should be poured into a small container and placed in a cabinet. Universal odor absorbers are also sold in hardware stores.

Flavors

Special cabinet fragrances can be purchased at any household chemicals store, or you can make them yourself.

The smell of citrus. Yellow and orange fruits have a bright smell, which is why housewives often use the zest as a natural flavoring. It is necessary to dry the peel, wrap it in cloth and place it in drawers or on shelves with linen.

Coffee aroma. Use coffee beans or ground coffee, it has a rich, pleasant aroma that improves your tone. To do this, pour this flavor into a small jar without a lid, or into a fabric bag and place it on the shelf. An alternative option is fruit tea bags and cinnamon sticks.

Prevention

The cabinet is not allowed to be placed in the space between the kitchen and the bathroom. It is also best for residents of side apartments to avoid placing in a corner.
There should be no clothes in the closet that have not yet had time to dry.
In a damp apartment, you should put silica gel . These are special balls that are included in every shoe package. With their help, it is possible to quickly and effectively eliminate high humidity. You can buy balls separately at a building materials store.
Outerwear must be ventilated at least 2 times a year .
The smell can come from used items. For this reason, they cannot be stored in a closet for a long time .
A pleasant aroma can be provided using herbal bags . Some owners prefer to use perfume or soap.

An unpleasant odor is difficult to deal with. It is recommended to follow the rules that prevent its spread. The methods have been used for a long time, so they have been tested. To combat unpleasant odors, modern manufacturers offer ready-made products that are sold in any hardware store.

Mold control

In rooms with high humidity, the phenomenon of a musty smell is observed quite often, and a thorough inspection reveals dark spores. These are traces of mold - a problem no less serious than eliminating an unpleasant odor. In addition, the presence of these factors in one place is interconnected. The first step is to get rid of the bacteria that have settled in the closet, and this must be done by choosing any of the following options:

Treatment with vinegar solution;
Wet cleaning with adding a couple of drops of chlorine bleach to the water;
Rubbing the shelves with a mixture of water and soda, followed by rinsing.

Baking soda

Baking soda is an equally effective home remedy. It is capable of removing traces of fat or oil, various juices, burning and even the smell of smoke from any surface. How to get rid of the musty smell of clothes using baking soda? Experts say it's quite simple. You need to boil one liter of water, add five teaspoons of soda to it. If there are a lot of clothes that smell unpleasant, the amount of product can be doubled

It is very important to mix the soda thoroughly so that it dissolves completely in the water. After this, the product should be removed from the heat, pour it over the clothes and leave it for half an hour.

Then you will need to wash the items by hand or using a washing machine and dry thoroughly. By the way, if using vinegar and soda separately from each other did not help eliminate the musty smell from things, you can combine these components. This composition should be used instead of powder in the washing machine. However, it should be understood that this washing method is suitable only for open centrifugal machines. Never use vinegar or soda when washing foul-smelling clothes in a washing machine.

Proper storage of things

To prevent unpleasant odors from appearing in cabinets, you should know a few important rules.

Don't fill the closet too tightly. The more spacious the better.

All items must be absolutely clean and thoroughly dried. Even if you wore a blouse or T-shirt once, the smell of sweat and perfume probably remained on the product, so it is not recommended to put it with fresh clothes.
If high humidity and poor ventilation are a difficult problem to solve, not just in one cabinet, but in the entire room, silica gel will help. This adsorbent can be found in a box from a brand new pair of shoes, or purchased in a store.
It is necessary to carry out general cleaning of the wardrobe and disinfection of shelves at least once every six months, and preferably even more often.
It is necessary to leave a small distance between the cabinet and the wall. The shelves should not be filled too tightly: the more spacious, the better.
For outerwear, you need to provide special covers made of thick waterproof fabric. After each wear, the jacket or coat must be pre-dried and washed before being sent for long-term storage.
Where shoes are stored next to clothes, an unpleasant odor most often appears. Sandals, boots and shoes are best stored in plastic containers.

It is better to use plastic boxes to store shoes

How to add a pleasant aroma

To give things a special smell that is pleasant to the owners, the simplest methods are used - regular washing, aromatic substances.

Important: fragrances pleasantly refresh things if they are free of foreign odors. Combining an unpleasant amber with any scent will only make the situation worse.

Cleanliness support

The best and most reliable way to make things smell pleasant is to keep the entire contents of your closet clean. Worn items should be stored separately. For them, it is better to allocate a separate chest of drawers, a bedside table, and not a shelf in a common wardrobe.

It is also useful to keep things that are no longer used in another place. When stored for a long time, they acquire the specific aroma of stale laundry.

Periodic revision of clothing

Everything in the wardrobe must be ventilated regularly. This applies not only to fur products, which protect against moths in this way. It’s worth setting aside a day and taking out all the things from the closet and shaking them out. Unused items should be thrown away or moved to distant mezzanines.

Humidity level

To reduce humidity in cabinets, use salt, soda, silica gel, rice, and zeolite. Special moisture absorbers are produced, which are used if other methods do not help.

Scented soap

Soap has long been used to protect clothes from moths and give them a freshly washed scent.

Coffee beans

The aroma of coffee can overpower many odors. The grains need to be roasted and placed in the wardrobe, whole or ground. Wooden cabinets preserve the coffee spirit for a long time; clothes and linens are also saturated with it.

Citrus

Dry citrus peels retain the aroma of fruit for a long time. Bags with crusts are placed in different corners of the wardrobe.

Empty perfume bottle

The remains of your favorite perfume in an empty bottle will add a light scent to your clothes. It is better not to use it if men's and women's clothing are stored together in the wardrobe.

Vanillin bag

The remaining vanillin in the bag will add the aroma of baking and women's perfumes to things.

Essential oils

Your favorite essential oil is dripped onto the fabric and left in a closed wardrobe. Gradually, all things acquire this aroma.