Unless you’ve gone “nose blind”, lingering odors can really affect the comfort level of your home. Whether your teenagers leave their old socks laying around, the previous owner smoked in your home, or your pet had an accident on the carpet, there are a number of ways to get rid of the odors to make your home smell nice and fresh.

• The European Clean Team would suggest to start by simply opening your windows.
• Walk through all your rooms, pick up the trash, bag the trash and take it outside. Don’t forget to clean the inside of your trashcan. You’ll be surprised how quickly dirt and grime, which causes unwanted odors, can collect there.
• Next, do your laundry. ALL OF IT! This may be more of a long-term project, but we would encourage you to wash your curtains, the bathroom carpets, your blankets and everything else that fits into your washing machine. It will be worth the effort.
• If you are willing and able to invest a little bit of money, you may want to consider getting your carpet and your sofa professionally cleaned.
• You should also thoroughly clean all hard surfaces with a strong cleaning solution.
• In addition to that, your kitchen can be the source of yucky smells: Be sure to give your fridge a nice clean at least once per month and your microwave should be cleaned once per week. We would also suggest that you freshen your garbage disposal once in a while.  An environmentally friendly and easy way to take care of this is to throw in lemon rinds followed by plenty of water while your garbage disposal is running.
• If you have pets, be sure to give them a bath.
• Finally, as a finishing touch, you can burn a nice scented candle.

Here are a few, every day, green-deodorizing tips from the European Clean Team that can really make a difference:

• Take about one cup of household vinegar, put it into your toilet bowl and let it sit for several minutes. Then flush.
• Sprinkle baking soda on your carpet, leave it over night and vacuum your carpet in the morning.
• Put essential oils on cotton balls, put them in a small container and they will be just as good as air freshener.
• Keep a little bowl of white vinegar in the kitchen while you are cooking. It will absorb strong kitchen smells.

Happy Cleaning,

Tanja & Rena