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Remove Odors Naturally With Aromatherapy and Natural Ingredients

Diffusing essential oils like lemon can help eliminate and camouflage stinky, smoky and musty household odors (scroll down to see a list). But if you really want to eliminate lingering odors, try good old baking soda.

Baking Soda to the Rescue...

A few weeks ago, I re-filled the gas cans for my lawnmower and other lawn tools at the gas station. A small amount spilled in the back of my vehicle. When the smell hadn't left after a couple days, I kept a wide dish of baking soda in the back for a few days and that took care of it.

I put baking soda to the test a year ago when my basement flooded just enough to make a mess...

If you have a carpeted basement that has flooded during a bad storm, even very slightly, you understand how stinky the situation can be. I consider myself quite blessed that when my basement has "flooded" a couple times in the past, it's been profoundly shallow water only in a small area, just enough to make a mess and require use of a wet/dry vacuum, and hasn't required the replacement of the durable (but unfortunately not natural) basement carpeting. Pew-pew-pew.

	A Note About Cats... Cats are very sensitive to essential oils. Since I'm not a guru on aromatherapy for cats, I lean on the side of caution. I moved Tigger's litter box upstairs and sparingly used essential oils at the time, using a baby gate to keep Tigger out of the basement.

Picture this... A year ago after a long night of rainfall, I walked into my kitchen to find Tigger (cat) eagerly trying to get my attention. He acted like something was preventing him from going downstairs, where his litter box is, and sure enough, as I turned on the basement light, there floating by the stairs was his litter box. After my initial groan knowing of the impending clean-up I'd have for the next couple days, I couldn't but help laugh at the sight of that litter box floating by.

Even with my wet/dry vacuum, diligently using a carpet cleaner, and several fans, the smell becomes so strong that it can be clearly noticed even two flights up. I'm not a fan of chemical-based products and try to go with natural products and ingredients whenever I can. God bless baking soda. Sprinkled very generously (we're talking LOTS) on the carpet after it had dried, and left like that for a day before vacuuming it up rapidly took care of the nasty odors. Since odors can travel to other areas of the house, I kept bowls of baking soda throughout the rest of the house.

This past weekend was filled with an immense amount of heavy rainfall. Luckily, my basement didn't flood, the moisture content was immense and I could smell that musty odor returning. Baking soda to the rescue once again.

AromaWeb advertiser From Nature With Love sells baking soda in small and large quantities. You can also buy baking soda in bulk at club type stores like Sam's Club.

Baking soda can be sprinkled on musty carpets and kept in bowls or shallow pans in rooms that need odor elimination.

Other Natural Household Odor Eliminators:

White Vinegar:
Though stinky during use, soaking or dabbing items with white vinegar can help to remove stubborn odors. For instance, if you forget to put wet clothes into your dryer, rewash the clothes with vinegar. The vinegar also acts as a natural fabric softener.

Lemons:
Lemon juice and Lemon Essential Oil can help cut nasty odors, especially fishy odors.

More Info:

The Web is filled with many other ideas for natural odor eliminators suitable for particular purposes. Do a search using terms like eliminate odors naturally and other similar terms and you should find some other great ideas.

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