To be totally fed up that my house smells

[NinjaNora]

Just that really, I never seem to be able to shift the smell of yesterdays dinner to the point that to me the house smells really stale. When I'm home I'll open the windows and that helps a bit but when I walk in after a day at work my home always seems to smell a bit yuck.

Plates, saucepans go in the dishwasher straight after a meal and oven wiped plus I've tried various plug in smelly things, sprays that are supposed to remove the smell rather than camouflage it but nothing really seems to shift it.

I want a lovely fragrant house that reminds me of a field of flowers in Tuscany rather than an Italian Pizzeria. Anyone else hate the smell of their house and have found a solution?

Any recommendations from the fragrance section for those who like Zara reed diffusiors www.zarahome.com/gb/

do you put food in the bin inside? If it's wiffy stuff like fish I tend to bag it and put it straight out - open windows - not just in the kitchen, to circulate air and change/clean the cooker hood filters

Any candle works tbh doesn't have to be a chef's one.

My house smells of a mixture of dog, cooking (fish today, yuk) and cannabis (courtesy of downstairs neighbour). I go noseblind pretty quickly when I come back in, and just don't invite anyone in...

Second the Prices candles, you can pick their reed diffusers up cheaply at country baskets. They're usually about 20quid in John Lewis.

www.countrybaskets.co.uk/prices-diffuser-chefs

I prefer the 'open window' one, they last about a month, and dissipate the smell of spaniel successfully!!

@concrete.

Seriously though, was it the builder?

Dettol air freshener is good - it really neutralises smells as well as having a clean fragrance. Also another vote for Chef's candles.

If you like candles and melts, Yankee Candle wax melts in lavender or lemon are really good at taking away cooking smells.

Ventilation, washing cushion covers/ curtains, etc regularly, cleaning fatty stuff out of cooking pans immediately and using sandalwood incense! Thats my thing. Occasionally, if my living room smells a bit stale, I lightly spritz the sofa with a good perfume (I did this with Dune the other day and the room smells gorgeous). X

Do you have carpets? A good shampoo will help. Fabrics, curtains, sofas, carpet etc all hold smells really well.

Zoflora is great at tackling odours. I make it up into a spray for the floor.

Nothing beats a really good airing though, I have my windows open all day, I have a dog but we dont smell doggy thanks to hard floors and constant airing, cleaning, candles.

I try not to cook on the hob too much and that really cuts down on the grease in the kitchen.

Dune! Now that brings back fond memories!

321, I don't think the culprit has been apprehended as yet, although it was originally alluded to that it was a special vaginally-operated candle. It was like a fascinating AIBU Cluedo.

I swear by Price's Cook's Candles (in a glass container, a tin or the tiny tea lights) which now seem to be rebranded as Chef's Candles. Lakeland, Waitrose and Ocado have them plus other suppliers.

Also open the window a crack when cooking and most importantly if you do have an extractor check and change the filter as if they're stale they'll hold the cooking smells rather than filter them.

I don't think getting stuff to add to the smell will help. It will just mix together and be really yucky! You need to spring clean the house:

• Hire a carpet cleaner and clean the smell out of the carpets and sofas

• wash or dry clean the curtains
• damp dust everywhere
• wash the inside windows
• clean down the kitchen tiles and wash the floor
• change the beds
• clean the oven
• start getting rid of the rubbish more regularly
• pour bleach down the drains
• open all the windows and the doors for hours on the next windy day

Then it will smell fresh, and you can start to add in artificial smells.

Closing the kitchen door when cooking and opening a window is a really good idea.

But I've done all those things Vrijeme aside from the carpets and curtains one as we have neither. Hard floors regularly cleaned and velux window blinds cleaned too.

I rather like cooking smells, too, especially lamb!

Not so fond of the stale piss smell that sometimes lingers as a result of having an incontinent child, though. He doesn't always let me know if he's leaked in a timely manner.

Then it should be gone...! it doesn't make sense if you have washed down absolutely everything.
When you first walk in and notice it, is there a part fo the house where it is stronger? I know you'll get used to it quickly but is it worse in the kitchen, for example? Its not something dead beneath the floor boards, is it?

stinky candles and reeky plug ins just replace one pong with another.

fresh air is the only antidote. Smells can get trapped in fabrics - is it bad enough to shampoo the carpets/get the curtains cleaned?

Either a Yankee candle plug in or diffuser ( recommend lemon lavender or vanilla lime )

For daily use, zoflora neat wiped on surfaces such as worktops or doors etc will make such a difference! Smells for hours lovely and fresh. I use country garden and bouquet, everywhere sells them but they're 59p each in home bargains.

I love nice smells :)

Buy a scentsy warmer!! It's an expensive thing to start but totally worth the money save a fortune in candles!

boiling up a lemon cut in half for a bit after cooking helps get rid of / cover cooking smells :-) Dabbing essential oils on radiators in the winter too.

I gave my very first boyfriend an asthma attack after 'borrowing' my older sister's Dune perfume.

Open windows, at least an hour preferably more, every day. Keep inside doors open so the air can flow through from window to window.

I second all the cleaning and ventilation but also bought the plug in wax burner thingy from the Yankee Candle shop and I love it. Can be VERY strong to begin with but definitely worth £25 odd. Also, I always wash any material i.e. Curtains and I think a major reason my kitchen always smells fresh is that I got rid of all my splashback tiles. I hated how discoloured the grout got so ripped them off, got it replastered and just have an upstand. I also wipe down the cupboard fronts as they're white and the shite that can come off them sometimes! I have a phobia of food smells and bin germs so get a nee cheap bin nearly every year. My old cleaner also swore by Zoflora and chucked a capful in the bin, in the bag of the vacuum, everywhere and it left a lovely scent all over the house.

Also, I think the place never truly smells clean until I wash the floor!

Special I agree that the movement of fresh air is paramount, but we have three large windows and a set of French doors in our kitchen, plus extraction and I still find the Cook's Candle very useful. It neutralizes/deodorizes rather than fragrances.

Ninja what kind of meals are you cooking and do you have any pets? if so are their food bowls left down.
Also with open plan I think it helps if you open a kitchen window and a window in the living room, that pulls the air through the whole ground floor.

Clean with sugar soap. Cuts through grease easily.

If you don't have a door shutting off your kitchen, can I suggest bi-fold or sliding doors? Failing that a pole across the gap with a thick curtain .