PLEASE HELP! WE ARE THE SMELLY FAMILY! WHAT CAN I DO??

[debka]

My mum just said that my house, me, DH and DDs have a distinctive and not-entirely-pleasant smell. DD1 is 3 and my mum is worried that she will be The Smelly Girl in school :(

I am horrified at this. I had no idea.

DDs are small and I am a SAHM. I probably don't clean enough- probably a good going over once every 3 weeks a fortnight. Clothes all washed frequently. Girls bathed daily, I shower every other day.

DH, however, is another matter. He has a wash and cleans his teeth every day, but only showers about once a month, if that. Underwear changed daily, t-shirt probably twice a week. I don't notice him smelling, but apparently he does :( I will talk to him about it but I doubt he will do anything. If I get the house and linen etc in tip top sparkly condition will he infect it all with smelliness? :(

Please, any ideas, advice, encouragement very welcome.

Soooo if you hang washing out on airers in front of a heater, does that make damp worse even though it dries the clothes quite quickly?

yes, but if you open the windows a couple of times a day the humidity goes down.

At the risk of sounding a little obsessive with cleaning items , we had a dehumidifier for our old houses bathroom as it got really damp and mouldy and it made an amazing difference, cost about £160 but well worth it. We have a plug in heated airer which costs 5p per hour to have on and everything dries so much quicker on that. Plus, we have a bissell carpet cleaner which is great for all the bits of food DD lobs all over the floor

fuzzpig I'm not sure, my thinking would be it would be better to put washing in front of radiator on airer until it is mostly dry (which would only be a few hours if the heating were on) and then move it away, but I'm no scientist

We aired our house today in honour of deb

I just made fish for tea - I thought of this thread when I opened the window and lit my chef's candle

Hiya deb!

Ive learnt a lot from thread and have also given the house a good airing this weekend

Does anyone know how to clean/de-stink a mattress?! Ours isn't too bad but I'm interested, it definitely has a bit of a smell. We have a mattress protector but that's being washed at the mo - you've inspired me!

Bicarb is good for mattresses.

Cover it in bicarbonate of soda and leave as long as you can then hoover it all off again. That should do it Ponyo.

Ha ha! Cross posts! I also love Ponyo Ponyo.

Bio washing powder is also great for getting smell out of a matress.
used it a few times when dc wet the bed and makes tge hoover smell nice as well.

Deb, I've just read this thread from the start and you are doing SO well at dealing with this; I am full of admiration.

Only one further tip from me; I haven't seen anyone else mention it. When you do a machine wash, make sure that you take the clothes out within 30 mins or so of it finishing, otherwise they'll really smell musty.

My DH has no sense of smell, so I have to think harder about things which are obvious to someone with a sense of smell (like what food scraps are so smelly that the bin bag should go outdoors straight away) and the washing machine timings were one of those things.

I knew bicarb would be involved Thank you valium and carrots (fellow Ponyo fan wink).

Did not know about the washing powder trick, nice one mousey!

not wink obviously

Have read all this thread and love all tbd tips.

Question ; if you open the windows how do you stop the house getting bloody freezing in this weather? I only open the windows in warm weather.

• the

dressdown just don't keep them open for long.
a nice side effect is that dryer air heats up quicker and feels warmer than damp air. good for your heating bill. we have all vents taped shut because we don't like it drafty but open all windows for a few mins in the morning, when back at home after work and before bedtime.

I can second the bicarb on the mattress trick, ponyo, done it quite a lot recently with DD1 being poorly.

Still airing and cleaning here, DH hasn't showered again since Friday, I'll start the nagging campaign tomorrow I think. I think it smells noticeably better and just feels nicer. I am becoming slightly obsessive about things now, feel like I need a housecoat or something to don when I'm doing all me Tasks!

This is a great thread! I just noticed that because it's in chat it's going to get zapped after 90 days, though. I was wondering if it would be possible to get it moved (if Debka doesn't mind, of course) as it would be a shame to lose all this really useful advice..

O God. So long as it's hidden somewhere out of the way like Family Planning or Swine Flu where no-one ever goes

My mum used have a housecoat/pinny thing when we were growing up. we used to fill her pockets up with worms . She didn't like worms.

'orrible kids we were.

Chef's candle?!? I need to know about this! (sorry if I've missed it upthread)

I must buy a new mattress protector. But I will definitely try the bicarb trick before using it!

debka I take my hat off to you girl, you are doing a great job of tackling this. It can't be easy to hear your family smell, and it must be difficult dealing with a somewhat depressed dh whilst busy with two little dc.

I agree airing the house is crucial. I spent a very uncomfortable week sharing a cruise cabin with a friend who was very overweight, depressed and loathe to shower. She made every excuse to avoid it, even after sunbathing in oils all day. The smell in the room reminded me of shortbread, sickly sweet and crusty. I had no idea how to tell her, other than leaving the shower running after I'd taken mine and practically forcing her in. I was paranoid my clothes stank.

This friend also sealed her windows shut and her house was riddled with damp. Those damp spores are terrible for your health, especially the little ones with small chests. I think a shower every day is also called for, for both of you. All that cleaning is sweaty work.

Loving this thread, thank you for starting it op, glad things are getting sorted and you're a great inspiration to people like me who need to dirt their own house out. I've been opening windows since reading on here :o

Sort not dirt!

Another one seconding the dehumidifier idea for topping the house getting damp, I have this one, if I have to dry washing indoors I put it in the same room and the amount of water it collects is gobsmacking! Plus the washing dries quicker because there's less moisture in the air.

I've had it for two years now, gets a lot of use and the running costs are small enough to not notice them.