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.

Right then, drumroll please...

Going to start with my inaugural MN colloquialism:

Oh My Actual God.

I did nothing - nothing I tell you - just sprayed it on, closed the door and carried on with my work. Resisted the temptation to peek and poddle and in half an hour the sealant and grouting was bright white and gleaming. No scrubbing required! One or two tiny stubborn patches were left, so I gave it another blast before I did the school run and they too have disappeared.

I've tried so many products over the years to try and get rid of this scourge but nothing has ever made a dent in it. Thanks, Debka

I have used Grot buster and it didn't get rid of it all ( I actually only have one patch of skanky mould, the rest is lovely!)

I will report back tomorrow!

Ace. I'm getting some.

Thick bleach does the same thing to mould - you just squeeze it on from the bottle. Obviously you end up using lots, but it isn't very expensive. Leave for 30 min and rinse. Or a few hours if you forget about it.

Yes, the HG stuff works brilliantly - but please do be careful as it's much stronger than bleach. You have to shut the door on it while it works, and I always try and hold my breath while I shower off the tiles (which it leaves pristine - all that horrible orange tint is gone).
< Looks pointedly at Spider >
And definitely avoid using it when there's tinies around.

They do another product called Grease Away which is ace for cleaning the Aga (limited market I know), but it generally removes caked-on grotty grease anywhere.

Oi Shotgun, I'll have you know there was nothing tinty orangey about my tiles because they were too black to be orange

It's a rented house, your honour, and it was black when we moved in

Oi back - I was thinking about your upper respiratory problems - far be it from me to cast spersions on anyone else's tinge - orange, black or purple got enough of my own.

Sorry shotgun - missed the from my post which hopefully would've conveyed my thanks for your concern about my innards! I'll get back in my box...

Oh, I missed the - or was it the from my post which would have conveyed the fact that I was joking.

< rubbish at emoticons emoticon >

Debka, how is dh doing on the whole shower thing now?

Yay, the thread's not dead, it was just resting!

Have you kept up your motivation Debka? You wouldn't believe the range and extent of housework I've been up to in the last few days (bit scared of using that HG stuff on the sealant now though because of ds breathing in the fumes).

Debka do come back and tell us how it is going, how sweet does your house smell now and had DH made an effort over the past week.

All my windows are open at the mo thanks to you

I am excitedly awaiting delivery of the HG spray, the mini dehumidifier and a chef's candle :o

Have to ask about the spray though - does it affect the porousness (?) of the sealant? After a Terrible Incident when we lived in a flat I am VERY paranoid about doing anything that might break the seal and let water in.

Only read the first few post but it seems simple - get your DH to wash and open the windows!

I cannot believe he only showers 12 times a year!
Do you share a bed with him? makes me shudder....

Hey everyone, you're all still here!!

Smelly house update-

House still being aired daily, rigorous cleaning routine kept to and MrSkank has showered 3 TIMES this week WITHOUT NAGGING!!

My mum gave me an update as well and apparently it smells much better, and most importantly the girls smell sweeter as well.

So thanks again everyone for the honest replies and encouragement to get this household in shape

I think everyone on this thread has a better smelling house thanks to you Debka so for you and your mum too.

3 times! That's amazing. Well done MrDebka. So pleased you've got some results.

Lovely :)

Mr Skank he must be SO much nicer to get into bed with now!

:) great :)

I am another convert to window opening now :)

Great news

Awesome! You guys are an inspiration!

Hi there
Woop at progress in OP's last post (have just skimmed thread)
We are going to move this to good housekeeping so the valuable info doens't get lost forever
M Towers

Olivia glad you just skimmed the thread, wouldn't want MNHQ to know the full extent of my skankiness, you might ban me

I've just skimmed too, but had to add congratulations, and really well done you! Just an idea, from the days before central heating, you can probably still get the bathroom light fittings which also have a heated ring for cold days. Fix light overhead (suggest near washbasin and mirror) and turn on heating ring, which is amazingly warm as well as cheap to run (and will encourage DH to spend more time in bathroom).

He showers once a month??

How do you live with this man?