DS's friends say our house smells

[fruitstick]

I know it does but I'm mortified. DS's friends are also quite a bit wealthier than us with bigger houses etc but I don't want DS to feel he can't bring people round.

We keep the house clean but have a dog and two cats. The cats have litter trays upstairs which don't help.

I blame our hallway as no fucker puts their shoes away (DS & DH) and there are loads of coats (mainly DH's).

I have the next week off work so was planning on a big clean up anyway.

What do I need to be doing.

I know the dog on the sofa means we need to wash the cushions more regularly than we do. I'm not as religious about cleaning as I could be.

But tell me what I need to be doing.

I have a friend with a dog which is allowed on the furniture and upstairs, sleeps in their bed. The house is clean, spotless and tidy but it still smells of dog. My mum had dogs for year but had hard floors downstairs and dogs were not allowed upstairs or on the furniture. Can't recall her house smelling of dogs. I guess the smell clings to soft furnishings?
Clean carpet regularly, keep the dog off the furniture and from going upstairs.

Firstly, I’m so sorry to hear about your son.
Secondly, can you also open windows to let fresh air in? This may sound obvious, but not everyone does it.
Then, if the weather’s okay today, can you put cushions etc in the garden to air? Wash the covers, but put the actual cushions outside as smells can linger.
If there is somewhere for shoes to go, force everyone to put their shoes away (I’ve been trying for many years and I can’t get my DH to do it, so good luck!) - also if shoes are really pongy, put half a tumble dryer sheet in each shoe - it helps to absorb the smell (and /or bicarbonate of soda).
Don’t just go and buy plug in air fresheners though - they always smell like they’re masking something!
Good luck and I’m now off to wash some of my sofa blankets!!

Enzyme spray
Carpet shampoo
Easy to wash blankets
Fabric refreshener
Wash everything including coats
Spray the shoes
Make sure shoes are dry after rainy days!!!

Open ALL the windows every day even in the winter!

Oh I have considered it.

It would feel too heartless though. I might suggest it to DH though, then he might up his game.

Some dogs just absolutely stink the house out.

Open all your windows every day for 10mins. Up and down even if winter and blast the air through. Then it’ll warm up again.

plug in air fresheners or spray ones make things worse. Oil burners smell better. Get an electric wax one.

but wash sofa blankets weekly for the dog. Consider a robot hoover for it to go around every day

I'm amazed you have friends to visit @herewegoroundthebastardbush or is it work visits?

Litter trays stink My mums house makes my eyes water. She dies clean ot out but the ammonia small gets me everytime. I can't stay long there. I can smell it on my clothes even after j have left

Put the litter tray outside the cat flap then they will go outside and eventually use the garden instead

Digs also smell

Wash their bedding regularly (bathe your dogs too )

You need to be on on top of this as they do smell

Burn intense cones before visitors arrive

It will be the stinky cat litter trays.

You will be nose blind to them but they reek.

When MIL moved she used to have litter trays and it permeated the carpets in the house. To sell it we had to do a House Doctor and rip them out and replace with laminate.

Clean them every use or at least every day or better still get a cat flap.

If the cats are seeing on clothes that's your issue. Cat wee stinks.

Ddog is elderly with bad teeth (can't deal with them because he can't have anaesthetic for other health reasons) and on a fish diet. He stinks. He sits on the sofa but the sofas / house don't smell.

Have you got the enzyme spray? Use that on every wee incident.

Long term I'd look into rehousing the cats.

Where do kitchen smells go?
If they waft through the house, into hall eventually coats etc will absorb grease from the air.
Then have that grubby food smell.
I would stick all DHs coats through a wash.

Why is it all on you? Your DH needs to get off his arse too

We use Aldi cat litter. £2 a bag. 3 litter trays and get through a bag a week cleaning out 3 trays 3x a day. Remove poos and big wees. Cover small wees with a bit of fresh litter if we can't be bothered.
Amongst many cats we have two sprayers/angry wees😡soak up any excess with kitchen towel, scrub with solution of biological soap powder, dry and then spray with Simple Solution Extreme spray (not the weaker one).
Open windows every day (preferably all the time, even in winter, but DP would strongly disagree and that's a different thread 😀).
Wash trays every week. Mop bucket with flash or similar (not Zoflora, too stinky) and soak trays for a few minutes before washing, drying and replacing with fresh litter.

The op has said she likes it, it brings her comfort. Why push the issue?!

This is also an issue.

We have an extractor fan and kitchen is cleaned regularly but I always feel our house smells a bit 'greasy'

Wash all the coats once or twice a year and spray them with febreze in between.
Put inner liners in shoes and change or wash them regularly.
If feet smell, making shoes smell, try a footbath with Dettol once a week. I went through a phase of smelly feet 10 years ago and I think it was caused by a certain bacteria that Dettol killed, and they have never been smelly since.

For the pets - plenty of good suggestions above but do open windows for a while every day. Even in winter.

Frequently wash bedding, or air it outside.

i have a pissy cat. I use a steam cleaner with vinegar and soda bicarbonate to clean my floors.

I spray and clean all the areas around the litter trays with Ideal 365 cleaner and then Isopropyl alcohol spray and leave it to dry. I find this is the only thing that removes the smell of pet urine, And it is used by kennel owners.

Our cat flap came into the sitting room and we moved it so our cat is no longer able to go in there if we are not there. We had a handy man drill it through a 30cm wall.

if your cat is displeased with the litter tray and pees on your sons clothes, you’ll have to either empty it more often, put in another tray and/or clean the area where it pees outside the box, cats are stimulated by smell so will go back to the same area to pee again.

We open windows and light smelly candles in rooms before visitors come in.

Dogs do usually smell and if allowed on soft furnishing, the smell transfers. Cat litter smells too. Please don't get rid of cats you've had for 10 years, but also maybe don't get new ones when the current pair cross the Rainbow Bridge... it is not ideal to have 3 (incompatible) pets in a small house where only one person can be arsed to do anything for them and the cats have to toilet indoors. Find a way to install a cat flap in the back door/window and put the litter trays in a covered area outside. Failing that, keep them in the bathroom upstairs and use the sort of litter where you can scoop the dirty bits straight into the loo and flush away. Keep the bathroom window open.

Send all the coats to the dry cleaner (maybe a couple will fall into the nearest charity shop on the way there) and then leave them in your car boot until it's actually coat weather.

Out of interest, how old are the kids that said the house smells? I guess it's better that you know so you can try to sort it...

What kind of extractor do you have? Is it the kind without a filter/ has replacement filters/ or washable ones you can run through the dishwasher?

How on earth do you manage that?

TBH it started when i was pregnant, i couldn't stand the smell of dog in the house.
We still give them affection, we just sit on the floor and play with them/stroke them etc.

I don't know about smelling "fresh". I imagine your house smells of cleaning chemicals and artificial fragrance.

I recommend Rock the Housework for motivating you to tackle some of the difficult areas in the house.

Even in the most immaculate homes I've been in, I've been able to smell dog when there is one.
I do think it's all about not allowing them on the furniture and for sure get the cats to go outside.
I used to have a litter tray but now have a bit in the garden where both cats dig and poop and then I clean that up everyday. I have definitely noticed a difference in smells since I got rid of the litter tray.
I've just sprinkled some bi Carb on our cat tree and rugs as suggested here as I'm always still trying to get rid of any lingering smells too

Good luck, it's not easy to keep on top of all the cleaning and pets even at the best if times.

Yeah, I'd second this, especially if you are going to take off some time off to tackle the house. You can get a week free trial and you could do the bootcamp in that time and it might make it feel less overwhelming?

Anything fabric probably needs a good wash, sofa cushions, blankets, bedding. Possibly the carpets and curtains as well, carpets could be cleaned professionally or you can buy a carpet cleaner yourself.

Going forwards, be more on top of the litter tray and maybe have blankets on the sofa for the dogs that are easy to wash.

Anywhere the cat has weed aside from litter tray needs to be scrubbed otherwise they may use that place as a toilet again if they can still detect the smell of thier own urine.

I say this as my house is in absolute disarray, although hopefully not smelly. I've given up for the summer holidays and I'm planning on catching up on podcasts and having a huge deep clean once school is open again.

It's the cats. I've never visited a cat owner's house that didn't smell.

They can't smell it anymore but it stinks.