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Cleaning Tips

Tips for Eliminating Bathroom Odor

bathroom odor

Because they’re exposed to water and because of what they’re used for, bathrooms are ultra-prone to taking on foul odors. Over time, these odors can accumulate, resulting in an almost unbearable stench. 

This is why you have to take steps to eliminate bathroom odor. But what can you do? Quite a few things!

Without further ado, here’s how to eliminate bathroom smell. 

Scrub the Inside of Your Toilet Bowl

As time passes, the inside of a toilet bowl is bound to take on substantial amounts of residue. After enough accumulation, this residue is sure to create an odor. As such, if you want to eliminate bad smells in your bathroom, you need to scrub the inside of your toilet bowl regularly, at least once a week. 

To do this, use a toilet cleaning brush. This is a long-handled brush with a swath of hard bristles on the end. You can buy one at department stores for around $10. 

If you want to make it clean, use a toilet cleaner as well. This is a liquid substance that sits within the toilet bowl and kills existing bacteria. Allow it to sit for a few hours and then flush; the resulting smell will be a pleasant one instead of a foul one. 

Turn the Ceiling Fan on While Showering

When you turn the shower on, moisture fills the air within the bathroom. The longer the shower runs, the more moisture there will be. 

This doesn’t just turn the bathroom into a temporary steam room. It also does damage to the walls and the ceiling, leaving mold spores behind over time. 

As you might expect, these mold spores don’t smell good. The more and more they accumulate, the more odor they create. After some amount of time, this mold can create an almost unbearably musty scent. 

How do you counteract this? By making sure to turn on your ceiling fan whenever you’re taking a shower. This fan will help ventilate the moisture in the air, allowing for slower mold accumulation and fewer odors overall. 

Clean the Floors

Bathroom floors are exposed to all sorts of foul substances. Whether it is urine splashing up out of the toilet bowl or sweat from clothing that’s been flung off of someone’s body, the floor is sure to be the source of many of a bathroom’s poor aromas. 

As such, if you want your bathroom to smell nice, you must clean the floor regularly. And we’re not just talking about a swipe with a Swiffer or a mop. We mean a down-on-your-hands-and-knees deep cleaning in which you get each and every inch of your floor.

So, get under your vanity, get behind your toilet, get in the little crevices between the floor and the bathtub. Do away with all of the grime on a consistent basis and, rest assured, your bathroom will smell much better. 

Light Candles

Getting rid of the sources of bad odors is just half of the equation. If you want your bathroom to smell nice, you have to add nice smells as well. 

This is why you should light candles in your bathroom regularly. Pick a time when you know you’re going to be home and light a few scented candles. Let those scents fill the air within the bathroom and then blow the candles out before you leave your home or go to bed. 

It’s cheap, it’s effective, and it will add a bit of ambiance to your bathroom as well. There’s no reason not to do it. 

Open the Window When Possible

Does your bathroom have a window in it? If so, you should open it up as much as possible. This way, the air within your bathroom will be able to flow out, allowing for foul-smelling particles to evacuate. 

If you never do this, your bathroom will always be fighting a stuffy and musty odor. Don’t have a window in your bathroom? At the very least, make sure to keep the bathroom door open throughout the day, and then open up some windows throughout the rest of your home. 

Leave a Spray on the Toilet

Going to the bathroom doesn’t always leave the nicest smell behind. As such, to help yourself and your guests counteract that smell, you should leave a scented spray on the toilet. That way, once someone has finished their business, they can release the spray and help balance out any foul odors that may have appeared. 

Scrub the Tub

It’s not just the toilet that needs regular scrubbing. The bathtub needs regular scrubbing as well. If you don’t scrub your bathtub regularly, mold and soap mildew will build up within it, resulting in poor smells over time. 

Scrubbing your bathtub is as simple as taking a handheld brush and running it over affected areas. If you want your tub to be sparkling clean, you should use a disinfectant cleaning solution as well. This will not only kill bacteria but will also actively improve the scent of your bathroom. 

Clean Out Your Drains

Our last tip is to clean out your drains. See, drains are exposed to all sorts of residue. Much of this residue ends up sticking to the insides of the drains. 

As time passes, this residue starts rotting, thus releasing an overwhelming stench. As you might expect, this stench makes its way out of the drains and into the bathroom air. 

So, if you want your bathroom to smell nice, you need to keep those drains clean. A liquid cleaner might suffice in most cases. However, every 3 years or so, you should have your drains cleaned professionally. 

Need Help Getting Rid of Bathroom Odor?

Are you having some trouble getting rid of bathroom odor? Need a little help keeping a clean bathroom? If so, you should hire a cleaner. 

But don’t just hire any cleaner; hire the cleaners here at Home Maid Better. Located in Oklahoma City, we clean houses all over the OKC area. 

Contact us now to discuss your cleaning needs and to receive a free quote! 

Categories
Cleaning Tips

7 Oven Cleaning Tips that Will Transform Your Kitchen Hygiene

oven cleaning tips

Maid and home cleaning services can range from $25 to $50 an hour. This cost may or may not surprise people, but it is a good baseline to have when you’re deciding whether or not you should hire out your house cleaning. 

If you can be more efficient with your time elsewhere, you might find that cost is relatively reasonable. Have you been googling ‘oven cleaning tips’ and drawing a blank on finding the time for it?

Regularly cleaning your oven can help eliminate smells and help your home look and feel cleaner. Keep reading on for 7 helpful tips and tricks for keeping a clean oven.  

1. Cover Your Food

The simplest way of keeping your oven clean is by taking some preventive steps. While it won’t keep you from ever cleaning your oven, it will present unnecessary spills and eliminate a bad kitchen smell. 

When cooking something in your oven, make sure you cover up your food to avoid spills, splatters, and more.

2. Use a Spill Tray

Some ovens come with an extra roasting tray that you can leave at the bottom of your oven. Consider purchasing an extra spill tray that fits your oven size if you don’t have one.

If you don’t want the option of a spill tray, then a silicone baking sheet can also do the trick. These baking sheets will catch any drips before they harden onto the bottom surface. 

It will also make it easier for you to remove burnt on foods since you can simply wipe down the sheet or swap it out. 

3. Use Baking Soda

When the time comes for cleaning an oven more in-depth, you can use baking soda and water to create a simple paste. Aim for around 1/2 cup of baking soda and just a few tablespoons of water before mixing. 

You can cover your entire oven in the mixture, and you will let it sit for 12 hours. Use a non-abrasive cloth to wipe everything down afterward. 

4. Vinegar and Water

You can always give a quick spritz of white vinegar after your baking soda mixture, which can help turn everything sparkling new once more. However, you could also use a vinegar solution to opt for a steam clean.

To do this, you will want to boil water and then add the vinegar. Once both are at a boiling temperature, you’ll put the pot in the oven and let it do its magic. Afterward, take a cloth and wipe down the surface.

5. Use the Self-Clean Feature

If your oven has it, you can use the self-clean feature for deep cleaning your oven. It sounds simple, but it works. The self-clean run takes a few hours and reaches extremely high temperatures, so make sure you won’t need your oven for the next little bit before going down this route. 

Once it is done, you should be able to wipe it clean with a cloth, and it is ready for use!

6. Cleaning Oven Racks

Part of a clean kitchen and oven also entails cleaning your oven racks. Like with the oven, you can use vinegar, baking soda and let the solution soak in hot water overnight. 

Once it has soaked, you can use a scrubber to eliminate all the grime. The easiest way to do this is to lay your oven racks in your bathtub over a towel. 

Instead of baking soda and vinegar, you could also use dish soap and warm water. Again, you will let it sit overnight and then scrub it down after. 

7. Cleaning Spills

The best way to clean burnt-on food is also through baking soda, or you could use natural cleaning products like lemons. If you want to head down this route, you will place squeezed lemons in a bowl with peels. Next, fill the bowl partially with water and bake the mixture for around 30 minutes at 250 degrees. 

The lemon helps loosen any stains or hardened food on the bottom or sides of the oven. 

Oven Cleaning Tips

While it is great to have ideas for regularly cleaning your oven, deep cleaning an oven can be challenging and time-consuming. Sometimes, having a clean home can take up a large portion of your day, and home cleaning services can help.

These home cleaning services for kitchens can add-on deep-cleaning extras such as:

  • Fridge and freezer
  • Oven
  • Sanitization
  • Clean behind appliances

These hard-to-reach and clean areas are a hassle for cleaning and are great add-ons to your cleaning service. The other benefit of hiring out cleaning is that you can spend more time doing things that matter, such as spending time with family or friends and following through with work obligations or deadlines.

How can you know which service team you can trust? Follow-up with companies on the requirements they go through for hiring their employees. You can also ask about unique protocols and safety guidelines that they may have in place for the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Call On the Experts

If you are struggling with staying up on cleaning your kitchen and oven, you might need a professional home cleaning team. Deep cleaning doesn’t have to occur frequently, but it can make a big difference in keeping bad smells out of your house. 

There are many oven cleaning tips that you can use throughout the year to keep your ovens spotless. However, preventing spills with sheets can avoid you having to clean up burnt food on the bottom. 

Contact us today for a free quote on our cleaning services, and rest easy knowing you are in good hands.