Keeping your closet smelling fresh and clean is easy when you have a few helpful tricks up your sleeve. Let’s face it, closets can get pretty gross because they are the perfect place for bacteria, mold, and other nasties to hide out until you reveal them again. Don’t worry! Keeping your clothes smelling fresh isn’t nearly as creepy as that makes it sound. All you need is just a little bit of common household items and…bam! Your closet will be odor free in no time at all. Read on to find out how to keep your clothes smelling fresh in the closet.
How To Keep Clothes Smelling Fresh In The Closet?
Change Out the Bedding Once a Month
During the course of a month, you’ll tend to accumulate a fair number of odors in bedding. You’ll also be rolling around in bedding, which will cause it to become dirty more quickly. It’s a good idea to change out your bedding every month. This will help keep odors to a minimum and will keep your bedding clean and fresh. If you don’t change out the bedding often, the odors will build up and be harder to get rid of. It’s also important to change out the bedding to keep the bed clean. It’s common for people to spill food on the bed at some point, whether it’s on purpose or by accident. Changing out the bedding on a monthly basis will help prevent this from happening.
Use an Odor Absorber
An odor absorber is a great way to deal with the smells in your closet. You can also use them in your shoes (especially sneakers that tend to get a little stinky) or in other parts of your home. You can find odor absorbers at a number of different retailers. They usually don’t have a strong scent, so you can use them even if you have sensitive skin or allergies. When your closet starts to get rank, simply hang up an odor absorber. It will help to muffle the smells in your closet. Odor absorbers will also help prevent the smells from transferring to the rest of the room. When picking out an odor absorber, make sure to choose one that’s intended for closets. It’s also a good idea to check the label to see how long it will take for your odor absorber to work its magic.
Hang Your Smelly Items in a Bounce Box
If your closet smells bad, it’s a good idea to take a look at the items that you’re keeping there. If an item smells bad (such as an old jacket or pair of shoes), it might be time to part ways with it. If you can’t or don’t want to throw the item away, you can put it in a bounce box. A bounce box is a large bin or a tote bag that you can use to store your smelly items. Make sure to put the items in a breathable fabric, such as a towel or a pillowcase. This will keep the bad stuff contained and will prevent it from spreading to other items in your closet. If your items have a strong smell, you might want to consider washing them first. If your items have a strong smell, you might want to give them time to air out and then put them in a bounce box.
Get Professional Help from a Cleaning Service
If you’re having trouble keeping your closet clean and getting rid of the smells that accumulate there, it might be a good idea to get professional help. You can hire a cleaning service to come and help you get your closet back under control. Cleaning services can do everything from sorting through your clothes and getting rid of things that are no longer wearable to deep cleaning your closet, shoes, and other items that tend to get messy. If your clothes smell but aren’t dirty, a cleaning service can help get rid of the smell. They’ll be able to use specialized products and tools to remove the smell from your clothes.
What Causes Closets To Smell?
Your Clothes Are The Smelly Cause
If your clothes are the source of the smell, you’ll want to change them out for fresh pieces. If the smell is mild, you can air your clothes in the sun and then put them in a garment bag. When you’re storing clothes, avoid piling them on top of each other. Doing so can trap moisture in the fabric and cause mildew and odors to develop. Rather, you should use garment bags to store your clothes so they can breathe. Alternatively, you can use wooden hangers. They allow air to flow through the fabric and help prevent moisture from building up. You can also store your clothes in sealed containers to contain any odors and prevent them from spreading to other items in your closet.
You Don’t Have Enough Ventilation
If your closet is too hot and humid, it can cause all sorts of problems, including mold and bacteria growth, and a musty smell. If your closet is poorly ventilated, you may have mildew or fungus growing on your clothes. You may even have a hard time opening and closing your closet door due to excess moisture. You can solve this problem by adding ventilation. To increase ventilation, you can remove or pull back curtains to let light and fresh air in, or hang a mesh screen over your window. You can also remove any items from your closet that block light and ventilation, such as a standing clothes rack, a shelf, or a shelving unit.
The Smell Is Coming From Old Clothing and Fabrics
If you’ve purchased vintage clothing and it smells musty or like old books, that’s normal. You just have to wash the clothing in a fabric softener to remove the smell. To do so, add two cups of fabric softener to the washing machine when running a load of vintage clothing. You can also place vintage clothing into a pillowcase and place it in the dryer with a few dryer balls. To remove the musty odor from sweaters, place them in the dryer with a few clean tennis balls. Doing so will help to fluff up the fibers and remove excess moisture that may be trapped in the fabric.
What You’ll Need To Keep Your Closet Smelling Fresh?
- An air freshener – is an obvious but necessary item to help keep your closet smelling fresh. If you want something more long-term to continuously freshen up your closet a spray or a plug-in will be your best bet.
- Cleaning supplies – while you admittedly don’t need much to keep your closet smelling fresh, you do need something. Whether you go the DIY route or buy or both is up to you. You can check out our top closet cleaning products here.
- Closet cleans out – you don’t need to do an overhaul every time you clean your closet. However, every few months you should do a complete clean-out. You can read more about how to do that here.
How To Prevent Closets From Smelling?
Add ventilation
When you store your clothes in a closed space, they have nowhere to go. This can result in the fabric becoming discolored and the smell of your items being absorbed by the rest of your closet. To prevent this, make sure that you provide plenty of ventilation in your closet. You can do this by leaving the doors open while you are in the room and while you are not using the closet. The best way to keep your closet smelling fresh is to have a constant flow of air inside. If you can’t open the doors of your closet, make sure that you have a few fans around the house to circulate the air. They are relatively cheap and easy to buy and can make a massive difference when it comes to preventing closet smells.
Use baking soda
Baking soda is a versatile product that can be used for all sorts of things around your home. It’s also ideal for keeping your closet smelling fresh. Baking soda is a natural odor neutralizer and great at absorbing moisture. When you put it in a container in your closet, it will absorb the stinky odors and leave the air smelling fresh. It’s best to place a bowl of baking soda in your closet. This will ensure that all of the air is treated with it. Baking soda is cheap and easy to find. You can simply buy it in bulk and keep it in an old jar or bowl in your closet. It’s a great alternative to chemical-based odor removers that you may have seen in the store.
Always keep it dry
Closets are dark and humid places that provide the perfect environment for bacteria and mold. To prevent this, you should always keep your closet dry. Try to add some extra shelving to your closet and make sure that your shoes and clothes are off the ground. If you don’t have enough room for extra shelving, try placing a tray or tray underneath your shoes. This will ensure that your closet is always dry. If you have a really humid day or your clothes are particularly damp, you can also use a dehumidifier in your closet. These are relatively cheap and easy to find. They can be placed inside your closet and will suck out the moisture and bad smells.
Conclusion
Keeping your closet clean and bacteria-free isn’t hard. All it takes is a little bit of diligence and the right products. That being said, it is very important that you actively keep your closet clean and tidy. Why? Because mess and clutter are proven to lower your mood, which we all know can lead to a decrease in productivity. Having a clean closet is a great way to keep your mood up and yourself productive. So, don’t be afraid to dig in and get your hands dirty.