I use vinegar water with a splash of tangerine oil, just spritz around the carpet and it refreshes everything.

My kitchen smelled like bad fish. Funny, I haven't cooked any fish in weeks. I poured about a cup of cider vinegar in a glass bowl, added some whole cloves and about a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Nuked for about ten minutes, then opened the door. I let it cool,then left it on the counter overnight. This morning my kitchen smells nice.

Vinegar is amazing with all of it's uses. It is also good for pet odor and urine odors. Also, just to name a few--use it in your oven for cleaning the glass, soak plastic containers that smell of strong odors like salsa or tomatoes. I could go on, but I appreciated the household Odor tip!!

There have been several discussions regarding the synthetic scents and how they really linger in the air. I know when my DS heads out on a date you would swear he was still standing there an hour later. I think that's why so many of us are getting even more sensitive to perfumes in public. It's that chemical base rather than essential oils.

Gloria

I use straight vinegar. I spray it in the air before my friend whos a non smoker comes over. when she gets here i ask her what she smells when she comes in and she usually responds with nothing or clean air. One time she showed up and I saw her coming so i sprayed quick and met her outside and when she came in its smelled like vinegar!! LOL now she knows my secret and she uses it whenever she cooks fish or salmon!
I spray my mattress and box spring once a month and let them air out. I also spray my couch because we have animals.
I clean my windows as well with straight white vinegar. No streaks and crystal clear. My poor grandbaby walked into my door because she didn't see it it was so clean. My daughter thought my kitchen window was open and about put her hand thru my window!! Vinegar has many many uses and i probably use 2 gallons a month. I use it in the wash on the rinse cycle instead of fabric softener. I could just go on and on about white vinegar but I won't!
Darlene

p.s. use cidar vinegar during flu season so you don't get sick. take 1-2 tablespoons a day during those months.

Our basement has a very musty odor, and it permeates through the house when DH leaves the door open. Wonder if I can leave a bowl of white vinegar down there?

deemarie5500 - a bowl of vinegar would help, but best of all would be to locate the source of the musty smell and get rid of that! If an enclosed area smells musty, it's often because dampness has entered and mildew and/or molds have formed. Gotta get rid of the mildew/mold before you can really get rid of the odor they make. Straight vinegar is great for killing off most mildew/molds, although it won't bleach out the stains. Clean with vinegar and then turn a fan onto the area to help dry it out. If mildew returns, the cause has to be repaired because there's a leak somewhere.

The building I once worked in was flooded for 2 full days from a broken roof on a Friday after everyone had gone home. They came in and removed all the floor molding and sheetrock on all three floors up about 8 inches. Then they brought in chemicals, which I suspect were the same as in Oxyclean, and finally they brought in fans to keep the air moving while the carpet dried. They never replaced the carpets. After a week of fans running 24/7, they replaced the sheetrock and turned off the fans.

I guess the point is you might have mold in your sheetrock if previous owners didn't follow up on a flood.

Thanks! We don't have sheetrock, it's cement walls. I placed a bowl of vinegar in the basement and we purchased a new de-humidifier. After about 6 hours there was an improvement.

If you're looking for a carpet cleaning machine, a professional one, you should try www.carpetcleaningla.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: carpet cleaning