by Hickman

Created on: July 29, 2010

This ever happen to you…?

You receive an unexpected, yet welcome phone call from a dear, long friend or relative that SURPRISE! We’re stopping by on our way to visit Granny and we’ll be there in one hour.  You are a little stunned but more than happy to have visitors come by the house to chat, snack, drink and gossip…No Problem.  Except there is a problem, because as soon as you run inside the house to initiate your 10 minute, housecleaning whirlwind, you open the door and WHEW-WEE!  It STINKS inside your humble abode and you have company coming!  

Good Lord, is it the cat or the dog? Did you miss trash day?! Now isn’t the time to panic (besides, there isn’t time to have a melt down, they’ll be here any minute!), it is the time for action.  Here are some tried and true tricks for you folks finding yourselves racing the clock to combat household smelliness.

First, let me tell you from experience that the air sprays alone don’t work. I have tried them all and all the citrus/floral/spicy/powder/clean linen spritz in the world can’t handle home stink without a lot of help.  Remember, you are most likely quite used to the different smells routinely lurking in your living space. Anyone new walking into your home isn’t going to notice the delicate nuances of your favorite fragrance spray underneath the eye-rolling odors from the litter box, doggie’s bedding or yesterday’s Indian take-out. 

Since you don’t have time to rip out the carpets, steam clean the upholstery and freshly paint all the walls  (all more powerfully effective ways to remove obnoxious odors from the home), it is time to initiate the Smelly House Obliteration Blitz (SHOB), a technique developed over years of trial and error.

Step 1: Open all the Windows

It is important to generate a cleansing flow of air throughout the major rooms of the home. The circulation will help to move the odors that have built up in the home over time to make their way through and out of the house. In with the good air and out with the bad!

Step 2: Preheat the Oven

Yeah, you read that right. Turn on your oven and preheat at 400 degrees immediately after opening the windows.  More on this later, but it is a very important step in the SHOB method, do not neglect to do so promptly.

Step 3: Remove stinky items from common rooms of home

This is the most obvious step in the method. If it smells, get

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