Okay, I accidentally left a pot of hot dogs boiling and it pretty much almost caught on fire. THANK GOD, I realized before it was too late, however, I am left with a horrible aroma of smoke in my house. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it? ...and unfortunately, we cannot keep the windows open for very long....
Ladies, thanks so much for all of the comments. I tried what I had at home and so far the vanilla candles and Febreze worked. There is still a hint of the smell especially in the furniture, but overall, I don't smell it as much as yesterday.
My sister bought a used car that smelled of smoke. She bought those volcanic ash in bag for absorbing odors from
Carol Wright Catalog or something similar. I have heard the dehumidifier in a small plastic tub sold by the mops and brooms at a retail store will absorb the odors, too.
I've heard that bowls of onions cut in half work; also, bowls of vinegar and bowls of baking soda. It might take a couple of days.
L.
I think Heloise does something with white vinegar in a bowl .... probably boiled hot dogs are as bad as fried fish!
M.
Fill a pot half full of white vinegar and let it boil slowly on your stove. You can also use diluted vinegar to wipe down the nearby countertops and mop the floor to make that smell go away. If it is in other areas of the house, you can put little bowls of vinegar in other rooms and that will remove the burned smell after a couple of hours. I used this little bolw idea in the 80s when people still smoked inside my house at meetings or parties. Burned hot dogs probably smell better than that!
wipe down everything in your kitchen with aequal part vinegar and water solution.
A small portable ozonator will take the smell away very quickly. Good to have on hand for many things. We turn ours on briefly (not safe for long periods) , just long enough to get the paint, burned, whatever smell away, and it is very effective. Ozone is the atmospheric component that makes it smell nice after a rain. Ours is made by ECOQUEST.
B. S. RN CCM
Dear Tobie:
hi there. How unfortunate for you. I recommend "Oust" by Johnson etc. Also Airwick has a product. But for lots of elbow grease coupled with inexpensive try a solution of baking soda with a drop of dish setergent. also ammonia has worked before. Hope you have good results with these. Heloise write articles on just such problems. slobear32
Tobie,
Cut up an apple, place it on a piece of newspaper. Put near the intake of your central air conditioner. This will remove the smoke smell in your house. Charcoal briquets also serve the same purpose, just that the apples smell better.
Put a little water and a few tablespoons of vanilla extract in a small pot of water, simmer for an hour or so. This will also help to clean the air. Good luck.
Burn candles. Ironically it works! We are allergic to cigarette smoke and when my uncle used to visit us when we were growing up, my mom would burn a candle and it would eliminate the smell.
Wash down the walls in the area where the smoke happened. Then, get some charcoal and leave several pieces lying around (on paper towels) for a few days. Also, get some shallow bowls and pour vinegar in the bowls, and leave a few lying around the area, as well.
Hope it helps.
Vanilla candles have always worked for me. I have a 14 year old and an absent minded husband and they are always burning things. I have tried other fragrances and found that only the vanilla ones work. We are unable to open our windows, as we have no screens (stupid landlord), so vanilla candles combined with ceiling fans really do the trick! Good luck!
Try boiling vanilla and water on your stove. If you have an apple chop it up and put it in the pot, that would make the house smell better too.
at sams club they sell this stuff called odoban it will take the smell out of anything!!!
Recently, we had a similiar situation with our renter, where a pot of chicken was left boiling on the stove--the water boiled out and the house was filled with smoke. She put some "Melaleuca--tea tree oil" in a spray-bottle, mixed with water, and sprayed it all over. It helped tremendously. Wipe down everything with a water-vinegar solution, and that will take the smoke smell out of things. A fan by the window will help extract the smoke smell--she had several fans running for awhile. Sam's Club has an industrial strength concentrate air freshner for hotels and offices...we used this also. I hope this helps!
Morning Tobie, I've used lots of stuff that seems not to work, but here's a few suggestions I've used that do work: Lysol aerosol (a scent that you can live with)and spray on cloth furniture too. Or use Febreze aerosol with Febreze Fabric Freshener on furniture, which is my favorite. If you don't want to go buy anything here's an "old remedy"... if you have an "electric stove & an orange or lemon" in the fridge peel one and put the rinds on an eye on "the lowest" and if you have a sink disposal put some of the fruit you peeled in it & grind it up &
it's good for the disposal, as well. Watch the rinds
(30mins or so) cause once they dry up they will burn... all you need is more burn smells! :) Hope that helps!
Good Luck & God Bless! CarolC
I second the vinegar tips. No harsh chemicals to dirty up your house.
Mercy's sake you were lucky!! Try setting out bowls of white vinegar in all areas affected by the smell (you may require 2 bowls in rooms where smell is strongest). Also, wipe down all surfaces with vinegar. Then place bunches of fresh lavender (if you can get it - I have a huge garden of it) or other fragrant herbs out. If it is the heat keeping you from opening windows, you might have to open them for at least 6 hours and grin and bear it. If for safety reasons you can't, then try to keep them open about 3 inches with a stopper to prevent them from being opened further. Good luck.
Vinegar removes odors. You can dilute it with water and put it in a spray bottle, or maybe boil a pot on the stove.
The smell mainly gets into your clothes, carpet, curtains and upholstery. Though airing out for a couple of days is the best option, since you cannot do that, I would suggest you sprinkle lots of baking soda on carpets/rugs at night and vacuum next morning and throw away the vacuum bag. Spray febreeze on upholstery and curtains. Good Luck.
My uncle did the same thing when he fell asleep one time thank god i woke up but it left a smaell in the house forever good luck with getting that out,lol. I think we just cleaned the whole house and let it air out as much as possible.
Vinegar and water works but for an immediate cover up buy some simmering spices and lightly boil on stovetop or make your own: use cloves, cinnamon, etc. I think Febreeze smells good but the smell only lingers for about 60 seconds and then it is as if nothing had been sprayed at all. Bath and Body Works makes a real small bottle of air freshner (usually on sale for less than $5) and it is very powerful but will definitely do the job. You only need a few tiny squirts.
Try burning candles and placing bowls of white vinegar around your house. Both those have worked for me.
Good luck!
C., MS
http://makes-scents.com/store/category/2-fragrance-lamps
This is an example of a product on the market that will help, they are scent lamps that permiate your house....go through the air conditioning and make your house smell so much better...I have had odor problems when I have(cooked fish, shrimp ect)....I will have to mention that there are other wonderful products that actually clean the bad smells...out of fabric,sofa, chairs ect. I don't recommend Oust...I personally have tried it to no avail. Hope this works for you...Along with the tedious job of washing everything that can be washed! You should be able to get rid of the bad odor lingering!
4 ideas.
1) Boil some water with maybe 1/4 tsb of ground cinnamon and 4 whole cloves.
*2) Set out small dishes with baking soda
*3) Set out small dishes with cotton balls soaked in vanilla extract.
4) Slice a lemon into quarters and run through your garbage disposal.
*Make sure the dishes are where kids and pets can't get to them.
hey tobie
this works well in cars that someone has smoked in ... so i think it would work great in your situation too!
What you need is some apples, some fresh smelling coffee grinds and some empty soda/soft drink cans.
anyway... you cut the top 1/3 to 1/2 of the cans... be careful... as aluminum can be sharp and well the knofe ccan easily get away from you...
and then you fill the the open cans about 2/3 the way full with fresh smelling coffee grinds...
next you slice all sides off an apple as you need a fresh apple core... i cut away four sides .still leaving a litte fruit over a nearly visible core. you can eat your cuttings, but don't forget to place the apple core in the coffee grinds in the can. i rest the core in the ginds by sitting it in the grinds only a fingernail deep.
now you leave this out for a few days and well... i would probably place 3-5 in your kitchen depending on size. so in the 3 day wait.. you home will smell less like smoke and alot like coffee... but no worries.. once the cans are removed...the coffee smell goes awy within a day on it's own.
as for how this works.. i have no idea, i have always though it to be a chemical compound of the aluminum, with the grinds and the air as well as the apple core drying out.
but i do know it works wonders in my car anytime i have had a smoker ride in the car or when i had been in a smoky place and had the smell stuck to me. i am super sensitive to smoke and this always makes me happy.
best of luck,
-mb
I've not tried this but I've heard you can heat vinegar on the stove-but opening the windows is the best thing-so I would open them as much as possible. I think candles and home fragrance things won't get rid of the smell, but may cover it up some until the smell goes away.
Hi Tobie,
Been there, done that, except with eggs and the only thing I found to get rid of the scent was Febreeze. It gets rid of the scent instead of covering it up. Good luck.
W. Q
