Garlic is a powerful ingredient that, if well used, can turn an ordinary meal into a sumptuous and mouth-watering one. From that’s your favorite Italian cuisine, or it’s your mom that came over and did lots of family recipes, the strong garlic odor can prove to be quite stubborn when trying to get rid of it.
In this article, we provide you with 11+ simple hacks to get rid of the garlic smell in the house so that your home will smell nothing but fresh and clean. We’ll go the extra mile to show you how you can get ahead of the smell so that you prevent it from being pervasive.
Read: 10+ Genius Ways to Remove the Oil Smell Out of Clothes
Where Does the Smell Hide?
No matter what you do, you just can’t seem to get rid of the strong garlic odor. You’ve washed the utensils and rinsed properly – even twice or thrice- and they’re sparkling clean and smelling fresh, but the odor is still there. You nearly scrubbed your nails off trying to rid the cooking appliances, but after some time, you find out that they aren’t the source of the smell after all.
Room Suddenly Smells Like Garlic
Have you ever wondered why your room suddenly smells like garlic? You smell garlic but just aren’t sure where it is coming from. You wash the dishes and still smell them. Where is that garlic smell that you keep smelling coming from?
One thing you must know is that the smell of garlic is quite sticky. It will stick anywhere, including your clothes, hands, surfaces and even after you’ve eaten, it will stick on your breath and refuse to go away. And this is the reason why you feel like smelling garlic everywhere including in your room .
Read: 11 Unique Ways to Get the Musty Smell Out of Clothes Without Washing
11+ Easy Ways Rid Your House of the Garlic Smell
1. It’s the Odor Against Fresh Air
The first place to begin is by opening the windows and doors so that fresh air can come flooding in. if you’ve got several windows and doors, you’ll need to open all of them, especially those near the kitchen.
The cross-current of air from outside will lead to faster circulation, which will replace the odor that’s been persistent in the house, replacing it with the fresh air.
This technique will work even more efficiently on windy days as the wind speed will sweep the smell along even when it’s pretty intense.
2. Use Your Fans
Fans are also a powerful tool that can help remove the garlic smell as it leads to faster air circulation.
First, turn on the ceiling fans and then follow this up with any other types of fans you might be having in your home.
Since fans are reversible, they function by pushing warm air down from the ceiling in winter. During summer, the fans are reversed to cool the warm air down and force it into circulation.
If you’ve got movable fans, you can change the direction they’re facing so that they’re able to alter the direction in which the air is flowing. You can also temporarily pull out the window fans and position them to face the area where the smell is concentrated.
Alternatively, you can also place a circular fan on the kitchen counter so that there’s a lot of fresh air circulating.
You can also beef up your efforts to kick out the garlic smell from your house by switching your HVAC system from “Automatic” to “Fan.” This way, the air will run continuously even when the air conditioning system isn’t turned on. You can also turn on your bathroom fan even though it won’t have a significant impact on your efforts.
You combine this method with the previous one for maximum impact.
3. Run Lemon to Your Disposal
You think that you’ve done all there’s to keeping your kitchen and home in general free of the garlic odor. The utensils are sparkling clean and smelling fresh and you’ve wiped all the surfaces clean.
But still, the smell won’t just go away.
Before you think of giving up, have you checked out your garbage disposal? Sure, you might have disposed of the garbage, but maybe you didn’t clean the bin correctly.
That’s why you need to run ice cubes in the disposal so that it helps clear any smell that might be still lingering around.
4. Clean Surfaces
You’ll need some fresh-and-sweet-smelling aromas to help you with this step.
Clean every surface you suspect the garlic might have come into contact with. These include the counters, kitchen sink, oven (both inside and out) and stovetop.
5. Use Baking Soda
Refrigerators use baking soda to wipe out such strong smells as that of garlic. That’s why you can never find the smell of one food item impacting the others’ taste and smell while in there.
You can apply this same principle so that you get rid of the garlic odor from your home. Pour the baking soda into a dish or bowl and leave it exposed in the open so that it can absorb the smell.
Alternatives to the baking powder include white vinegar or coffee grounds.
6. Remove the Trash
Did you remember to remove the trash? As earlier mentioned, you’re easily likely to forget one of the things when doing the cleaning. The smell will escape the trash can every time you open it and even though every other thing might be clean, your room might soon be filled with the garlic odor.
After adequately disposing of the garbage, sprinkle some kitty litter or baking soda so that they kill the lingering odors.
7. Wash Your Dishes Thoroughly
Don’t leave your utensils dirty for long after use. Place them in a dishwasher or wash them by hand, dry and store them away immediately. All food wastes should be placed in the garbage disposal or firmly secured in the trash can.
You shouldn’t leave the food wastes in an area that dogs will access and tear to pieces so that the smell spreads further. If that happens, it might prove hectic trying to containing the garlic scent.
8. Take Care of Your Fridge
When you keep leftovers of your favorite garlic dish inside your fridge, you increasing the chances of the scent hanging around for long.
But you can keep a box of baking soda inside the fridge so that it helps absorb the lingering smells. If there’s one already, but the smell keeps coming up, then that means you might need to replace it with a more fresh one.
It’s also recommended that you do regular cleaning of your fridge so that it ever smells fresh. While at it, check and ascertain that the fridge’s temperature is at 40 degrees or below.
9. Time for Some Special Troubleshooting
You might have tried out everything on the list, but still, the smell is constantly there. That’s why you should troubleshoot to find out exactly what ails your kitchen.
This scent might be persisting because there are items in the kitchen that could be smelling like garlic. These include cutting boards, wooden cooking spoons and iron skillets.
First, start by rinsing the items in hot water. Then, use liquid dish soap, apply it directly to the items, and scrub or rub the soap thoroughly. After that, you’ll need to rinse the utensils with water again.
Instead of the liquid dish soap, you can also opt to use baking soda, which you’ll rub on the items’ surfaces using half lemon. After that, allow the utensils to dry before determining if the smell is still there.
10. Wash Your Clothes
The clothes you cooked in may be carrying the garlic scent as well. For this, your regular washing routine should be sufficient to get rid of the clothes’ scent.
Below are other options you might want to consider:
- Adding white vinegar to your wash will add to your washing efficiency by providing treatment for all the foreign smells.
- Use a fabric softener for an extra level of fresh smell.
11. Wash Your Hands
Hand washing isn’t something you do to keep off diseases and viruses. It also helps to keep the smell of garlic and other similar ingredients off your hands. Besides using plain soap, below are a few other simple hacks you can also consider:
- Use soap together with stainless steel. Put some soap in your hands and use a stainless steel scouring bud or stainless steel spoon.
- You can opt for white vinegar if you prefer its smell to that of garlic.
- Use real lemon juice or soak its peelings in hot water to produce a solution that’s similar to lemon juice. After it’s cooled, rub the solution all over your hands and between your fingers to kill the smell of garlic.
12. Clean Your Breath
Always brush your teeth after eating garlic, onions, or leeks. If the odor persists even after you’ve brushed, you might want to try the following options.
- Drink lemonade; it will help counteract the garlic smell.
- Drink green tea or lemon tea; they’ve got properties that provide some health benefits besides getting rid of the garlic odor.
- Chew on parsley or mint leaves; it will overpower the garlic smell.
Extra Tips
Next, you can use garlic and follow the tips below to help you get ahead of the garlic scent so that you prevent it from ruling over the air space of your home.
- Ventilate from the start of cooking; open the windows, let the fans ran and anything else that will help improve and speed up air circulation.
- Put baking soda, coffee grounds, or white vinegar in places where they’ll readily absorb the garlic smell as soon as it pops up into the air.
- Wash as you go; don’t let the utensils linger around for long.
- Close the door to adjoining rooms; so that the smell doesn’t spread further than it should.
- Wear an apron as you cook; it will prevent spilling and spreading the garlic scent to other places where it’s not needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the best thing to absorb odors?
Baking soda because it’s super effective when absorbing odors both from the air and surfaces. Put it in areas where you want to get rid of garlic scent and other stubborn odors. You can also use the soda in your washing machine if you realize your clothes have strong scents.
2. Does boiling vinegar remove odors?
Yes, it does. When released into the air, the steam will absorb any odor lingering around the rooms.
Bottom Line
Those are the 12 most straightforward ways to get rid of garlic scents and other uninvited odors from your house.
As you’ve seen, all of the twelve options are cheap and readily at your disposal. Also, many of them can be combined so that they form one big united front that will guarantee that the funny odors lingering in your home are kicked out.
The good news is that these methods are total no-brainers and won’t take much of your time. Some of them just need you to set them and let them do the magic while you concentrate on other important stuff.
Now it’s time to take down that stubborn garlic smell, shall we?