I have a sensitive nose, so when random stenches would arise in my college apartments, I could sniff out the source. Sometimes, the smells came from unlikely places. One thing you learn while living alone for the first time is all the sneaky ways that stinky smells find their way into your home. If your apartment has the same issue, here are 14 possible sources and solutions.
Your apartment smells bad because there may be fungi growing somewhere, there’s trash that needs to be thrown away or taken out, you don’t put a lid on your trash can, the apartment isn’t ventilated, you need to do laundry, the garbage disposal might be dirty or you simply need to clean your home.
A smelly apartment might not even be your fault, but that doesn’t mean you can’t resolve the issue.
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1. There May Be Fungi Growing Somewhere
Mold and mildew could be the culprits to the funky smell in your apartment. Check to see if you have any moldy fruit on your kitchen counters or on your table. If food isn’t the source, then check to see if any of your towels or wet clothes started to grow mold. This happens if you put them in a poorly ventilated area before they have a chance to completely dry. If you looked everywhere and you didn’t see mold on any of your things, then there might be some growing in your carpet, the walls and/or the ceiling. If you think that might be the case, contact your landlord to resolve the issue.
2. There’s Trash That Needs To Be Thrown Away Or Taken Out
Another possible cause for a stinky apartment is smelly trash. If there’s stuff sitting in your apartment that should’ve been thrown out already, get up and throw them away. Stuff like food wrappers, food cans, empty juice bottles, etc. can stir up quite the stench when they’re just left out in the open for a while.
If you already disposed of all of this stuff, but your place still stinks, that means it’s time to get it out of the apartment completely. Take the trash out to the dumpster and replace the bag. You might even have to go as far as cleaning the trash can before putting another bag in there; otherwise, the smell could persist.
3. You Don’t Put A Lid On Your Trash Can
Even if you do everything that I just listed in the previous step, it won’t do you much good if you have a trash can without a lid on it. When you don’t have an object blocking the smell that comes from the can, then it’s just going to float through your home. The only way to keep this from happening when you don’t use a lid is to empty the trash out and wash the can weekly or even biweekly. I imagine you don’t have that kind of time. Get a trash can with a lid and see if that solves the stink issue in your home.
Additionally, if you have a recycle bin, I suggest getting a lid for that too. Even though the empty containers and stuff in there are going to be reused, that doesn’t negate the fact that food stains could still be on there and will eventually start to stink. If you don’t want to use a lid, just remember to properly rinse out every can, bottle, and anything else that was used to store food before tossing it in the bin. For those of you who don’t have the time to do that, just empty out the recycle every other day in your complex’s public bin.
4. The Apartment Isn’t Ventilated
Personally, I like to keep my windows closed and I don’t turn my fan on very often. I’m sensitive to smell and I don’t like the fragrance of the outside air inside of my indoor space. However, this doesn’t change the fact that, if I want my space to smell nice, I need to let fresh air in everyday or every other day. Opening the windows for 10-15 minutes a day helps create good air quality in a living space. This is important for a good smelling home. Want more advice on how to achieve that? Check out my post called “11 Effective Ways to Circulate Fresh Air in an Apartment”.
5. You’re Way Past Laundry Day
If you’re sitting on a pile of clothes that haven’t been washed in three weeks or longer, then it’s time to give those things a bath. The shirts, pants and other stuff that you wear outside collect germs from public places and are then brought inside of your home. If you go out often, then these germs pile up, literally. Not to mention that, if you sweat in your clothes, they’re going to make your home smell pretty rank by week three.
Your bedsheets are no exception. That fabric is an avid collector of your hair, dead skin cells, sweat, saliva, etc. Toss everything in the washing machine to be refreshed.
6. You Don’t Keep Dirty Clothes In The Hamper
Sometimes, you skip putting the dirty clothes in a hamper altogether. You might be a fan of just tossing it wherever after you take it off. This has to stop. If you come back from the gym and your clothes are soaked in sweat, then leaving them on your bedroom floor, in your living room, on your bathroom floor, etc. isn’t a good idea. It’s like lighting one of those prank candles that are b.o scented. After letting your sweaty clothes dry, put it in the hamper. If your dirty clothes aren’t wet to begin with, then just immediately toss it in there.
7. It Might Be The Furniture’s Fault
There’s a possibility that you just have some stinky furniture. Carpets, couches, chairs and other fabric covered furniture have been known to smell a little weird sometimes. This is especially true if you just recently brought them into your apartment. You could try cleaning them, spraying them with fabric cleaner:
Or getting rid of them completely.
8. The A/C Filter Might Be Dirty
Bad smelling air may be getting pushed into your apartment if the air filter is due for a replacement. A dirty one can be filled with hair, dust, pet hair, dirt mold spores and other things that shouldn’t be floating through your air. When it gets too full, it stops doing its job properly. At that point, it can contribute to low air quality in your apartment. This can result in a persistent, bad smell. Quickly fix this by replacing the old, dirty one for a new, clean one. Check out this article to learn how that’s done!
9. The Garbage Disposal Might Be Due For A Cleaning
A garbage disposal is used to get rid of food waste. Since this is true, you can imagine that after months of use, it could possibly give off a rotten smell. That’s because particles of food waste build up in the disposal overtime and, as they build up, their stench gets stronger and stronger. The more build up, the more stink.
I experienced this stench for the first time after living in my senior year apartment for a couple months. I’ll admit, before smelling that stink, I didn’t know that disposals had to be cleaned every once in a while. If you use yours often, then it needs to be cleaned weekly. If you don’t use it often, then it needs to be cleaned monthly. Refusing to do this can result in your home smelling more and more like a garbage can. To learn how to prevent this by cleaning it, check out this article.
10. It’s Time To Throw Away The Leftovers
The food in your fridge could be the culprit of your funky apartment too. When you have pasta dinners, soups, fruit, cheese, etc. that’s been sitting there for a month or longer, then they’ll start to give off a very offensive smell. Especially if they’re all grouped together in a small space, allowing their smells to mix together to create an unspeakable stench. Take some time going through your fridge to pull out any food that’s visibly spoiled or any food that you haven’t eaten and don’t plan on eating in the very near future.
Additionally, sometimes food spills inside of your fridge and just stays there if you don’t make a habit of cleaning the shelves. This can result in mold growth too. For future reference, you need to take the shelves out of your refrigerator and clean them every three to four months. To do this, use some dish soap, like Dawn, and water to scrub them down. After that, spray the fridge walls with some vinegar and scrub them too. After they’re both dry, put everything back.
11. You Simply Need To Clean Your Home
Maybe the reason for your stinky apartment isn’t just one of the sources from above, maybe it’s all of them. In other words, it may be time to give your home a good cleaning from top to bottom. Neglecting these duties will encourage the growth of bacteria that contributes to the stench of a smelly home.
12. You Don’t Have The Cleanest Roommates
Maybe the smell of your apartment isn’t even your fault, it’s the people that you live with. They might leave dirty dishes in the sink for days, leave half eaten food on the counter, neglect their bathroom cleaning duties, etc. They seem to have no problem living in a total pigsty. It can be very frustrating to share a space with people who aren’t as hygienic as you. Different cleanliness standards are one of the most common problems between roommates.
If you’re willing to ask them to help you clean the place periodically, then you can check out this article to help you do so without any drama. If they agree to help, split up the cleaning tasks evenly so that everyone pulls their weight and the home stays smelling good.
13. The Place Might Smell Like Your Pets
If you have a couple of fur babies in the home that give off a naturally dog-ish or cat-ish scent, then there isn’t much that you can do except give them baths and clean up after them. Granted this will help, but you’ll never fully eliminate the smell of your pet if they live here. At the same time, you don’t want to wash their fur too often since that might dry out their skin.
You could try training them to make less messes as well, but they’ll still act out every once in a while. Try covering their scents up with some candles, an essential air diffuser, some incense, a plug-in air freshener, etc. These will especially come in handy if you have guests over and you don’t want them to smell your animals as soon as they walk in the apartment. If you have a pet, but you’re positive that they don’t give off a scent, then you may have gone nose blind to your apartment. Here are multiple ways to find out what your home really smells like.
14. When’s The Last Time You Cleaned Your Washing Machine?
Did you know that, since your washing machine is wet most of the time, it can grow mold and mildew. When this happens, the cleaning apparatus itself starts to smell weird and stinky. Open up the hatch and give it a whiff to see if it’s why your apartment smells weird. If it is, then it’s time to clean it. For future reference, everyone’s washing machine needs to be cleaned once a month if they use it often. Here is how you do that.
