Keep your utility room smelling fresh and clean with these 4 easy tips to try. Use each of these ideas in your utility starting today, and you’ll have a space that smells amazing, and a room that you’ll be happy to use and be in. Sounds good, doesn’t it!
I would like to thank Dr Beckmann for collaborating with me on this post. As always with me, you can be assured that even with collaborations, all words and opinions are my own.
It’s all too easy to use the utility as simply a room to store all our cleaning / DIY and maintenance products for our home, and not really give it a second glance.
We shove everything in it, close the door, and forget about it.
Things can pile up, and it often becomes a dumping ground…..
But if we don’t keep this room clean (and tidy!), it can start to smell nasty – quickly!, which is the very last thing you want from a room that houses things that need to clean your stuff, isn’t it!
So – today I wanted to look at 4 simple ways to put the freshness back into this forgotten room, and help you to love it again.
Not only that, but isn’t it nicer to start the cleaning process in a room that smells fresh as well…..
#1 – Open the Windows
Fresh air is everything!
It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s VERY effective.
Before you do anything else, open the windows and let the fresh air in.
Try it and see what a difference such a simple thing makes to the space.
I usually open the windows in every room for a few hours each week – even in winter – and find that the best time to do it is when I’m cleaning that room because then it gets all the horrible smells out and makes things feel really fresh and clean.
#2 – Clean The Cleaning Products
Most of us have a variety of cloths, sponges, wipes and mops etc…. that we use regularly to clean everything in our homes.
But how often do you clean THEM?
If you don’t clean these items often enough, they will of course start to smell, and they’ll also become breeding grounds for germs. Ugh!
Not only does this mean that you’re making your utility room smell, but it also means that you’re using unclean and smelly items to try and clean the rest of the house.
Less than idea to say the least…..
So – as part of your cleaning schedule, make a note to wash all your cleaning products regularly, and you’ll find your utility starts smelling fresher as a result.
#3 – Clean The Machine
Your washing machine gets used EVERY DAY to clean your clothes and other fabrics. These are items we then go on and wear, walking around in them daily – and so it makes sense that we want them to smell nice.
Yes, of course we use nice washing powders and fabric conditioners – but what about the actual washing machine?
CONFESSION TIME – I often find I’ve cleaned and wiped my utility really thoroughly, but have completely missed the washing machine, it’s just not on my radar!
It’s one of those things that very often gets forgotten about when we do our daily/weekly cleans.
I love this quick film of the Dr Beckmann team showing what a *lovely* smell our washing machines can have if we don’t clean them….
It’s so easy and quick to use a cleaner inside your machine on a regular basis – so start to do this and you’ll make not only the washing machine smell better, but your laundry as well.
And talking about laundry…..
#4 – Dry Laundry ASAP
One of the worst smells you can have is laundry that’s taken days to dry.
It smells musty, and makes even the cleanest clothes seem dirty, which isn’t great when you’ve spent time and energy washing, drying and ironing it all….
As such, I would always prioritise drying laundry as soon as you possibly can.
I use a heated dryer as it’s cost effective and can be put away between uses, but you could use a tumble dryer or even just radiators in your house.
As long as they dry your clothes as quickly as possible, you’ll avoid that horrible musty smell that will linger for ages….
EXTRA TIP – Make sure that there are no wet items in your dirty laundry pile if you leave that in your utility for any length of time. These wet items could be things you’ve pre-washed, or things that were wet when they went into the pile (rained on clothes, clothes with spills on etc….). These can also leave a bad smell in the already possibly smelly laundry pile!
So there you go – 4 simple and quick ways to make your Utility smell fresh every day
#1 – Open the windows
#2 – Clean the Cleaning Products
#3 – Clean the machine
#4 – Dry your clean laundry ASAP
Do all these from today on, add them to your cleaning schedule in a way that works for you, and you’ll have a great smelling utility before you know it.