The Smell Guide: Fridge, Bins, Trainers and That One Cupboard

An air freshener adds a smell on top of a smell. Baking soda takes part of the original one away. Most household stinks — sour milk, old bin juice, sweaty shoes — come from acidic compounds, and an alkali neutralises them instead of masking them. That is the entire reason it works, and also the reason it does nothing for smells that aren't acidic, like a gas leak or damp.

The fridge

Open tub on a back shelf, lid off. Give it a stir occasionally to expose fresh powder. Replace it every few months, and pour the old one down the sink with hot water rather than back into the baking cupboard.

If the fridge smells strongly, soda alone will not save you — take everything out, wipe the shelves with warm soapy water, find the thing that died in the salad drawer, then put the tub in.

Bins

A generous sprinkle in the bottom of the empty bin, under the liner. Do it every time you change the bag and the bin stops being a problem entirely.

Trainers and boots

A tablespoon in each shoe, left overnight, tipped out in the morning. Tap them over the bin — there will be more coming out than you expect. For shoes you would rather not powder, tie a couple of spoonfuls into an old sock or a bit of muslin and drop that in instead.

Carpets, rugs and sofas

Sprinkle evenly, leave fifteen minutes minimum, overnight if the smell is serious, then vacuum slowly and thoroughly. Test a hidden corner first on anything pale, delicate or antique.

The car

Same as carpets, on the mats and seats. An open jar in the footwell for a few days handles the general background staleness.

Drains and the sink

Not the fizzing-with-vinegar routine — that neutralises itself and achieves nothing. Instead: a few spoonfuls of soda down the plughole followed by a kettle of very hot water. The soda deodorises, the hot water shifts the grease.

Cutting boards and hands

Garlic, onion and fish on a wooden board: soda paste, scrub, rinse. Same for hands. Follow with proper washing-up liquid, because — worth repeating — baking soda deodorises but does not disinfect.

Where it will not help

Damp and mould smells, cigarette smoke soaked into walls, and anything with a burnt or chemical edge. Those need the actual cause dealt with. If you ever smell gas, leave and call the emergency number — never try to clean a smell you cannot identify.