7 Clever Ways to Deodorize Your Foul Smelling Closet

As mentioned in the section above, mold and mildew can have the strongest scent out of anything else. Older houses tend to have more of a prominent smell as a result of mold and mildew. Wet towels, swimsuits, and ski suits carry moisture with them and it's easy to accidentally place these on wooden shelves in a poorly ventilated closet. Once you know that your smelly closet isn't a severe mold problem, then consider some of the other sources of closet odors:

Most people do this for good reason. No one wants a dirty clothes basket lying around their bedroom for everyone to see when they walk in. Fortunately, you can continue to store dirty clothes in your closet as long as you apply some of the methods in this article.

Shoes track dirt, mud, sand, moisture, and every other element associated with the outdoors. The last thing you want is for this to be absorbed in the carpet floor. People also don’t wash their shoes, so odors from your feet and socks remain constantly potent wherever you store them.

AC vents don't always have the nicest smells either, especially in an old house or in an extremely humid area. Circulating air in an old house can cause an unappealing odor smell all on its own. Try to avoid packing clothes on hangers tightly together, as this also contributes to poor closet circulation.

Yes! This means actually cleaning your dirty clothes basket and not just the clothes inside of them! They actually absorb all the odors of the dirty clothes you put in them. Most people have a fabric that coats their actual baskets. Wash this linen if you can remove it.



If you can't remove the linen from your dirty clothes basket, then there are a few ways to remove its odor:



• Rub the inside and outside layer with a disinfectant wipe.
• Spray air freshener on it and rub it around with a stiff brush.

Most people don't realize the other potential uses a dryer sheet can have on their homes! Instead of using them just for drying your clothes, strategically placing them throughout your custom closets can work wonders for removing closet odors. Drape a dryer sheet over your shoe rack, clothing shelves, and over the ledge where you hang shirts. They will naturally emit the clean linen smell that you get after your clothes are done tumbling in the dryer.



Avoid putting dryer sheets over air vents. While this does increase the fragrance of the room and circulates the smell, try not to overdo this if you use your closets often. The scent from these sheets isn't dangerous, but it's also not ideal to breathe in. Instead, consider getting essential oils or a more organic form of air freshener for the closet.

Try to find a small cotton bag lying around that you don’t use. If you have some leftover herbs in your kitchen that you know you’re not going to use like thyme, parsley, oregano, or mint, put them in the bag and store them in your closet. Instead of discarding the root of these herbs, use them as a natural deodorizer! 



For best results, rub the herbs between the palms of your hands to give them a bit of friction. This activates their scent and it out even more. The herbs will naturally release odor preventing fragrances that will work wonders in the long run.

Find a fragrant scented bar of soap. If you have an unopened box, any soap bar will do as well. You can use any size no smaller than a 1 x 1 inch bar of soap for this to work well. Wrap the soap in the thinnest cloth or fabric that you can find and place it in each of the drawers of which you want to remove a foul odor.



Keep them in there the whole time and let them tumble around as you reach in and grab clothes throughout the next month.

As mentioned earlier, wooden hangers retain more scent over time while wire ones retain virtually no smell. Spray all of your wooden hangers with air freshener, cologne, or even perfume if desired!

Hang your most used clothes on these scented wooden hangers so they always smell great! Activewear would be the most applicable because these are the clothes that tend to create the most potent odors.

Perhaps the most natural way to reduce odors in your custom closet is to create a dedicated space for some essential oils. Bergamot, grapefruit, lemon, lemongrass, lime, mandarin, orange, and tangerine are the best options. Simply put them in an old diffuser or purchase them in this form and let them work for you. If you really want to streamline this process, a diffuser that naturally releases the scent in a controlled manner is the best option (deodorizing your closet won’t feel like a chore if you can automate this process).

This trick is actually a lot easier to do than it initially sounds. There are a ton of custom ways to go about this, but here’s the easiest and most common option:

• Take an empty 4oz spray bottle and fill it with distilled water ¾ of the way
• Add 40 drops of your favorite essential oil, perfume, or cologne
• Spray the bottle a couple of times a day initially until the smell is more noticeable



It’s ideal to use an unused bottle diffuser, but if you don’t want to purchase your own, then you can use an old one from a perfume bottle and thoroughly clean it out. 

There are two additional things you can do if you really need to remove odors from your closet. The two methods listed below should be applied if you think you've tried everything else and just need to do a hard reset on your closet space.



For best results, it's recommended that you first completely empty out your closet space of all clothes and shoes and disinfect the shelves before you do these two things:

This compound has medical uses, but get it in a solid form in the shape of a bar of soap. Store it in your closet for six hours, then put all your clothes back in it. Continue to have the charcoal in your closet for a few days and notice if the odor changes. Charcoal has the ability to absorb mold spores and purify the air. Use the Bar Soap Method on this one, but use the charcoal instead and see if that yields desirable results.

They will completely freshen up the shoes if you keep them in your closet. Smelly shoes often are the reason that your clothes smell musty in the first place.

In short, remember to try to apply at least three of these methods. One solution alone might do the trick, but if you really want long lasting fragrance in your closet, then be sure to use whatever tips you found valuable in this article. It’s really easy to reduce the odors coming from your closet. Most people don’t take a second to think about ways to reduce closet odors, but now that the quick fixes have been made aware to you, you’re less likely to have to deal with foul smelling closets ever again.

• https://www.onlyhangers.com/home-organization/2016/11/10-life-changing-hacks-for-a-closet-that-smells-amazingly-good/
• https://www.aromaweb.com/articles/removeodorsnaturally.asp
• https://www.angieslist.com/articles/9-easy-ways-make-your-closet-and-clothes-smell-good.htm