How the odour half live

Queen of Clean Lynsey Crombie tells Lisa Salmon the secrets of a stink-free home

UNPLEASANT odours in our homes are often connected to pets, cooking, damp or mould, or even simple uncleanliness. But if you smell them, guests will too.

TV’s Queen of Clean Lynsey Crombie, who has regular slots on ITV’s This Morning and 248,000 followers on Instagram, has plenty of advice on how to get your home smelling nice – but she stresses the simple and obvious ones are among the best.

“Windows open is a big one for me,” she said. “Some people just don’t like having their windows open, which is fair enough, but it’s the best thing – and taking the covers off cushions and throws and washing them once or twice a month if you’ve got the time can help keep your home smelling nice.

“But the best thing to do to keep your house smelling fresh is just to keep it clean.”

Here are Lynsey’s tips for keeping unwanted odours away...

Use vinegar to banish cooking smells

“If you’ve cooked fish or a curry or something like that, and you’re struggling to get those smells out with just fresh air, boil up a small amount of white vinegar on the hob, let that into the air, and that’ll break down any cooking smells,” she said.

Onions eliminate odours

Another tip for dealing with cooking or even decorating smells is harnessing onion power.

“Just cut an onion in half, pop it in the corner of the room and let it soak up the smell,” she advised. “You’ll notice that in the morning the onion will have shrivelled a bit because it’ll have soaked up the odours.

“It doesn’t make the room smell of onion either – it smells for a short period but that soon disappears.”

Vigorous vacuuming

Regular vacuuming to get pet hair and bits out of your carpet is really important, said Lynsey.

Bring out the bicarb

“I do a homemade fabric refresher, rather than buying one,” said Lynsey. “It’s just a spray bottle filled nearly to the top with tap water, a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda and 20 drops of your favourite essential oils. Once that’s made up, it will last you three months. Bicarb and white vinegar are the best things ever.”

Spray on some vodka

Lynsey promised that if your clothes smell for some reason, a spritz of vodka will lift the odour out of the fabric as the alcohol evaporates.

“Spraying your clothes with vodka if they smell is an old trick but it does work,” she said. “Tips from the olden days are the best ones and I’d vouch for the vodka one, definitely.”

Dry shampoo for smelly shoes

If your teen’s trainers are making the house smell, all you need is the help of a spot of dry shampoo, said Lynsey.

“If you’ve got smelly trainers or shoes, pop a bit of dry hair shampoo in them to freshen them up – that keeps your shoe cupboard smelling nicer too.”

Toilet roll tip

“In your bathroom, a few drops of essential oils on the cardboard tube of your toilet roll will keep your bathroom smelling nice,” promised Lynsey, who said the oils will need refreshing once a week, or when you put in a new toilet roll.

Eliminate doggy odours with ketchup

Most dog owners know that if their furry friend rolls in fox poo, which they seem drawn to, it stinks to high heaven.

“It’s disgusting,” groaned Lynsey. “But if it’s making the house smell, what my mum does is she rubs her dog in ketchup and washes it off and the smell just goes. My mum swears by it – she’s just as clean freaky as I am, and if she does it, it’ll work. There must be something in ketchup – I use it for cleaning off rust too.”

Simple solutions for smelly dogs

Lynsey said she gets lots of messages from people wanting to know how to stop their dogs making the house smell and advised: “If you keep a pretty clean ship, you won’t notice their smell. Wash their beds and blankets regularly too – when I wash my dog’s blanket, she hates me and gives me the most evil look and then she watches it in the washing machine as if to say, ‘Don’t clean my blanket’, – but we have to clean them. And even their little soft toys that they play with, I put them in the washing machine and the plastic ones

in the dishwasher.”

Lemon in the bin

Lynsey said she uses a lot of lemons for cleaning. Once she’s finished, “I put them in the bin to keep it smelling fresh – I just put whatever’s left of the lemons, even just the skin, in there.”

Coffee or bicarb for the fridge

“You can put coffee grains in the fridge to help absorb the smells in there but I put a dish with bicarb in near the back instead,” said Lynsey. “I change that every Friday on my ‘Fridge Friday’.”