Comments on: I’m All Alone with my Musty Drawers http://www.home-ec101.com/im-all-alone-with-my-musty-drawers/ Real skills for real people with real lives. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:14:23 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Carye http://www.home-ec101.com/im-all-alone-with-my-musty-drawers/comment-page-1/#comment-31494 Carye Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:42:22 +0000 http://www.home-ec101.com/?p=1977#comment-31494 I wanted to add that baking soda does have natural properties that will neutralize odors. They now make those stick'ems for the freezer, and I think that would work quite well in drawers as well. Either that or the fridge packs. I have also used water with baking soda in it to wash down things that needed defunking. I'm a closet curbside crawl olympiad, and sometimes you just wish you didn't bring stuff home. Baking soda worked wonders. I pick up the BIIIIG box at wally world all the time. I'm never without it. I wanted to add that baking soda does have natural properties that will neutralize odors. They now make those stick’ems for the freezer, and I think that would work quite well in drawers as well. Either that or the fridge packs. I have also used water with baking soda in it to wash down things that needed defunking. I’m a closet curbside crawl olympiad, and sometimes you just wish you didn’t bring stuff home. Baking soda worked wonders. I pick up the BIIIIG box at wally world all the time. I’m never without it.

]]> By: Keter http://www.home-ec101.com/im-all-alone-with-my-musty-drawers/comment-page-1/#comment-31407 Keter Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:52:27 +0000 http://www.home-ec101.com/?p=1977#comment-31407 Cleaning and airing was not enough to get the funk out of a giant armoire I got at an estate sale...and neither was putting a container of baking soda in it or stuffing it with newspaper, which also can absorb odors. The musty, mothball-y smell had been in there so long it had penetrated into the wood. The only way to get it out was to drive it out with something even stronger! To the rescue: Method's fragrance disks, which are extremely strong-smelling in enclosed spaces and feature a very penetrating volatile to release the scent. I bought a bunch of them in the grass scent (which I think they've discontinued, but they have a fig scent that is almost as good - beware the lavender scent, it smells like a toilet cake) and put one into each recess and drawer, a total of about six of them. I closed it up and left it sit for a month. The funk is now gone, replaced with a more-pleasant fresh scent. I now keep a disk in there for "maintenance" to keep any lurking funk in hiding. BTW, those Method fragrance disks to wonders on de-funking a car, too, because the scent will get into the upholstery and supplant other smells...it even got out a stubborn vomit smell. (Don't ask; the person responsible paid for a complete cleaning, but the "memory" lingered.) Be aware that Method disks in a car on a hot day will be an eye-watering experience, so you may want to take them out of the car before running your errands. OTOH, leaving them in a car in the hot sun for a day is a sure way to "bomb" that stink but good. If you can't get Method disks, use those filter-scents they sell for attaching to your air conditioner filters - cinnamon scent works best if you can find it, green apple is acceptable. In both cases, <b>be sure to place the disk or scent pad in a cup or on a piece of paper</b>: they can damage some plastics and finishes if they come in direct contact. Cleaning and airing was not enough to get the funk out of a giant armoire I got at an estate sale…and neither was putting a container of baking soda in it or stuffing it with newspaper, which also can absorb odors. The musty, mothball-y smell had been in there so long it had penetrated into the wood. The only way to get it out was to drive it out with something even stronger!

To the rescue: Method’s fragrance disks, which are extremely strong-smelling in enclosed spaces and feature a very penetrating volatile to release the scent. I bought a bunch of them in the grass scent (which I think they’ve discontinued, but they have a fig scent that is almost as good – beware the lavender scent, it smells like a toilet cake) and put one into each recess and drawer, a total of about six of them. I closed it up and left it sit for a month. The funk is now gone, replaced with a more-pleasant fresh scent. I now keep a disk in there for “maintenance” to keep any lurking funk in hiding.

BTW, those Method fragrance disks to wonders on de-funking a car, too, because the scent will get into the upholstery and supplant other smells…it even got out a stubborn vomit smell. (Don’t ask; the person responsible paid for a complete cleaning, but the “memory” lingered.) Be aware that Method disks in a car on a hot day will be an eye-watering experience, so you may want to take them out of the car before running your errands. OTOH, leaving them in a car in the hot sun for a day is a sure way to “bomb” that stink but good.

If you can’t get Method disks, use those filter-scents they sell for attaching to your air conditioner filters – cinnamon scent works best if you can find it, green apple is acceptable. In both cases, be sure to place the disk or scent pad in a cup or on a piece of paper: they can damage some plastics and finishes if they come in direct contact.

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