Many of us walk into our bathrooms and take a whiff of something we just don’t like. Whether it’s because our kids have been in there, or our husbands , the bad smells that we oftentimes get from our bathrooms can be way too much for us to handle.
Fortunately, there are a few ways to keep your bathroom smelling and looking nice without having to clean every single day or break the bank with products and cleaners.
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Thanks to TikTok, we have some great ways to keep our bathrooms smelling and looking fresh.
TikTok user neat.caroline shared some of her favorite ways to keep her bathroom smelling and looking fresh. In a recent video, she breaks down eight different ways that you can keep your bathroom sparkling clean and many of the products needed are ones from your own home already.
First, invest in a reed defuser.
While some people use sprays and other air defusers, the reed defuser is not bulky and uses an outlet. It also lasts for a pretty long time, which can be up to four months. That is a solid investment, knowing you won’t need to replace it for quite some time.
Get some plants.
Caroline says investing in an air-purifying plant can help to get bad odors out of the air. There are a few plants that are known to do this very well. Caroline recommends a snake plant in her video. However, you can also get chrysanthemums or “mums,” which are ranked the highest for air purification.
Add some essential oil into the mix.
Caroline recommends adding your favorite essential oil to a cotton ball—preferably one you don’t get too sick of, maybe lavender or peppermint. Then, toss the cotton ball into your trash bin at the bottom. Now, no matter what you throw out, the oil will still radiate the trash bin.
Hand dry towels and wash your bathmat.
Using towels and your bathmat means that they get wet and absorb water. If you don’t let them dry out and get totally “water-free” they start to smell like mildew after a while. Be sure to both hang dry your towels and wash your bath mat pretty often so it doesn’t begin to stink.
Get air in.
You want to be sure that you maximize ventilation into your bathroom so there is no build-up of smells and toxins. If you have a window, cracking it open (especially after a shower) is key so the steam can escape and not say trapped, wetting surfaces and making a mildew smell.
Last but not least, Caroline says vodka can help keep bathrooms smelling fresh.
Using vodka would not be our first thought when it comes to bathroom supplies for cleaning, as most of us prefer to drink it while we are cleaning our bathrooms. But, using vodka is actually a really great idea to keep bathrooms smelling fresh, says Caroline.
When asked in the comments why the TikTok user explained.
One person in the comments was rather confused as to why Caroline would use vodka in a mixture for cleaning. She explained that like rubbing alcohol, vodka has the ability to kill bacteria. However, unlike rubbing alcohol, it drys relatively quickly and does evaporate much faster.
In addition, vodka does not smell quite as much.
Many TikTok users were curious what substitutes they can use for vodka—as none of us want to waste our drinking vodka. Caroline said you can use a mix of isopropyl alcohol or even witch hazel to get smells out, however, they will not be as “odorless” as vodka can be.
Fortunately, all vodka is created equally for this.
While some of us prefer to drink expensive and top-shelf vodka, you don’t need to use it on this cleaning hack. Caroline shared that any type of vodka will work to deodorize your bathroom—including the super, super cheap stuff.
BRB while we try all of these!
While Caroline’s videos are always informative, this one is something we can all stand to try. No one likes a smelly bathroom. And, let’s face it, all of our bathrooms totally smell. Plus, most of these products are right in our own home. Happy cleaning!
