The smells kids leave in your home change based on their age. Those smells seem to gather in their room where all their things can be found. From dirty diapers to socks, there are solutions for parents looking to take control of the smells coming their kids’ room.
Tips to Keep Your Kid’s Room Smelling Fresh
Keeping your kid’s room smelling fresh takes more than just masking scent with fragrance sprays or wall plug-ins. Instead, stop the smells at the source to continually manage and eliminate smells from your kid’s room. Below are ten tips for managing possible odors in your kid’s room.
1. Keep the Laundry Hamper Closed
Hampers are where we all store our dirty clothes until we wash them. These clothes may be causing odors in your kid’s room if left uncovered. Instead of purchasing open hampers, opt for one with a lid. Closing the lid of the hamper will help to prevent the odors of dirty clothes taking over the room.
2. Manage Sporting Equipment
If you’ve ever played a sport or been near someone after they played a sport, you know that there can be a strong scent of body odor afterwards. Even worse, during the longevity of the sport, all the equipment soaks up dirt, sweat, and odor.
To avoid these smells tracking throughout the house and taking up residence in your kid’s room, keep the equipment in a designated area. Depending on your amount of space, the best places to store sporting equipment are in your mud room or garage.
Wash the sporting equipment after each use if applicable. Regularly soak or use specialty detergents made for odor on items that hold onto scents longer. Doing so will help to prevent odors from staying in the fabric.
3. Take Out the Trash
If your kid has a trash can in his or her room, make the effort to regularly remove the trash from their room. Like the laundry hamper, purchase a trash can with a lid to contain the smells.
4. Mattress covers
Kids are good at making messes and mattresses are difficult to clean. Mattress covers make it easier to keep kids’ beds clean. These covers help protect the mattress from soaking up sweat, drool, snot, bedwetting, and other things that create odors.
5. Wash Bedding Once a Week
Mattress covers may protect the mattress from soaking up everything, but there’s nothing to protect the rest of the bedding. Bedding should be washed regularly each week. Between sweat, drool, snot, bedwetting, dirt, and other things that kids bring to bed with them, bedding needs to be laundered more often than most people think.
Additionally, showering before bed may help to reduce the amount of dirt they bring with them, but it does not stop everything else that can occur while sleeping.
6. Open Windows
Opening windows provides a natural method of ventilation for any odors in your kid’s room. Using windows as ventilation is better than opening the bedroom door since the door will only ventilate the odors into the rest of the house. This method may be dependent on the outdoor weather and whether the air conditioning or heating is on.
7. Make Use of a Dehumidifier and Fan
Preventing moisture will help to eliminate any smells from its buildup. Moisture may trap odors or lead to musty smells in your kid’s clothing or toys. The easiest way to keep the room dry and air circulating is by using a dehumidifier and a fan.
Keeping moisture and humidity levels low will also help to prevent the growth of mold and mildew that can cause smells, allergies and other symptoms.
8. Trade Carpets for Hard Surfaces
While regular vacuuming can help to remove larger dust particles or hair, liquids and odor can easily absorb into the carpet. Replacing the carpet for a hard surface like hardwood floors or laminate will make for an easier clean-up and reduce any odors trapped in carpeting.
If you’re looking for something to keep your kid’s feet warm, consider a rug. Depending on its size, it can still cover a large area of the room but will be easier to clean if it can be thoroughly washed in a washing machine.
9. Implement a No Food and Drink Rule
Eliminating the consumption of food and drink in your kid’s room will prevent them from spilling, dropping crumbs, or leaving food in their room to go bad. Food and drinks have the potential to attract bugs or go bad fast, leaving foul odors. Keeping food and drink in the kitchen will prevent any of these situations.
10. Clean Out Closets
Asking your kids to clean their room may include less organizing and more shoving everything into drawers, under their beds, or in their closets. While shoving everything into the closet may make the rest of the room appear clean, the closets need to be cleaned too.
