In America they also sell carpet freshening powders which are essentially paking soda with some extra scent thrown in. You sprinkle it on the floor and vaccuum up.
BUT…there’s also carpet freshening NO-VACCUUM FOAM! (which happens to be made by the WD40 company. [carson]I did not know that.[/carson])
You spray it on (your upholstry too!) and wait a few mins ans it’s gone, leaving a nice smell behind. I used it Saturday and my house smells rather pleasant. I think I used a “neutral smell” one.
I’ve found the source of smells hiding under my kitchen stove and refigerator. Pull them out every so often and wash under there too. Also check under sinks for slow leaks. Standing water can be very funky smelling.
Change your vacuum bag often. Also, I’ve seen fragrance packets you add to the bag to make things smell nice.
Here’s my favorite green cleaning site.
Yes! In our house when I come home and there is a vague smell I now know to look for an errant potato. It has happened enough times that I can recognize potato smell. Funny story about that actually that just happened this week. I keep potatoes in our pantry in the kitchen, but lately every time I went down to the basement I smelled the ‘lost potato’ smell coming from somewhere. From past experience I thought it must be a potato but couldn’t figure out why I was smelling it only in the stairway to the basement and not in the kitchen as usual. Finally one day I was sure it had to be in the stairway and I looked around and in a little sliding cupboard we have on the side of the stairs where we keep seasonal items. I found a bag of rotten potatoes that must have been there for months…they were so far gone some of them didn’t even look like a potato any more, they were black furry shriveled things, some with sprouts coming out. The horror, the horror! I threw them all out and cleaned out the cupboard.
Later when I thought about it, I remembered buying an extra big bag of potatoes many months ago when they were on sale. I didn’t have room for both bags in the pantry so I thought the cupboard on the stairway would be a nice cool dark place to keep them. I remember telling my husband ‘I am putting potatoes in this cupboard, remind me they are here or I will forget about them.’ And I did. So I blame him, he obviously did not keep up his end of the deal here.
If it is not a potato, I usually try looking in the fridge next, or for fruit or bread in a forgotten corner. Then I clean the disposal and drains. All common culprits.
For your washing machine, you can clean it too by running an empty machine with bleach and hot water. It also helps to keep the lid up when not in use to let it dry out.
If you really have looked everywhere and cannot find the smell, you may have a mouse or animal in a wall or chimney.
We have a smell from under the bathroom sink that smells like a very intense “dead mouse in the wall” smell and we can’t figure out where it is coming from. Some days it is so bad that we don’y use that bathroom. The intensity of the smell isn’t always the same but is always there and has been for months.
Any ideas dopers?
Ooooh. Can you mix that with other clumping litter, like the crystal stuff, or do you have to use it by itself? This has plagued me since I live in a condo which has a limited amount of space to stuff the catbox in.
Man, I thought I was about to make your day, because I was going to say “It’s already got crystals in it!” But I thought I’d better check to make sure, first. No, I guess it doesn’t. However, I can’t see why you couldn’t mix in it if you wanted to. The stuff clumps like a dream - my husband actually looks forward to cleaning the box. (Well, okay, he’s not that enthusiastic, but he used to whine about it way more often - now he goes to do it, and he says, “Hey, sweetie, c’mere and look at how easy this stuff is to clean up!” Thanks but no thanks - but you get the drift, eh?)
I thought it did have crystals, because when I first bought it it was advertised as being the same as the stuff I was already using, which was the crystals blend, only with extra odor control. I didn’t see it on the container, though.
Anyway, it cleans up well, and I don’t smell cat leavings for a long, long, long time. Weeks, possibly an entire month, or close to it, before it needs to be fully changed out because that’s when it’s starting to retain smells. We still change it regularly, but we once forgot to co-ordinate our schedules, and forgot it for three days - easy to forget, since it didn’t smell at all. Our oldest little princess yowled at us for attention until we finally gave in and gave her the “what is it, Lassie?” deal, she lead us to the litterbox. Sure, it didn’t stink, but who would want to put their paws in that?
It’s great for anyone with cats in a smaller apartment, where there’s not a lot of room for a litterbox and it has to go wherever it fits.
Maastricht, I believe baking soda is the same as Zuiveringszout. 
Hah! I was folding and putting away laundry today and was just thinking about that, but couldn’t remember how to do it. Thanks!
In addition to all the other suggestions here, have you considered “stray” cat pee stinking up a cushion or corner of the carpet?
Buy a blacklight/UV light and shine it over your carpets and couches to see if there’s any stray pee you might be missing somewhere
Try for less moisture. Dampness in the air helps add to and create musty scents, especially in fabrics and carpets. Depends how well the other cures work - running a dehumidifier costs power, it needs to run a long time, even when you’re not home.
I’ve seen them work well in offices – haven’t bought one myself yet, I must admit.
To tell you the truth, I think your best tactic right now is to rent a steam cleaners and go after the carpets, furniture and tile with it. That’ll remove any mildew, stray stains and pee smells.From there you can focus on keeping in clean.
I chuck some caustic soda down the drain when I clean any room with one. Someone else recommended baking soda and vinegar which may be fine. Drains are great for hosting hard to find smells.
Howdy-
Just in case you were never taught…don’t go crazy and mix ammonia and bleach to get a super-cleaning solution…deadly gas results.
As for the kitty litter, they sell silica gel (that absorbing plastic stuff in medicine bottles) here in Prague that works amazingly well. Looks like clear rock salt. My friend has it in his small place and there is NO smell. 10 times the normal litter price though.
A point to consider for ‘green’ cleaning products: they actually can work just as well as the normal products. What ‘cleans’ and what consumers want are sometimes two different things. e.g. a ‘green’ product might not have the best bubble-making abilities. But that doesn’t matter outside of an aesthetic point of view. The additive that makes bubbles is for marketing purposes, not cleaning ones. So, don’t worry too much about using green products and not getting things totally clean…they really do work well.
-Tcat
True, but steam cleaning your carpets will only remove the smell of cat pee (and even then it’s not a sure bet) to the human nose. Your cat will still smell it just fine, and there’s a good chance he’ll even re-mark the area. You need an enzymatic cleaner such as Nature’s Miracle or the like to really get rid of pet stains.
You also need to make sure whatever cleaner you’re using gets down into the carpet pads. If you see a silver-dollar sized spot on the carpet, the stain on the pad is probably 5-6 inches across. A good way to do it is use a syringe (without the needle!!) and inject it into the pad itself thru the carpet.
Heh. I find that owning the entire range of Mr Muscle products and copious amounts of ViaKal resolves most cleaning difficulties. Don’t know if they are available in the Netherlands, but they are great.
As regards bathrooms, the only sensible design is the ‘Scandinavian’ one - everything tiled all the way up, big drain in the floor. Cover everything in cleaner, hose down, squeegee. Pristine bathroom in 5 mins dead. Just remember to remove toilet paper and towels before you start.
Heh. I find that owning the entire range of Mr Muscle products and copious amounts of ViaKal resolves most cleaning difficulties. Don’t know if they are available in the Netherlands, but they are great.
As regards bathrooms, the only sensible design is the ‘Scandinavian’ one - everything tiled all the way up, big drain in the floor. Cover everything in cleaner, hose down, squeegee. Pristine bathroom in 5 mins dead. Just remember to remove toilet paper and towels before you start.