How to get rid of smells?

[Lizz0]

I often see the house rule: No cooking allowed.

I never saw a problem with curry until I cooked one day and woke to the smell of it the next morning even though there was no trace of it in the kitchen. It took another day or so to dissipate completely.

I'm assuming that a month of curry cooking would be much harder to remove, so I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for getting rid of strong smells in a hurry. I tried Ozium, but it had no effect.

I would rather learn how to deal with it than to forbid it. Besides, I love curry.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, the dishes. I liked these guests very much in terms of their personality and I have to say their communication was excellent. If they had't been so nice, I would have really slammed them in the cleanliness rating!

They initially put their dishes in the dishwasher, but nothing came out clean because it was caked in dried on food and I mean a lot. I had gently reminded them, but it didn't work. After that, I had to show them a pan they had put in the dishwasher that was (no exaggeration) completely covered with an inch of burnt on scrambled egg and explained that no dishwasher was going to be able to clean that.

So, they then stopped putting stuff in the dishwasher and washing it by hand instead. Only, they would always forget things. They would do some of their washing up but usually leave a few random items unwashed by the sink or even scattered around the kitchen. Sometimes these things would pile up. I had to keep asking, are these dishes yours?

If it had been a one week or ten day stay, I would probably have let it go, but 3.5 months? No. Especially seeing as the house was usually pretty full during their stay so I had to consider the other guests, who were all reasonably clean.

I realised part of the problem with the stuck on food was that they were mostly eating their meals in the bedroom (against my house rules) and then often leaving those dishes to sit for a long time before bringing them down to the kitchen.

The guests responded reasonably well when I reminded them of a few issues, but they seemed very put out when I had to tell them again that they were ruining my pans (kept burning their food) so there were a lot of things I didn't mention, like the constant eating in the room, broken dishes, clogging the shower drain every few days etc. etc.

[John5097]

@Huma0 I also have had to clean up after long term guest. I like treating people like adults but one had so many things I had to point out I started just scheduling a time once a month to discuss anything about the things we shared. Putting the right things in the recycling bin, puttng things in trash bags before the trash bin outside. She must have been bringing back rancid trash from the restraunt she worked as it was really bad but she would deny all of that and claim it must have been mine, when its just the two of us living here. It didn't bother me that much but had to wash out the trash bin on a regular basis and just one of those things you have to deal with when renting. Although she was very clean and responsible with all the rest of the cleaning and when she moved out after a year the place still looked new. I prefer short term rentals though, and as host we just stay on top of things as best as possible. Sounds like you have a lot more cleaning in the kitchen.  

[Huma0]

@John5097 

RE the cats, yes, in a lot of countries, there are a lot of stray and feral cats. I have never been to India, but I am from Pakistan, so I understand that in South Asia, dogs and cats are often treated as suspect, dirty or potentially dangerous. Although some do keep them as pets, it's nowhere near as common as here in the UK.

The hubby told me he was scared of cats because he was scratched by one as a child (I think it was feral). I did not know why the wife was even more scared than him, but maybe his childhood story alone was enough. I can imagine that where rabies is common, a cat scratch is taken very seriously and parents can understandably freak out, warn their children to stay away from cats and dogs etc.

So, I ended up having to educate these guests on the domestic British cat. They told me partly why they were so scared was because in the Airbnb in Scotland, the cat had followed them into the bedroom, jumped on the bed and started meowing at them. They were terrified as they were sure it wanted to attack them.

I patiently explained that no, that is not how a cat behaves when it wants to attack you. That is how a cat behaves when it wants your attention, cuddles etc. If a cat might attack you, it's because they feel threatened, in which case they will hiss, adopt certain postures, such as arch their backs, puff up their fur etc.

They thought that made a lot of sense, realised that Scottish kitty was just trying to be friendly and were so much more relaxed around the cats after that!

[John5097]

@Huma0 They sound so cute, afraid of the Scottish kitty! That was probably a wonderful experience for them. 

My friends dad from California said his dad grew up in extreme poverty so I'm sure it was a lot different. I didn't mean to imply that people from Indonisia or India are all afraid of cats or don't have pets themselves they care deeply about. 

We had a lot of outside cats in the city where I grew up and they were all very friendly. When I was about 4 years old I remember they liked me and I managed to lure two back to our house and we kept them as pets. 

I haven't been to India either but would love to travel there and to that part of the world. 

[Sarah977]

@John5097  I've also shared many meals with guests. Either they've cooked and invited me, or I cook and invite them, or we've prepared a meal together.

I actually don't enjoy cooking. So my fave guest in that regard was a woman who loved to cook, said she found it impossible to just cook for one, so I had to help her eat what she cooked. No problem! 🙂

She made a delicious pot of seafood soup the last night, that I enjoyed for 3 nights after she checked out.

[John5097]

@Sarah977 great story and sounds like a wonderful guest where you both share a kitchen and live together, although in my experience a guest recently put raw fish in the fridge that stank for over a month. It was terrible. I deep cleaned the fridge five times but that still didn't get rid of the strong dead fish odor. Between guest I had to unplug it and point a box fan at it to help get the smell out of the compressor, coils and fan. I couldn't be sure which guest did this or why they would leave dead fish just dripping in the fridge. Thankfully no guest complained although not confidence inspiring when fridge smells that bad. It cost over $1500. Didn't mean to rant but glad to get the convo from 2017 back on topic about the strong odor of curry and in my experience fish have been 10x worse.   

[Sarah977]

@John5097  Yuck. Yes, I can imagine that rotting fish left in the fridge could impregnate the walls of the fridge with the smell and be almost impossible to get rid of.

My guest bought all the seafood for her soup fresh at the markket the day she made the soup, so I don't think she ever even put any of it in the fridge 🙂

[John5097]

@Sarah977 It wasn’t the first time guest have left rotting raw chicken in trash bin outside. One long term renter in particular was always gas lighting me, doing all kinds of stuff we had agreed not to up front, so people who are controlling is different topic and act like they arent. Some people get like that about food topics or just in general, espically in groups like this it’s almost human nature. The smell of curry doesn’t bother me Although I can see how cooking it three times a day would bother other guest at shared house, although not sure what else they were cooking. My guest are just in town for short visit and eat out. The guest who put fish in fridge just put it on the shelf and dropped down so didn’t smell for a while.

I’d have to go up on my rarest to clean grease from bacon and hamburgers and outside grill isn’t free and have to clean that. Guest also cook bacon morning of checkout. 

Curry by itself would be welcome change, and wish I could offfer more cooking options but the few ruin it for the rest and guest don’t want a greasy place and just eat out anyway on vacation. If it was cabin in the woods would have to charge more for cleaning grease. 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

Quite early on in my hosting experience, I had a combination of guests and long term lodgers. Once, my housemate left some smelly cheese in the fridge. I guess I wasn't eating at home much at the time as I didn't really notice. It was only after the guests staying at the time left their reviews (both scoring me down for cleanliness due to the smell of that cheese) that I realised. It was super annoying to get lack lustre reviews just because of this.

Since then, I've kept a pretty close eye on the fridge, just in case, but that's easy because I live here. Long term guests often leave something rotting at the back of the fridge and you don't realise until the smell hits you!

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 the other night I cooked for the two girls who were staying here as a treat for their last night. They were both good cooks, but seemed to appreciate it.

One of the best meals I had was when a Korean couple were staying and it turned out the husband was a former chef. He could whip up six different dishes from scratch in about 15 minutes. They invited me to join them for lunch one day and it was amazing. 

I've lived with chefs before and they tended to cook very basic things at home, which is understandable given they spent most of their time cooking for other people. So, my advice to anyone thinking of marrying a chef is don't. Marry a FORMER chef instead 🙂

[Kerry428]

Thanks for this! I'm dealing with this issue as we speak! What  type of vinegar mixed with water? Apple Cider? White? Thank you! I'm desperate to get this under control since the next guests arrive soon!

[Paul154]

Smells are so deep and emotive.

Anytime I smell curry, memory places me in childhood surrounded by dirty, pot-smoking hippies.

Intellectually, I know that curry is a food enjoyed by many and not indicative of cleanliness or drug use.

But curry is a strong invocation of this feeling.

I wish I know how to get rid of its smell.

[Cathy172]

@Paul154@Jean--Palmer--And-Julian0@Lizz0 Another curry fan here. Your question did make me smile to remember my mom's heyday thirty years ago as a realtor. Her colleagues had a code for a home with that fragrance..."pre-curried". Not politically correct, but to the point.

[Letti0]

@Jean--Palmer--And-Julian0 What you needed to do/try is simmering only the white vinegar on the stove for a long while letting the steam penetrate the whole areas affected. Also when cool enough to handle after you turn it off, pour it into small glass bowls and leave it around the whole house for a few days to draw in the scent even more if it's still there. This works for Curry, Ras El Hanout, Harissa, and Turmeric for me, which are all ll very stong spices I use occasionally that their odor lingers on long after the excellent meal is done. Also works for that lovely fried fish scent that hangs around the next day or so.

[Robert1909]

So what do you do if this happens and you have same day guests checking in? There isn't time for days to air out. Don't want to turn down potential guests, revenue, partners revenue over something a guest chose to do in our homes. Don't want the next guest to feel inconvenienced or possibly be offended by the smell.