Warding off those bad kitchen bin smells doesn’t have to be as hard as it seems, thanks to a 3p product you may already have in your house. For those of us who are fed up with the odors coming from our bin no matter how often we take out the liner, this simple trick, which can also be applied to your bathroom bin, could be transformative.
To keep your kitchen bin from smelling you can use sticky felt floor protectors, which are usually used on the bottom of furniture items like sofas and tables to stop floors being scratched.
Simply add a few drops of “your favourite essential oil,” to the pad, TikTok hack expert Sophie, who goes by the handle @what.sophie.does, advises. Stick it onto the inside of your bin lid and replace when the essential oil smell has run out.
You can pick up a pack of 144 felt circles from the B&Q website for just £4.99, or if you’re not looking for quite so many, try Ikea’s set of 20 self-adhesive anti-scratch pads for 50p. Amazon, Homebase, Screwfix and Dunelm also sell the floor protectors.
In another video, Sophie shows how you can also use the felt pads in your wardrobe. Instead of essential oils, spray your favourite perfume onto a pad and stick it onto the side of your wardrobe to keep your clothes smelling nice, and as you like them.
Another cheap hack to keep your bin smelling fresh is placing some lemon peels at the bottom of the bag, Ramon Israel, who is known for his cleaning videos on TikTok, says. With lemons costing about 30p from most supermarkets, this trick is both low-cost and easy as you might already have a lemon in your fridge or fruit bowl.
As well as adding flavour to cooking, lemons can be used to descale kettles or remove unwanted smells from chopping boards. If you’re looking to remove rust, sprinkle rock salt onto the affected area and add lemon juice.
Dryer sheets are also effective at absorbing bad smells in your bin and you can place them at the bottom of the bin (outside of the bag). Tesco sells 40 dryer sheets for £2.50, or you can get 35 for £1.29 at The Range.
If your bin keeps attracting bugs, you can “dab a peppermint essential oil on a make-up pad, wipe the inside top of the lid of your bin and leave that make-up pad inside,” Israel tells followers. Peppermint oil is known to keep ticks, spiders, moths, flies and ants away.
There are actions you can take in your daily life to prevent your bin from smelling or disgusting. You shouldn’t throw away foods that are liquid or runny, according to cleaning company Merry Maids, but if you do you should contain them in a plastic bag first. This is the same for any food items that have gone off.
You should also make sure to wipe down spills quickly before they have the chance to get sticky or gummy. When cleaning out your bin, you can try sprinkling baking soda at the bottom of the can to neutralise bad smells. It is a great cleaning staple to keep in the house and incredibly versatile too with its ability to brighten grout, polish cutlery, remove stains and unclog drains.
