Aside from the living room, the kitchen is also an often used area in the house, so it is important take extra effort to keep it clean and smelling fresh. In particular, the sink often requires attention, as rotting food particles and bacteria would lurk inside the drain or the garbage disposal, causing it to emit unpleasant smell. Now, you can easily deodorize the kitchen sink with items that are already available in your home. Here are the steps for this task:
1. Secure the things that you will need for the task, which include baking soda, white vinegar, liquid dish soap, citrus rinds, lemon peels, coarse salt, cloth and scrubbing sponge.
2. Using a clean and damp cloth, wipe down the inside of your sink to loosen food particles and other debris from its surface.
3. Pour into the sink a little bit of liquid dish soap and then fill it with hot water, which might already be enough to take care of milder odors in the drain. Then, scrub the sink with a sponge to thoroughly clean all of the grooves and crevices around the faucet and the plug. Rinse the sink. By this time, odor-causing bacteria lurking inside should have been killed and left-over debris should have been loose and flushed, along with any microorganisms.
4. To ensure the sink is deodorized, you can also pour 1 cup of baking soda into the drain. Then, heat about 2 cups of distilled white vinegar and also pour it into the drain. Allow the baking soda-vinegar mixture to fizz for about 5 minutes to loosen up any debris that is stuck inside, and then run cold water down the drain.
5. Eliminate unfavorable smell in your garbage disposal by sprinkling a sufficient amount of baking soda into it. Let the compound sit for several minutes and then run hot water through the unit. If you are still getting a bad odor, then try to check if the blades are clean and do not have any lingering gunk and food particle. You can also use some coarse salt, ice cubes and lemon peels or citrus rinds, and then crush them in the disposal to give it a fresh smell. As you can see, the combination of these items will work a 3-way cleaning wonder.
6. Run hot water into the disposal unit until the deodorizing items are all gone. Do these steps at least once a month to keep unfavorable odors in your sink at bay.
More Useful Tips
Do not underestimate the simple power of hot water, as it is very effective in deodorizing your sink. If you have just boiled water for something—tea, pasta, etc.—do not just let the extra hot water to cool off and, instead, pour it down the sink. Combining baking soda and vinegar not only unclogs a drain, but also helps get rid of bad smell in the sink. And again, do not forget to wear rubber gloves before you work with boiling water.