August 4th, 2014

Raising Boys

blog 3 Easy Ways to Eliminate Odor from Your Garbage

I’m just tired of it. The odor emanating from our garbage has become unbearable. I live in an old (but beautiful) brick house, and we don’t have central air.  That means when it’s hot in our house, the garbage is hot too. Every time I walk pass the garbage can it grosses me out.  One thing I noticed at the beginning of the summer was that my dad, who lives next door, has no smell from his garbage — EVER! So, I inquired about his garbage odor eliminator process and he schooled me and the youngsters on how we can make our garbage odorless too, and save money on garbage bags.  Here’s what the boys did.

Garbage Odor Eliminator Step 1: No Food of Any Kind in the Garbage Can!

No rice, no noodles, no fruit, no nothing!  All soft food can be flushed down the toilet (or if you have a garbage disposal it can go there too).  As dad says, if it can handle your poo,  it can handle what’s left over on your plate.  And, if you have leftovers like chicken bones and apple cores, see Rule No. 2.

Garbage Odor Eliminator Step 2: Put it in the Freezer.

Of course, you have things like lettuce and half-eaten fruit that may not be safe for your home’s pipelines.  So, set aside a 5 gallon freezer bag for produce and store foods that can’t be flushed in the freezer until garbage day.  What I love about this method is it seriously forces you to waste less.  I’m more apt to make my boys finish the entire apple using this method,versus storing it in the fridge.  Also, if you have a compost bin, apple cores and egg shells are great for your garden.

Garbage Odor Eliminator Step 3: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Teach your kids the 3R’s early.  Have them sort the recyclable garbage.  Bribe them with a Popsicle and have them play a game of sorting the papers, plastics and cans.  Use your leftover blue grocery bags so that they don’t make them too heavy.  Using the blue grocery bags for all you recyclable garbage should decrease the amount of regular garbage bags you use.  We are down to one and a half garbage bags each week. This method seriously works.  If you’re tired of maggots in your outdoor trash cans in the summer, hate the smell of hot garbage or just need a garbage odor eliminator, this is the method for you.  Let me know, how you like it! Odor Eliminating Tip for Dogs If you have a dog purchase a Diaper Genie to put all of his poo in rather than storing it in your outdoor or indoor garbage cans. Trust me, you won’t smell a thing! If the smell is emanating from your boys, not your garbage, here’s a great article on getting your boys to smell better and getting the pee smell (caused by boys) out of your bathroom.