A friend of mine goes through at least three lunch bags a year for her son. each time, the reusable lunch bag gets a bad case of the stinkies. Not matter how she washed it, she can’t seem to remove the odor. She has even tried using the old established products, such as baking soda solutions and bleach, but nothing works.
I’m so glad that she confessed that it is just easier for her to throw a perfectly good lunch bag out, because I have the perfect solution for her, and she already has the product in her home. She’ll save a lot of money by keeping her lunch bags in use.
You see, I have had my share of stinky lunch bags, as well as stinky garbage cans, stinky refrigerators and stinky shoes. The one thing that I found to eat the odors in all of these cases isn’t a harsh chemical that might compromise our respiratory system. In fact it is a very pleasant smell. What is this miracle? Well, okay, i’ll tell you. it is ordinary vanilla extract.
Simply put a couple of drops on a paper towel that has been folded over a few times to prevent the vanilla from soaking through. Place the paper towel with the vanilla in your lunch bag, or wherever you have the stinkies. Leave the container closed for three days. You can do this as soon as the lunch bag is delivered home on Friday, and leave it closed until Monday morning. In the case of open items, such as shoes, place the item in a sealed bag or wrap it with plastic wrap. I don’t expect you to keep the refrigerator closed for three days of course, but try to place the paper towel somewhere in the back.
I have found that real vanilla seems to work slightly better than imitation vanilla. But don’t go out and buy real vanilla just for the stinkies, since it can be rather expensive.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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