Never Have a Smelly Sink Again With This One Simple Ingredient (Just Sprinkle)

Unpleasant smells coming from your sink basin and drain typically signify food debris that has gotten stuck and is rotting rapidly. To get rid of those odors, however, you don’t need to resort to store-bought cleaners. Instead, ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen can do the trick!

Recipe 1: Boiling water

Boiling water will get rid of more bacteria. 

Now while hot water can be a useful tool to flush leftover food and debris, it is crucial you know the material of your pipes. If they are metal pipes, boiling water is good. But if you have PVC pipes, boiling water can soften or melt the joints in your pipes, according to Lifehacker. “If you don’t know, just use hot water.”

Recipe 2: Baking soda, vinegar, boiling water

You can’t go wrong with these versatile kitchen items. According to Apartment Therapy, you can try pouring about a cup of baking soda into the drain, then letting it sit for 15 minutes. Next, pour ¼ to ½ cup of white vinegar and watch it react with the baking soda. Finally, wash the mixture off with some boiling water.

Recipe 3: Baking soda, salt, vinegar, boiling water

Start by pouring half a cup of coarse salt into the drain, followed by half a cup of baking soda and a cup of vinegar. Cover your drain while the ingredients react in the drain for around 30 seconds. Finish off by pouring a kettle of boiling water in the drain to wash away any remaining ingredients.

Recipe 4: Baking soda, lemon juice, boiling water

Apartment Therapy says that lemon juice, while not as easily accessed as vinegar, can be just as effective and also smells a whole lot better. All you need to do is sprinkle baking soda down your drain with the juice of one lemon, then wash the ingredients away with boiling water.

Recipe 5: Hot water, dish soap

If the stink is coming from your sink and not necessarily your sink drain, Lifehacker suggests soaking your sink basin. First, replace the sink stopper in the drain, then fill the basin halfway with hot water and a teaspoon of dish soap. Wearing a glove, swirl the ingredients until the soap has dissolved. Leave the solution to sit for about 10 minutes to allow any food residue to get dislodged. Finally, remove the sink stopper and let the solution go down the drain.

How to prevent nasty kitchen sink smells

Now that you have gotten rid of those awful sink smells, how can you avoid it from happening again? Apartment Therapy has a straightforward trick: sprinkle baking soda down your drain regularly. You can do this at least once a week or even more. It’s also a good idea if you are going on a trip and won’t be using your sink for a couple of days.

Other things you can do are never leaving dirty dishes in your sink overnight since hardened food debris can get stuck in your sink basin and. Never drop hard food waste like bones and fruit cores down your drain as these can also get trapped in plumbing.

This story originally appeared on Smartparenting.com.ph.

* Minor edits have been made by the Realliving.com.ph editors.