An office is a place that requires you to be in a proactive mode to manage throughout your day. With all the pressure and deadlines cramming your head, the last thing you want to be irritated by is unpleasant odor enshrouding your work habitat. 

The causes may range from ineffectively maintained bins containing rotting food to expired food items crammed in the fridge.

 It can be your co-worker who didn’t have a shower today to a colleague sporting smelly socks. If these nasty aromas get to your head, the nagging irritation can hamper your work. It is not that difficult to get distracted from work.

When it comes to sedentary work, even the smallest of irritations can drive away your interest. It takes time to regain the lost momentum, leaving you side-tracked for a while.

Let me give a few tips to avert such tragedies whenever they crop up.

Microwave:

Our good old food-heater can turn up to some nuisance whenever not used properly. It’s a place where food teeming with all kinds of bacteria is heated up. This enables the effective diffusion of the odor within your work premises.

A strong-smelling food item leaves a residue on the walls of the microwave. This residue is the cause of the nasty smell. 

To get rid of that, consider asking your employer to get the microwave thoroughly cleaned with heavy-duty oven cleaners. It will require a good amount of scrubbing to get free it from the smell.

Microwave cleaning should be a regular affair and not an annual chore. 

Air fresheners:

If nothing else works to establish an odor-free ambiance in your office, the last resort can be air fresheners. These come in the form of waxes, gels, diffusers, and sprays. You can also buy air fresheners in bulk and stock up at your workplace. The scent they release can mask unpleasant odors to immerse you in a fresh aromatic experience. 

Manage Trash Cans:

A poorly managed trash can is the most likely source to cause discomfort to your nostrils. There are millions of things that might be rotting in there, silently perpetuating the nasty odors.

If not looked after properly, trash cans can wreak havoc on the atmosphere in any place. The foremost thing to check for is a sign of odor in the trash. 

Ask the relevant staff to get the trash dumped and the trash can rinsed.

Vinegar:

Is your office enveloped by a funny smell that lingers all the time? These odors can have multiple causes and the root cause may become difficult to pinpoint.  For such cases, there is a seemingly simple solution.

Just take a bowl and fill it with vinegar. Place the bowl in the affected area for a night. The vinegar absorbs all the other odors and fills the place with its own aroma which also goes away once the bowl of vinegar is removed. This method can also be implemented at home or any other place indoors.

Mint Tea or Coffee:

Mint tea has a tendency to enshroud its surroundings with a minty fresh fragrance. Whenever you encounter a weird odor in your office, just brew a cup of mint tea and place it on your desk. 

Mint tea has a strong natural smell that can easily mask the nastiest smells nature can offer. If that’s not feasible, you may go with coffee. Ground coffee stored in an open bowl will also have a similar effect.

Clean the Carpet:

The carpet can be the cause of that lingering smell. If that is the case, then you know exactly what to do. Call the office management and ask them to give it a wash. Carpets can give off odors if left unkempt for long.

Sunlight:

If the odor is due to some temporary cause, then sunlight can also be an effective measure. The UV rays in the sunlight can kill many bacteria including the odor emanating germs. 

Just leave the windows open for a few hours even if the sun is not so strong at the moment. UV rays can still perform their function well. 

Baking Soda:

This ingredient too works on its absorptive action. It has a tendency to absorb any kind of odor. To use it is also very simple. Take some on a bowl or plate and keep it in a corner not visible directly since it’s an office. The odor will be gone within a day.

If you want to deodorize any particular thing, like carpet, sprinkle baking soda on the affected item and then vacuum it after 30 minutes.

Charcoal:

This too works the same way. It simply absorbs nasty smells off your surrounding air. Just place a bowlful of it in the affected areas and wait for the smell to be efficiently absorbed. 

Fabric softener sheets:

Apart from maintaining your fabrics fresh, these softeners are also effective in cleansing funny odors in the air. Just place a sheet in the affected area of the office in a secluded fashion and wait for the room to be deodorized with a fresh fragrance.

To tackle the stinky odors prevailing in your workplace, or any other place, the best way is to identify the cause first and then take appropriate action.

 Your office is a place where you need focus and attention the most. Don’t let some random stink get the best of you. Always maintain cleanliness in your workplace.