okay, so i went to grab for something off the shelf in my laundry room this morning, and i accidentally knocked over a box of open mothballs.

EEW! so i have this nasty mothball stench lingering in my basement (in which i live). Can anyone tell me how i'm supposed to get rid of it?

ventilate heavily

stella

yeah, fans and open doors and windows, although this is your basement, and that's tougher, but if you have a door leading outside, great. I think directing it up the stairs would be a little ambitious. You could always buy a can of air freshner, your pick- mothballs or chemical "gardens" (or perhaps "after the rain")

personally I love the smell of mothballs and old books, I'd "make a good old lady" according to my mom.

i got this wonderful new spray from wal mart the other day. it's called pure citrus. makes the house smell like you've been peeling oranges everywhere. very light and non-intrusive. and it covers smells like you wouldn't believe. my house was starting to get a little funky. i hadn't had time to clean AT ALL and between the smells of cigarettes, stale incense, old garbage that needed taking out and bongwater (i know, bad me) it was kinda starting to reek. i sprayed this all over the house (a little in each room) and everything smelled awesome for a couple days, not just a few minutes until it settled. it STAYS in the air. in fact, my bf came home and could smell it OUTSIDE the closed, heavy front door and the storm door. good stuff.

thankfully we cleaned the house yesterday and opened the windows for a little to air things out, but the spray still helped. i can see an addiction rising already.

*Biz*

baking soda. if it's a carpeted area, sprinkle it on the carpet before you go to work/school/out and vacuum it later, it will take out some of the smell. i put out big shallow pans of it and it will absorb any stink. baking soda is amazing that way. my mom used to do it to my pop's truck to rid it of the smoke smell when we were kids (he's since quit smoking), and it always worked. i would leave it out overnight, during a whole day, however long it takes. the best thing is it will neutralize the odor, not cover it up. who needs vanilla scented mothballs? good luck!

bizwitch, i *love* that stuff, too. it is the most wonderful smelling orange; i'm convinced that i can skip the vitamin c supplements after a few sprays of it.

it's been a few days, the smell still lingers a bit... but I haven't tried the baking soda yet. I'll sprinkle some on before I go to bed tonight and vacuum it up in the morning.

The mothball smell was NOT good by any means - it was pretty nauseating, especially since i vacuumed up the mothball residue and my vacuum barfed out the smell.

it was awful.

but thanks for the replies!

I love the smell of moth balls... and gas.
But I have to agree with that citrus spray... I live with my boyfriend who has very very stinky vegetarian farts. Very stinky.
But the spray is in no way light! all you need is a small short and quick spray and the whole world smells like oranges!