Our clothes are an extension of our personalities, a medium for self-expression, and a way to make the best impression. It pays to learn how to make your closet smell good. If you want to dress to impress, it begins with discovering how to keep linen closets smelling fresh.
Drying your body with musty towels, sleeping in moldy-smelling sheets, or donning odorous clothes makes you smell. It doesn’t matter how well you dress if you have an off-putting odor. Closets are usually small enclosed spaces. They have limited airflow and a propensity to develop a musty smell if not maintained.
Figuring out how to make closets smell better is a breeze. It’s disheartening to spend your time laundering, pressing, and putting away your clean clothes only to wear them and realize they have an old closet smell. Use uncomplicated remedies to oust the odor and keep your closet and your apparel smelling inviting.

- How to Keep Linen Closets Smelling Fresh
- Why Do Closets Have an Unpleasant Smell?
- How to Make Your Closet Smell Good With a Dryer Sheet
- How to Make Closets Smell Better
- Things to Make Your Closet Smell Better – Baking Soda
- Keep Unwanted Odor Out of Your Closet
- White Vinegar Keeps Your Closet and Clothes Smelling Fresh
- Get Rid of Closet Smell With Activated Charcoal
How to Keep Linen Closets Smelling Fresh
Do you know how to make your closet smell good? Whether you have a huge custom closet or a modest set of dresser drawers, the space where you keep your clean clothes should not smell bad.
You’re not alone if your wardrobe has a stale or musty odor. If your closet stinks, the odor leaches into your garments, making you seem smelly when you wear them. Save yourself from wearing stinky clothes by exploring effortless tips on how to make closets smell better.
Why Do Closets Have an Unpleasant Smell?
Whether it’s your linen closet or dresser drawers, places where clothes are kept tend to develop a musty smell. Sometimes the stench is caused by wet clothes or dirty, smelly clothes left in the closet’s hamper. Other times, this closet odor results from a lack of fresh air since most wardrobes are small and tend not to have windows.
It feels pointless to wash your clothes only to have them stink when you go to put them on. Use simple techniques to ensure your closet and clothes smell pleasant.
How to Make Your Closet Smell Good With a Dryer Sheet
There’s nothing better than a freshly washed laundry smell – a combination of detergent and fabric softener. Whether a towel after a hot shower or slipping into clean bed sheets, this scent is one of the best fragrances for fabric. A pack of dryer sheets offers an uncomplicated way to retain this scent long after the wash.
Dryer sheets are used for several deodorizing DIYs. Traditionally used for fabric softening, dryer sheets are heavily fragranced, making them ideal for keeping your closet smelling nice.
Distribute several dryer sheets around the space, and add one or two to each drawer with your clothing. The scent from the dryer sheets diffuses into the air keeping your garments and closet smelling appealing.
How to Make Closets Smell Better
While a range of air fresheners is sold in stores, they contain toxic chemicals and harmful propellants that reduce air quality. Instead of turning to these dangerous sprays to eliminate bad odor in your closet, make your own with essential oils.
Using essential oils allows you to customize your wardrobe and clothing’s scent. Choose a blend of essential oils to suit your tastes and craft a safe, natural air freshener.
Shake until the oil and water are blended, and spritz into the air in your closet. Common fragrance choices include lavender, lemongrass, and citrus oils.
Things to Make Your Closet Smell Better – Baking Soda
Baking soda is an odor eater. It’s famous for its ability to get rid of even the worst smells by absorbing them. If your closet smells like dirty clothes, baking soda is a cheap way to eradicate the foul odor.
Sprinkle baking soda over the floor and any empty surfaces, taking care not to get it on your apparel. Let the powder rest in your closet for at least 12 hours before sweeping or vacuuming and discarding it.
Alternatively, pour a few tablespoons of baking soda powder into paper cups and set them around your closet or inside your drawers, where the powder can absorb the foul smell.
Keep Unwanted Odor Out of Your Closet
A quick and easy solution to closet odor is to make scented sachets with essential oils. Store-bought scented sachets are expensive and usually made with chemicals. Creating your own sachets keeps you from exposure to dangerous substances. It gives you complete control over the scent profile in your closet.
Add several drops of one or a few essential oils to each cotton ball and seal the ball inside a muslin baggie. The muslin keeps the cotton ball contained though it allows the essential oil to diffuse out and make the surroundings smell inviting.
Experiment with different essential oil blends to find the one you prefer. Hang a sachet on your closet door, stick one in each drawer, and spread them around anywhere you keep your clothes.
White Vinegar Keeps Your Closet and Clothes Smelling Fresh
Distilled white vinegar is one of the first remedies people think of when it’s time to deodorize, and with good reason. Thanks to its acetic acid content, white vinegar breaks down odors, including the musty or stale smell in your closet.
Pour the water and vinegar into the sprayer, shake well, and mist into the air in your wardrobe. Spray hard surfaces like the top of your dresser or the back of the closet door, and wipe them with a soft cloth. Leave your closet open to air out until the vinegar smell dissipates.
Get Rid of Closet Smell With Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal powder is a clever way to erase a bad smell fast. This handy black powder is a giant in odor removal. Activated charcoal particles have a uniquely vast surface area.
A single tablespoon of activated charcoal covers as much space as a football field. Take advantage of this by setting out activated charcoal in bowls or muslin bags around your closet so it absorbs unwanted odor.
Place baggies of activated charcoal in your drawers. Change out the activated charcoal every month or any time you notice its effects waning and musty or dirty clothing odors returning.
Explore how to keep linen closets smelling fresh to eliminate musty odors so your clothing has a clean scent. There’s nothing worse than meticulously washing your clothes in the washing machine and storing them in a smelly closet.
By the time you wear them, that laundry detergent scent is replaced by a moldy aroma. Use proven tricks to oust the unpleasant odor and store your clothes with confidence.

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