My 9 Year Old's Stinky Room!

Great suggestions already. I suspect the shoes, too.

Baking soda, baby powder with cornstarch, or GoldBond powder are excellent things to add to her closed footwear. For sandles I would recommend scrubbing with some bleach and water. You can also clean the insides of her closed footwear but make certain they are dry before adding any powders or baking soda.

I hope this helps.

What's "frequently"? If it's once a week... then it's not the bed unless it's the mattress.

From a tomboy/military perspective... here's a "deep clean":

- Shower everyday. Twice a day, preferably. Once in the morning to wash off the oils and sweat from sleep, and once at night to get all the sweat/oils/dirt off.

- Sheets once a week, comforter once a month, pillows every 3 months. (Make sure with feathers that you put tennisballs in the dryer, and dry one more time after you *think* it's totally dry. Very little smells wonkier than sweaty/mouldering feathers.)

- Shampoo the carpets every 6 months (rug doctor from the grocery store is fine, but professional steam cleaning is even better.

- Check for "sour". Sour clothes or bedding smell *funky*, but only when they get damp.

- Wash small loads of laundry every other day, instead of big loads every week. IDEALLY keep the hamper NOT in the bedroom. Personally, the first place sweaty clothes go in our house is straight into the machine. We have scent glands in our groin, where most of us don't use deodorant, so when we sweat our underwear and shorts pick up that smell. It's not really noticeable until you have a whole pile of those clothes together (like 50 women after running all throwing their gym clothes in a pile is almost NUCLEAR in the smell... omg... and once you know what THAT smells like, you can never mistake your own scent after running ever, ever again.)

Check her shoes!!! Bacteria inside shoes is notorious for that musky gym smell... Gold bond Medicated Foot powder and lots of febreeze... Can you smell stronger points of the smell?? see if you can track it down... Also make sure there is not a forgotten about food product somewhere in the room.... That happens "kids"....also do a spring cleaning of her room and break out the bleach water.. clean the base boards and steam the carpets... you can normally rent them from your local grocery store.. aside from that I dont know... Just clean and wash every thing.. If it still stinks then something isnt clean.. But I bet it is some well worn shoes... P.S. Ceader chips work wonders in closets for smell and moths...

I had the same problem with my 8yo. I found out it was a combination of her, dirty clothes and the carpet. I first took all of the dirty clothes from her room. She now has to deposit anything worn once into the dirty clothes basket in the laundryroom. Not a single thing gets worn twice. I then got some of that Pet Arm in Hammer, even though animals is not a problem in our house. I vaccumed the carpet (the carpet is only a year & half old BTW). I now make her take a bath EVERY night. It did also take a day of opening all the windows to let the room air out. I placed one of those stick up things in the closet as well. So no dirty clothes, no shoes and baths each night took care of the problem. Now grant it, my daughter has been bathing everyday (use to be shower/bath interchanges) now we stick with baths. She used deoderant and I cange her sheets every week. Also be aware if she sleeps with a stuff animal, the smell can be in them as well and they may need a little washing as you do this clean sweep... Good Luck!

Hi Bethany-

She may be entering puberty and need deodorant. I suggest buying her some deodorant and then using a baking soda based carpet cleaner on her floors.

I bet the two will do wonders.

R. Magby

Twice, friends, who were grown women, left food in their coat pocket and in their purse. Have you checked every enclosed space, including pockets of coats, for rotten food? The smell is atrocious. The friend, with the left overs from a restaurant in her pocket, found the food in her coat in the closet when her living room began to stink.

My granddaughter just turned 10 and she shyly told me a couple of weeks ago that she has to wear deodorant now.

I will venture a guess it's the shoes and socks. I tried everything I could to get the smell out of shoes and I finally settled on OdoBan, which you can only get at Sam's Club. I spray the inside of the shoes and air them out for a day.

My husband always tells me that shoes that are not made of authentic leather (for instance I love to buy shoes so I always buy cheap ones of plastic I guess) those are the ones that seem to smell. Do you have windows in the room? My son works out and never opens windows. Experiment with leaving the shoes outside for awhile and see what happens.

Have you considered pulling out the carpet and putting down a flooring?

When we were able to get rid of all of the carpet in the house, I was amazed at the difference in dirt and odors.. Once things start to settle under the carpet on on or into that pad. (even under the pad, yucky) . It is never that fresh anymore..

Where is the room located? Is it above or next to laundry room or basement--areas that get that type of smell? The odor might be traveling through the vents. Does she leave dirty socks/shoes in he room? Keep shoes in a cube or a coat closet near a main entryway of the home. Does she have a hamper in her room? Is she leaving damp towels or even damp bathing suits in her hamper or on her floor? Give the carpet a good cleaning as well. If it is the socks/shoes--ask doc for the RX wipes that can be used to clean her feet if they get that sweaty.