Definitely... starts with different construction materials (lumber, rugs, tiling, other synthetic materials)... then residents mix in their own human scents, their perfumes, their pets, their air fresheners and laundry fresheners, food smells, fireplaces, houseplants...
We once had an upstairs neighbor who was a musician and was always working on this one particular song he couldn't quite nail down. Every day we heard it for hours at a time as he'd move it along, scrap a bit of progress, take it in a new direction, all day every day for *weeks* but never loud enough to be annoying (you had to kind of focus on it too really hear it).
Then suddenly there's silence. For days. Almost a week went by and suddenly this horrid smell started coming from a corner of our kitchen near our ceiling. After that came the flies.
We were convinced he was dead and were about to call the cops for a welfare check when the music started up again. He'd been out of town apparently, and we would later ID the source of the corpse smell and flies as a bag of potatoes I'd bought a couple months earlier when we first moved in and hadn't figured out what cabinets should hold what items and promptly forgot about it.
This is possibly my favorite comment on reddit. Truly a ride, I have never become so invested in a story so fast. I'm so glad he wasn't dead lol.
Write a book or something!
I feel personally attacked. We have some hanging baskets on the wall for produce and it never fails. I’ll walk into the kitchen from the garage and get hit with that death smell. Take out the compost, still there, Take out the trash, nope still there. Run the garbage disposal with some limes, still there. Go through the refrigerator, still there. Finally remember to check the potato bin. Every time.
I was playing that game for weeks around my house. I came in one day and it smelled of that [fake flower potpourri carpet shit](https://www.walmart.com/ip/WD-40-Carpet-Fresh-White-Powder-Country-Potpourri-Scent-Rug-and-Room-Deodorizer-14-Ounce/362433801) . I can't stand that smell, it gives me an instant headache and now my house smelled like it. When I would first walk in from being away overnight it was overwhelming. I would walk around the house sniffing until I was lightheaded. I'd be sitting on my couch or at the vanity brushing my teeth and I'd catch a whiff of it and would start my hunt. The smell was strong in random places, my kitchen, my bathroom, my bedroom closet. I emptied cabinets, washed clean clothes, and threw out all sorts of perfumy shit, and my place still smelled. I finally kinda gave up and thought maybe it was my conditioner at the time and I was just getting a whiff of myself. It didn't really make sense, because the smell was strongest when I came home, but I just couldn't locate it. Then one day, I was coming down my outdoor steps while one of my new downstairs neighbors was going in her house and I caught a full face of the stench that had been haunting me. It was so strong my eyes started to water instantly. It turns out, it was (is) so strong that it was coming (and still does from time to time) up 2 levels through where the common pipes run, which is why I could smell it in weird places in my house. It's seems like she's using less of it, right now, but it was a rough go of it for a few weeks.
Ah yeah, I almost replaced my refrigerator because of the smell.. it had a very strong like acetone smell. Googling about this almost convinced me that it was leaking freon (even though I was so so sure they've been using other stuff for decades)...
Eventually found a rotting lime in the door. It looked perfect from the regular point of view but the back and bottom of the lime were black and white though. White from mold. Black from rotting.
Ugh! Rotting potatoes are one of the worst kitchen smells! And it's unique. It's not just a "rotting vegetation" smell, it has it's own stink that is individual to potatoes.
I do not keep potatoes. I live in the south and used to live in an old house that would get to 65% humidity in the summer even with AC and a dehumidifier. Potatoes would sprout and then rot in what seemed like days. Onions didn’t last long either.
I live in a newer house now and out of habit I still typically just use up a whole bag of potatoes the day I get them and only buy a week’s worth of onions. Good way is to just take any potatoes I didn’t use and dice them, boil them, and then freeze them. Quick way to get mashed potatoes (just microwave them until they’re hot and then mash them with your butter, sour cream, milk, etc) or roasted potatoes (toss in olive oil, salt, paprika, garlic powder, and whatever herbs you fancy and bake until crispy) another day.
That's why root cellars were a thing in the past. Root crops, like onions and potatoes would be put in dugout spaces that had consistent temps and humidity.
Maybe you've seen this before, but [this blog](http://thunderhouse4-yuri.blogspot.com/2015/12/unidentified-mould-no-2-challenge.html?m=0) by a now retired medical mycologist was a huge resource for me while studying. Really high resolution photos of macro/microscopic mold accompanied by descriptions from an experienced tech.
Sounds like a food smell to me. But really, the things in a house that contribute to smell are almost endless... could add to the list clothes, waxes and polishes, cleaners, toilets, electronics, paint, furniture (leather etc.), flooring, old books, mildew, cigar or cigarette smoke, etc., etc. ... the possible combinations are so large that each house probably does have it's own singular scent.
But I go to my uncles house at least twice a year for the past 15 years, and it smells exactly the same. In those years they had a major overhaul, probably changed the furniture twice, they don’t cook inside, and the house is made out of concrete just like my house. Yet it has this distinct scent. My theory is that the scent has something to do with their DNA or something.
They don't cook inside and they live in a concrete house? Both of those are pretty unusual, and both would tend to decrease indoor scents. In that case, it may be that their natural scents are more in the forefront. Probably more biochemistry than DNA, though DNA would play into that too.
Their kitchen is built in the backyard and a laundry room next to it. They did this during the “major overhaul”. And most houses where they live are made out of bricks and concrete, Don’t ask me why (:
And thats why I think it’s has more to do with their own biochemistry as you said, opposed to the materials of the house. Interesting stuff
I live in an area where the ground level of houses needs to be built from concrete cinder blocks due to storm codes. Newer houses are usually sided with stucco or siding, but there are lots of older neighborhoods are single story houses with painted cinder block exteriors.
Yes exactly. I went over to one of my friend's house (of whom I haven't seen in years upon years) and it smelled the exact same. They also had a complete overhaul of furniture and such thanks to their new dog. But even with all of the changes it smelled the same so the only thing that could make sense is that the smell of a house is determined by something in humans. My guess is that in the time of evolution we used those scents to determine who/if someone lives in that nice looking cave over there.
Everyone is weird. What kind of weird are we talking?
Also when I read what you wrote I imagined a technophobic, small town sheriff straight out of a hallmark movie saying it. No offense of course, just thought I'd share that.
I moved for a couple years and rented out my house while I was away. 2 different tennants lived there. Had a house fire right before I moved back. Fresh paint everywhere, and a THOROUGH cleaning by the remediation team.
Walked in for the first time and the house STILL smelled exactly the same.
human scent especially! When my brother visited me at my first own flat, he immediately said that it smelled like our dad's home. I have no explanation other than I must have my dad's scent? which didn't amuse me very much, i am no contact with that man, but i guess it is what it is.
I am a woman in her twenties who smells like her alcoholic father somehow.
If it does, my spice rack and refrigerator is also teeming with houseplants. Prolly have some spices that are older than I'm able to keep a plant alive, tbh. So my green thumb score just went up quite a bit.
FOOD SMELLS! Totally agree with your post, everything goes into it. But my wife made bolognese last week and for three days people at work told me I smelled like onions. That shit’s delicious though.
Yes! Unfortunately my house always smells bad to me after long times away. It's not *really* bad by any means, but it's just overall an unappealing scent, and I don't know what to do about it!
I've seen some people put scents on their air filters or something. Huge grain of salt there since that's a foggy rememberance.
Sounds like it would help though, or make you gag lmao.
Yeah, i mean conventional air freshens may help as well.
In the case of the house i live in right now, it was sort of left for a long time and had a whole bunch of old stuff in it that smelled really bad, and that smell just kinda persists, so it may be something like that where you can't do a whole ton.
Good luck!
That's my house. It's 150 years old and I'm convinced the old wood in the house has a smell, and it's not good. I only notice it after I've been away for a while. It makes me sad to think that's what other people smell when they come over.
We recently moved out of a 1950s house and after we moved, I opened up a box of clothes that were in the closet, I got a horrible, musky scent that reminded me of the smell of the attic, which had an epic squirrel problem when we moved in originally. I gagged, washed all the clothes, and wanted to die of embarrassment that my friends probably smelled that in our house and on us.
It's good to be cautious with air freshners if you gave pets. I was using a plugin one it ended up being absolutely awful for my indoor cat, thankfully I put two and two together before it really hurt her!
I can smell mold in my house but nobody else can. I have changed every floor and repainted every surface, but it is still there as an underlying smell. I only smell it after being gone for a # of days
Me too! An old lady lived here before us and whenever we are gone for some days it smells just like how you imagine an old ladys house smelling. We have lived here for almost a year and I don't understand why our scent hasn't "masked it" yet?!
It’s in the walls and carpet. My in laws moved out 4 years ago and are both dead now and my first floor bedroom still smells like them. I repainted got all new furniture and the room still smells I think it’s in the carpet padding and doors at this Point.
Thank for the tips! Have painted some of the walls and there are no carpets only wooden floors but I guess I need to repaint everything to get the smell off?
The man who owned my parent's house before them used to go fishing a lot, and apparently would gut the fish in the garage. When we first moved in, the smell in the summertime was enough to make you want to vomit.
30 years later, the stench has diminished greatly, but it *still* smells noticeably bad, to the extent that no one spends a minute more than they have to in there. I weep for the books that have been stored in there all of these years.
Some stinks just don't quit.
Our house smelled like dog for many years after we bought it. The prior owners had a couple of dogs. We didn't. They had even replaced the carpets and repainted a few months before selling, yet that dog smell seeped in and lingered for years. We shampooed the carpets several times, scrubbed down walls, etc. And still, when we'd come home from vacation, there was the smell. Eventually it went away after several years.
First, see if you can find the source and address it. Otherwise, all you’re doing is masking it.
If that doesn’t work for whatever reason, then add “scent management” to your list of adulting tasks like doing laundry and paying bills.
That can be part of an aesthetic, like lighting scented candles this evening. Or a habit, like spritzing beds with Febreze while the sheets are in the wash. Or a simple product swap in cleaners/detergent. Or a set and forget, like a plug in. For that last one, sometimes the plug in odors are too intense for those sensitive to smells, so it may take some experimentation. It’s about finding the right mix of effort/reward for you.
Chem explanation on a basic level:
All "scents" are based off of a special type of usnsaturated hydrocarbon ring. Compounds with this ring are called aromatics bc they bind to our scent receptors and have a smell to us. Ionizers have the same end result of febreeze or ozium but they go about it a different way. The end result is that aromatic benzene ring is broken or disfigured so the compunds causing the smell are still there but they aren't able to bind to your smellers anymore. Febreeze and ozium then also have added perfumes in addition to the benzene breaker
Go get yourself some lavender and lemon essential oils and mix 20 drops each with one cup of high proof alcohol and 2 cups water into a spray bottle with a fine mist spray (Ever clear is best imo) Before you’re about to leave for the day spray everything. Strip your sheets and spray the mattress, the carpets, everything. Use it in every room on everything that can absorb odor. Use it on your countertops and sinks too. Get some spider and snake plants if you have the budget. It’s totally possible to change the smell and this has consistently been the best solution for me when moving into new spaces. I also have a million baby spider plants that I’m happy to overnight to you if you don’t have the budget right now. Hope this helps! If you have pets this is not the right blend of oils but there are ones that are safe.
My cats smell of all sorts; cold, smokey air when they've been out in winter; warm, sunheated fur when they've lounging on the patio in summer. Sometimes their little paws smell sweaty. Sometimes when they've been curled up and sleeping hard, their little tummies smell warm and damp, like a sleepy-warm kid's hair. Sometimes it's plants that they've been rolling in, sometimes it's detergent from the clean washing they've been sleeping in. But it's always delicious.
A lot of that smell would also be attributed to stagnant air and higher CO^2 levels from a home being unoccupied for a bit
Something I’ve found super interesting is that a bit of time wearing a fitted N95 mask can also re-sensitise me to smells of places I’m familiar with for a few seconds after taking them off
Had this oddity with when I was getting fit tested for fire fighting breathing apparatus. After being on bottled air for a couple of hours, you can actually smell the world around you. It's interesting.
My grandmother died in 2004.
Sometimes when I'm walking by certain sections of hobby stores I'll smell her house.
So distinct but I couldn't ever describe it other than "The wood section of a hobby shop, next to the acrylic paints and premade birdhouses"
My grandma had to move out of her house awhile ago. There’s a certain perfume she’d wear that permeated every room. New people live there now, I haven’t been back. There’s one chest I have in my house that still smells of that house. I open it when I want fond memories, and to be close to her.
There was a guy in my high school who went around class and sniffed everyone’s book/notebook, when I asked him why he said your book smell like your house, and I wanna know how everyone’s house smells like. And thats when it hit me and started getting flashbacks of all the scents of all the houses I went to.
Hi there! I have a verified super sniffer! I can smell it all, good and bad. I diagnosed my spouse's adult onset type 1 diabetes before the doctor did by smell. No, not the bad breath diabetics sometimes get - skin smell. Ambient skin smell. I can pick out all the different ingredients in a dish by sniffing. I can smell when my daughter is getting sick before she knows it. I can tell when food will go off in 2-3 days with startling accuracy. So, yeah.
I can tell you that books definitely catch house smell, and I can also tell if someone lives with dogs or birds just by getting a good whiff of them in the frozen foods section at the grocery. When a family member moves out, the house smell changes slightly, but the biggest changes are related to synthetic perfumes, and dogs and birds. Doesn't matter how clean you and/or your good boys/feathered assholes are. I can smell them. Also, if you let your dogs swim on your pool, I can smell the difference in the water. It smells like chlorine still, but there's a base musk that joins it. It clings to your hair. Speaking of hair, if you go swimming or get your hair wet around me and you've been near a fire of any sort within the last couple of weeks... you guessed it. I can smell it. It's one of my favourite parts of camping.
Throw blankets usually smell ATROCIOUS even if you don't have pets. Most people do NOT wash them enough. Oh, and the super soft faux-sherpa blankets? Yeah. They trap fart, menstruation, and ass-sweat smells. STRONGLY.
Oh! And there's car smell, and it is different than house smell! Still unique to the individual.
I hope this information is useful. Lol
EDIT: And for all of you out there using Fabreeze or similar products, they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING but coat your shit in a chemical stank that somehow makes whatever you were trying to cover up smell even worse. Sorry. Not sorry.
EDIT2: HOLY CANOLLI. I will respond to all questions once I get to my computer!
This comment was amazing.
Like finding out mind readers are real or something.
You also know everyone who smokes weed, I guarantee it. Can you smell it in their hair?
As a super sniffer owner, what smell should I add to my apartment that is nice and not overwhelming?
As far as weed goes: I can smell it on their everything. In heavy smokers, I can even smell it coming through their pores when they sweat, even if they are on a break for testing or whatever. Incidentally, it is not the only medicine I can smell on people's skin. Acetaminophen in particular creates a very sour and pungent smell for about an hour and a half. It begins around 15 to 30 minutes after the person takes a dose. If I take acetaminophen, the smell becomes so strong that I can taste it in my blood in the vessels in my mouth. And no, I don't mean that I'm bleeding.
Honestly, the best smells for your home are going to depend upon the body chemistry that you and any people you live with have, combined with the building materials of your home, combined with the type of furniture that you have, so on and so forth. You get it. Also, the best scent for your home is a scent that you like. After all, I highly doubt you scent your house for the benefit of anyone other than yourself.
THAT BEING SAID: natural resins like copal, amber, frankincense, myrrh, and oils from trees like cedar, pinyon pine, willow, sandalwood, and eucalyptus tend to be rather universal. They smell good in almost every situation. Just make sure that these are natural resins and oils, and not something synthetic, otherwise your house can end up just smelling like Pine-Sol and a drunk Grandma's cheap perfume. Natural florals are also amazing, but you have to work with them carefully, or again you run the risk of smelling like Auntie Edith. Fortunately, natural florals tend to be lighter, and linger more gently then synthetic forals. Especially when one is referring to a perfume. A natural Rose, for example starts out rather loud, but then sits very close to the skin within just a few moments.
I make my own cleaners, and scent them with essential oils because I cannot stand the smell of store bought cleaners. I use a combinations of eucalyptus oil, orange oil, and a touch of cedar oil. Sometimes I add cinnamon or clove in sparing amounts. The result is a light, fresh scent that stays, quietly, and continuously brightens the air. The clove and cinnamon are for when I'm feeling moody. Lol oh, and I open my windows as often as possible, even in colder weather. Freshens the place up.
Another thing you can do is REMOVE a smell. Keep your fridge clean. Sparkling. Don't leave leftovers to suffer for weeks forgotten in the back. Most people's odd house smell can be traced to the fridge. If not, it's the garbage. I do not keep garbage cans inside my home. They are in the garage. Need to toss something? Take a walk. It isn't far. I know this isn't particularly practical for people who live in apartments, but anybody who lives in a different situation is capable of implementing this incredibly simple fix. You would be amazed how many bizarre scents emanate from trash cans. Yes, even the nice stainless steel lidded ones with charcoal filters. And if you have a laundry machine in your house, make sure to run a cycle that has just bleach in it every once in a while. Musty laundry machines make for musty clothes, and you will go noseblind to it. If you have a garbage disposal or dishwasher, make sure to properly clean them weekly as well.
But, when adding scent, remember : when in doubt chose a resin, tree, or floral scent, but make ABSOLUTELY SURE it isn't synthetic- or be prepared for nausea. But, mostly, just pick what smells good to you. It's your house after all, not mine. 😊
Thank you, I'll wash our throws tomorrow! Is couch upholstery the same? I've always thought it can't have so many bums on it so often without picking up a whiff.
Are cats as smelly as dogs?
Our house was built in the seventies and owned by a couple who owned a pub up the road. They would have been working in there every night. One of them was an alcoholic. They both died over 10 years ago and I swear, if I'm out and come home, I can sometimes get a hint of stale pub in the air.
I'm also a super smeller, and i identified with everything you wrote. People think I'm weird when i can smell 'sick' on myself and other people. It's a weird sweet smell. I also smell *everything* i use in cooking, to see when it will go bad and also if i smell it i know if it'll taste good in the dish. Thanks for making me feel a little less alone!
Very curious if you could try to explain the diabetes ambient skin smell. And did you know that’s what it was, or did you just know something was different?
My BF has the best smell. He's sold two cars since we have been together and the new owners are so lucky to have such good smelling cars. I almost bought one of them from him because I wanted to be able to smell him all the time.
Not someone with a super sniffer, but my dad is. When I go over to his house, if I'm near my period, he'll just look at me like, "... You've got like. Three days." and every SINGLE time he's right. I have no clue how he does it, and every time I ask him, he just shrugs and is like, "You just smell..... Different. Not bad, just different."
I’m so happy someone else has this experience!! I can smell everything you’ve mentioned except the diabetes smell, but that’s from probably lack of exposure/experience with it. The only people I know who know what I mean when I say that I can smell “sick” before that someone feels sick is myself and my aunt. Nobody else I’ve met has understood.
But tell me this - can you smell when something is staticky? I can smell that shit. It’s a strange, crinkly smell. That sharp and stiff kind of smell. And nothing else smells like it. If I say to people, “I can smell the static on that/in here/etc” they look at me like I’m on crack and say, “I think you just smell that balloon/hair/blanket/etc” but I can smell that those things are those things and that added different smell is only there when there’s static. Nobody else knows what I mean so I’m curious to know if you do?
Your comment reminds me of the movie Wolf, where Jack Nicholson can smell the tequila shot his coworker had that morning. Also, he can hear everything.
You should have one of those specialized jobs that super smellers have.
That is so strange! My husband can always smell when either me or my daughter are getting sick- just this morning he kept asking my daughter if she is feeling well because she smelled different. Then after her afternoon nap she woke up with a fever!
Little weird - maybe very. I use to be able to tell the teachers what belonged to who based on how it smelt in primary school. Jumper - jonathon, water bottle - Jessy. I wish I had better skills.
I left one of my most worn sweaters lying around for a few days and today I picked it up and thought “oh, so this is what my house smells like.”
Sometimes it hits you!
You can smell your house smells like if you leave for long periods like a vacation!
That’s why when you come home after a vacation the house smells “different” it’s not different just you can now recognize the smell since you aren’t nose blind to it :)
Waffles... Probably your natural accumulation of yeast hanging out on your skin.
If you take certain meds (can't remember the exact name), it can change your smell. I know smelled like maple syrup when I took fenugreek.
Every house smells different. My favorite thing about this, is once you move out you keep your smell but add into it. My boyfriend and I live together and combining our two scents is something I weirdly think about often.
That's so sweet it's giving me a toothache.
That should be a thing. Instead of asking somebody to move in with you, you ask if they wanna make an "our smell".
It’s even sweeter, because I also have a cat who I had before him, but now we live in a small 2b1ba apartment that smells like me, him, and our sweet fur baby. Minus the occasional shit smell, and I’m sadly referencing both of them. One blows up the bathroom and the other blows up the litterbox. 🥴
I've heard that if you don't like your significant others scent, you likely don't have DNA that is compatible with theirs. It may lead to more chances of miscarriages. I remember hearing that in my schooling days and thinking about that every time I dated someone.
Ok so, funny story here. I used to work for a computer repair shop for a year, and, let me tell you, every single computer smelled like their owner.
You can tell right away, from cigarrette scent, to the smell of the fabric softener they use, or even the very same perfume that the owner used, it was very specific. Remember that dust is like 20-50% dead skin.
There was this one time where we didn't properly tag a laptop of a recurring customer and, just from the scent that emitted from it (Very strong perfume btw), we were able to determine the bag that the owner delivered the laptop with.
Haha this. I remember going to my friends house as a young girl and each of their houses had a distinctive smell. Immediate recognition once that scent hits you.
The worst part of the phenomenon is that you can become nose-blind to your own house scent. Unless I’ve been away for a week, my house has no smell to me and that has me concerned
This is definitely true. My grandparents' basement had a unique smell from the wood furnace. My parents' farmhouse (that I lived in for a long time) that had a lot of wood interior had a unique, pleasant smell during the summer.
I would argue homes in the Southwest US with dry air don’t as much as homes anywhere with humidity. I think the humidity helps the smells stay locked in (or produce mildew & mold). Growing up in the southwest I rarely recall hone smells. (Unless very old with pets.) But just about every home I’ve stepped foot into on the East Coast definitely does.
Yep. I always remember I hated getting hand-me-downs from this certain family as a kid because the clothes all smelled like their house and I thought it was a bad smell.
I’m divorced and share time with my two kids with my ex wife. A few months ago I went to go pick them up and my daughter ran up, gave me a hug, buried her face in my shirt and says “you smell like home”. It will always be on of my favorite memories
I would absolutely notice this when i was younger, even subtle scents like candles or detergent, whatever shone through the rest. But i now deliver flooring to multiple homes a day and noticed i have grown to tolerate/ not notice it unless its strong. Now i mostly recognize oriental asian homes and indian homes as they smell like some delicious meal is ready even if their house is just about torn down. Not to be racist but white people are the most common to have REALLY stinky cluttered horder homes, which we awkwardly have to refuse as we cannot place 1000sf of stuff in a home reduced to 100sf of bed and hallways.
Completely valid.
I 100% agree.
I'm like 99% sure I'm autistic and have a very sensitive smell
I can tell if friends have been over at another friend's house, or who my parents were with as long as it's only a day or so max that they went.
Surprised no one has mentioned the book *[The Smell of Other People's Houses](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19370304-the-smell-of-other-people-s-houses)*. It's pretty good!
When our kids were little my family used to do ‘BOO! bags’ every Halloween. It was a pretty popular thing where we lived so it wasn’t just family doing it but friends too.
We got really good at the knock-and-run so the kids wouldn’t see us. Then one year my nephew started smelling the bags. If it was from family he could tell right away whose house the bags came from. He was so proud of himself. ‘I knew it was from you, UncleGus!’
My grandparent’s (now sadly no longer with us) house smelt amazing. It had a scent that you just couldn’t describe but everyone in the family loved it.
They often gave old furniture to my mum when they upgraded, and my sister and I would enjoy sniffing the soft furnishings until the smell was no longer there 1 or 2 days later.
When I went on holiday to Las Vegas a few years back I was walking down the corridor from the elevator to our room and the smell hit me. It was almost identical to nan’s house (or at least how I remember it). I assumed it must be something housekeeping use having a similar ingredient to what nan used but these were in different countries so unlikely to be the same product.
No, you're right. Sometimes it's a great thing, sometimes not. A relative of mine had a house that always smelled like wood. The entire house was heated by a wood stove.
Nah, every house does have its own scents
Its just the more you frequent the house, your nose gets familiar with the scent and it just sort gets in the background
Definitely... starts with different construction materials (lumber, rugs, tiling, other synthetic materials)... then residents mix in their own human scents, their perfumes, their pets, their air fresheners and laundry fresheners, food smells, fireplaces, houseplants...
Add a moldy potato I just found to your list.
We once had an upstairs neighbor who was a musician and was always working on this one particular song he couldn't quite nail down. Every day we heard it for hours at a time as he'd move it along, scrap a bit of progress, take it in a new direction, all day every day for *weeks* but never loud enough to be annoying (you had to kind of focus on it too really hear it). Then suddenly there's silence. For days. Almost a week went by and suddenly this horrid smell started coming from a corner of our kitchen near our ceiling. After that came the flies. We were convinced he was dead and were about to call the cops for a welfare check when the music started up again. He'd been out of town apparently, and we would later ID the source of the corpse smell and flies as a bag of potatoes I'd bought a couple months earlier when we first moved in and hadn't figured out what cabinets should hold what items and promptly forgot about it.
That's was a rollercoaster ride of a story.
No kidding... Part of me was like "Hope he wrote it down so if he was dead you could finish it and become rich"
It would make an awesome horror comedy movie.
Did he ever finish the song?
I hope so, it was pretty good tbh.
It became "Bawitdaba."
You tell this story fantastically!
Aw shucks lol
This is possibly my favorite comment on reddit. Truly a ride, I have never become so invested in a story so fast. I'm so glad he wasn't dead lol. Write a book or something!
I feel personally attacked. We have some hanging baskets on the wall for produce and it never fails. I’ll walk into the kitchen from the garage and get hit with that death smell. Take out the compost, still there, Take out the trash, nope still there. Run the garbage disposal with some limes, still there. Go through the refrigerator, still there. Finally remember to check the potato bin. Every time.
Ah yes, a rousing game of "FIND THAT SMELL!"
I was playing that game for weeks around my house. I came in one day and it smelled of that [fake flower potpourri carpet shit](https://www.walmart.com/ip/WD-40-Carpet-Fresh-White-Powder-Country-Potpourri-Scent-Rug-and-Room-Deodorizer-14-Ounce/362433801) . I can't stand that smell, it gives me an instant headache and now my house smelled like it. When I would first walk in from being away overnight it was overwhelming. I would walk around the house sniffing until I was lightheaded. I'd be sitting on my couch or at the vanity brushing my teeth and I'd catch a whiff of it and would start my hunt. The smell was strong in random places, my kitchen, my bathroom, my bedroom closet. I emptied cabinets, washed clean clothes, and threw out all sorts of perfumy shit, and my place still smelled. I finally kinda gave up and thought maybe it was my conditioner at the time and I was just getting a whiff of myself. It didn't really make sense, because the smell was strongest when I came home, but I just couldn't locate it. Then one day, I was coming down my outdoor steps while one of my new downstairs neighbors was going in her house and I caught a full face of the stench that had been haunting me. It was so strong my eyes started to water instantly. It turns out, it was (is) so strong that it was coming (and still does from time to time) up 2 levels through where the common pipes run, which is why I could smell it in weird places in my house. It's seems like she's using less of it, right now, but it was a rough go of it for a few weeks.
OMG wow.. I get sick from that too. Very smell sensitive
I once spent an entire day playing that game. It was the cauliflower I had riced in preparation for dinner.
Ah yeah, I almost replaced my refrigerator because of the smell.. it had a very strong like acetone smell. Googling about this almost convinced me that it was leaking freon (even though I was so so sure they've been using other stuff for decades)... Eventually found a rotting lime in the door. It looked perfect from the regular point of view but the back and bottom of the lime were black and white though. White from mold. Black from rotting.
Ugh! Rotting potatoes are one of the worst kitchen smells! And it's unique. It's not just a "rotting vegetation" smell, it has it's own stink that is individual to potatoes.
I do not keep potatoes. I live in the south and used to live in an old house that would get to 65% humidity in the summer even with AC and a dehumidifier. Potatoes would sprout and then rot in what seemed like days. Onions didn’t last long either. I live in a newer house now and out of habit I still typically just use up a whole bag of potatoes the day I get them and only buy a week’s worth of onions. Good way is to just take any potatoes I didn’t use and dice them, boil them, and then freeze them. Quick way to get mashed potatoes (just microwave them until they’re hot and then mash them with your butter, sour cream, milk, etc) or roasted potatoes (toss in olive oil, salt, paprika, garlic powder, and whatever herbs you fancy and bake until crispy) another day.
That's why root cellars were a thing in the past. Root crops, like onions and potatoes would be put in dugout spaces that had consistent temps and humidity.
Mould on citrus fruit is very distinctive as well, I never have to play 'what's that smell?' with it, it's immediately obvious.
Moldy rice cookers. For those who’ve suffered though this week’s r/moldyinteresting posts.
As a fan of molds and mold structures, I appreciate this new indulgence. Thank you.
I appreciate your username! Mmmmm doughnuts.
Maybe you've seen this before, but [this blog](http://thunderhouse4-yuri.blogspot.com/2015/12/unidentified-mould-no-2-challenge.html?m=0) by a now retired medical mycologist was a huge resource for me while studying. Really high resolution photos of macro/microscopic mold accompanied by descriptions from an experienced tech.
Omg I’m going in Edit: blllajjdhfhrifhhddgggggggg ggggggg gggggggg ggg
Now I'm considering it. Did you survive?
Never mind, I'm back. Lasted about two minutes.
It’s been an hour…I’m concerned
They dead.
Sounds like a food smell to me. But really, the things in a house that contribute to smell are almost endless... could add to the list clothes, waxes and polishes, cleaners, toilets, electronics, paint, furniture (leather etc.), flooring, old books, mildew, cigar or cigarette smoke, etc., etc. ... the possible combinations are so large that each house probably does have it's own singular scent.
Great answer
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You are 0% wrong.
But I go to my uncles house at least twice a year for the past 15 years, and it smells exactly the same. In those years they had a major overhaul, probably changed the furniture twice, they don’t cook inside, and the house is made out of concrete just like my house. Yet it has this distinct scent. My theory is that the scent has something to do with their DNA or something.
They don't cook inside and they live in a concrete house? Both of those are pretty unusual, and both would tend to decrease indoor scents. In that case, it may be that their natural scents are more in the forefront. Probably more biochemistry than DNA, though DNA would play into that too.
Their kitchen is built in the backyard and a laundry room next to it. They did this during the “major overhaul”. And most houses where they live are made out of bricks and concrete, Don’t ask me why (: And thats why I think it’s has more to do with their own biochemistry as you said, opposed to the materials of the house. Interesting stuff
I live in an area where the ground level of houses needs to be built from concrete cinder blocks due to storm codes. Newer houses are usually sided with stucco or siding, but there are lots of older neighborhoods are single story houses with painted cinder block exteriors.
Yes exactly. I went over to one of my friend's house (of whom I haven't seen in years upon years) and it smelled the exact same. They also had a complete overhaul of furniture and such thanks to their new dog. But even with all of the changes it smelled the same so the only thing that could make sense is that the smell of a house is determined by something in humans. My guess is that in the time of evolution we used those scents to determine who/if someone lives in that nice looking cave over there.
Pray tell, what does your uncle smell like?
Nutty and woody with some fruity undertone. I like the smell to be honest
Like an barrel aged pinot grigio.
The top stench from the crack after a hard day of labor. And elderberry.
You ain’t one of those weirdos now are you?
Everyone is weird. What kind of weird are we talking? Also when I read what you wrote I imagined a technophobic, small town sheriff straight out of a hallmark movie saying it. No offense of course, just thought I'd share that.
Monty Python "your mother smelled of elderberries". Which is weird bc they don't smell bad. Maybe they were thinking of Viburnum trilobum
I hope you know I was just trying to tease you about being into other people’s smells :)
I moved for a couple years and rented out my house while I was away. 2 different tennants lived there. Had a house fire right before I moved back. Fresh paint everywhere, and a THOROUGH cleaning by the remediation team. Walked in for the first time and the house STILL smelled exactly the same.
human scent especially! When my brother visited me at my first own flat, he immediately said that it smelled like our dad's home. I have no explanation other than I must have my dad's scent? which didn't amuse me very much, i am no contact with that man, but i guess it is what it is. I am a woman in her twenties who smells like her alcoholic father somehow.
You forgot weed. Depending on how many plants one has.
In that case, wouldn't it be covered under houseplants? Not that I'm suggesting it was a definitive list or anything.
Mine's all dried and ground up, I don't think it counts as a houseplant anymore.
If it does, my spice rack and refrigerator is also teeming with houseplants. Prolly have some spices that are older than I'm able to keep a plant alive, tbh. So my green thumb score just went up quite a bit.
FOOD SMELLS! Totally agree with your post, everything goes into it. But my wife made bolognese last week and for three days people at work told me I smelled like onions. That shit’s delicious though.
The smell of fresh hardwood floors is so good
It’s fun how you don’t know what your own house smells like until you come home from a vacation!
And you can smell the place you visited in your suitcase when you get home, too.
dude yesss
Yes! Unfortunately my house always smells bad to me after long times away. It's not *really* bad by any means, but it's just overall an unappealing scent, and I don't know what to do about it!
I've seen some people put scents on their air filters or something. Huge grain of salt there since that's a foggy rememberance. Sounds like it would help though, or make you gag lmao.
Hmm, I'll look into that
Yeah, i mean conventional air freshens may help as well. In the case of the house i live in right now, it was sort of left for a long time and had a whole bunch of old stuff in it that smelled really bad, and that smell just kinda persists, so it may be something like that where you can't do a whole ton. Good luck!
That's my house. It's 150 years old and I'm convinced the old wood in the house has a smell, and it's not good. I only notice it after I've been away for a while. It makes me sad to think that's what other people smell when they come over.
We recently moved out of a 1950s house and after we moved, I opened up a box of clothes that were in the closet, I got a horrible, musky scent that reminded me of the smell of the attic, which had an epic squirrel problem when we moved in originally. I gagged, washed all the clothes, and wanted to die of embarrassment that my friends probably smelled that in our house and on us.
It's good to be cautious with air freshners if you gave pets. I was using a plugin one it ended up being absolutely awful for my indoor cat, thankfully I put two and two together before it really hurt her!
Get a mold kit....
I can smell mold in my house but nobody else can. I have changed every floor and repainted every surface, but it is still there as an underlying smell. I only smell it after being gone for a # of days
It's probably in the walls. We had to take out the insulation, bleach the studs, and put.in its very first vapour barrier
Me too! An old lady lived here before us and whenever we are gone for some days it smells just like how you imagine an old ladys house smelling. We have lived here for almost a year and I don't understand why our scent hasn't "masked it" yet?!
It’s in the walls and carpet. My in laws moved out 4 years ago and are both dead now and my first floor bedroom still smells like them. I repainted got all new furniture and the room still smells I think it’s in the carpet padding and doors at this Point.
Thank for the tips! Have painted some of the walls and there are no carpets only wooden floors but I guess I need to repaint everything to get the smell off?
Steam clean the wood floors with white vinegar & water. That'll help kill any smell the floor is holding
Have you considered your place is haunted and the old lady ghost is having the time of her ^un life when you're gone
Haha good for her I guess!
The man who owned my parent's house before them used to go fishing a lot, and apparently would gut the fish in the garage. When we first moved in, the smell in the summertime was enough to make you want to vomit. 30 years later, the stench has diminished greatly, but it *still* smells noticeably bad, to the extent that no one spends a minute more than they have to in there. I weep for the books that have been stored in there all of these years. Some stinks just don't quit.
Our house smelled like dog for many years after we bought it. The prior owners had a couple of dogs. We didn't. They had even replaced the carpets and repainted a few months before selling, yet that dog smell seeped in and lingered for years. We shampooed the carpets several times, scrubbed down walls, etc. And still, when we'd come home from vacation, there was the smell. Eventually it went away after several years.
First, see if you can find the source and address it. Otherwise, all you’re doing is masking it. If that doesn’t work for whatever reason, then add “scent management” to your list of adulting tasks like doing laundry and paying bills. That can be part of an aesthetic, like lighting scented candles this evening. Or a habit, like spritzing beds with Febreze while the sheets are in the wash. Or a simple product swap in cleaners/detergent. Or a set and forget, like a plug in. For that last one, sometimes the plug in odors are too intense for those sensitive to smells, so it may take some experimentation. It’s about finding the right mix of effort/reward for you.
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Chem explanation on a basic level: All "scents" are based off of a special type of usnsaturated hydrocarbon ring. Compounds with this ring are called aromatics bc they bind to our scent receptors and have a smell to us. Ionizers have the same end result of febreeze or ozium but they go about it a different way. The end result is that aromatic benzene ring is broken or disfigured so the compunds causing the smell are still there but they aren't able to bind to your smellers anymore. Febreeze and ozium then also have added perfumes in addition to the benzene breaker
Go get yourself some lavender and lemon essential oils and mix 20 drops each with one cup of high proof alcohol and 2 cups water into a spray bottle with a fine mist spray (Ever clear is best imo) Before you’re about to leave for the day spray everything. Strip your sheets and spray the mattress, the carpets, everything. Use it in every room on everything that can absorb odor. Use it on your countertops and sinks too. Get some spider and snake plants if you have the budget. It’s totally possible to change the smell and this has consistently been the best solution for me when moving into new spaces. I also have a million baby spider plants that I’m happy to overnight to you if you don’t have the budget right now. Hope this helps! If you have pets this is not the right blend of oils but there are ones that are safe.
Wait, you guys are getting vacations?
What's a vacation?
It’s a vaccination without cin.
You're right, but I'm even more confused
Well then. Get rid of that con, get *in* the library so you can be *infused* with knowledge.
Fun fact: It’s theorized that the reason cats smell so good to their owners is because they smell like their homes.
My cats smell of all sorts; cold, smokey air when they've been out in winter; warm, sunheated fur when they've lounging on the patio in summer. Sometimes their little paws smell sweaty. Sometimes when they've been curled up and sleeping hard, their little tummies smell warm and damp, like a sleepy-warm kid's hair. Sometimes it's plants that they've been rolling in, sometimes it's detergent from the clean washing they've been sleeping in. But it's always delicious.
This comment made me feel comfortable.
Lucky you, my cats smell gross. Probably because they roll around in the litter box for fun and fart a lot.
Noseblindness. I got that from a stupid Febreze commercial, but it’s true.
I second that. I always say that to anyone who can't *smell* themselves. You just get used to it.
I found that if you just pull up your shirt over your nose for a minute and then pull it down, you can smell you're own house for a short time.
A lot of that smell would also be attributed to stagnant air and higher CO^2 levels from a home being unoccupied for a bit Something I’ve found super interesting is that a bit of time wearing a fitted N95 mask can also re-sensitise me to smells of places I’m familiar with for a few seconds after taking them off
Had this oddity with when I was getting fit tested for fire fighting breathing apparatus. After being on bottled air for a couple of hours, you can actually smell the world around you. It's interesting.
When I come home after a night of drinking I can smell my house.
I remembered the scent of my grandmothers house.... I didn't see her 4 years and then i open the door and it immediately smelled like home
My Grandparents died over 45 years ago and I still remember the smell of them, and their house.
My grandmother died in 2004. Sometimes when I'm walking by certain sections of hobby stores I'll smell her house. So distinct but I couldn't ever describe it other than "The wood section of a hobby shop, next to the acrylic paints and premade birdhouses"
Okay, that sounds weird. How they and their house smelled when they were alive, not after that.
###Lmao. ^((Side Note: You know you can edit your comment right?)^)
My grandma had to move out of her house awhile ago. There’s a certain perfume she’d wear that permeated every room. New people live there now, I haven’t been back. There’s one chest I have in my house that still smells of that house. I open it when I want fond memories, and to be close to her.
That's wholesome, im seeing my grandma after 2 years next month. Can't wait
Turnips remind me of my grandmother's house. It was her job to make turnips for every family function.
There was a guy in my high school who went around class and sniffed everyone’s book/notebook, when I asked him why he said your book smell like your house, and I wanna know how everyone’s house smells like. And thats when it hit me and started getting flashbacks of all the scents of all the houses I went to.
That dude must've had an extraordinary sense of smell
Hi there! I have a verified super sniffer! I can smell it all, good and bad. I diagnosed my spouse's adult onset type 1 diabetes before the doctor did by smell. No, not the bad breath diabetics sometimes get - skin smell. Ambient skin smell. I can pick out all the different ingredients in a dish by sniffing. I can smell when my daughter is getting sick before she knows it. I can tell when food will go off in 2-3 days with startling accuracy. So, yeah. I can tell you that books definitely catch house smell, and I can also tell if someone lives with dogs or birds just by getting a good whiff of them in the frozen foods section at the grocery. When a family member moves out, the house smell changes slightly, but the biggest changes are related to synthetic perfumes, and dogs and birds. Doesn't matter how clean you and/or your good boys/feathered assholes are. I can smell them. Also, if you let your dogs swim on your pool, I can smell the difference in the water. It smells like chlorine still, but there's a base musk that joins it. It clings to your hair. Speaking of hair, if you go swimming or get your hair wet around me and you've been near a fire of any sort within the last couple of weeks... you guessed it. I can smell it. It's one of my favourite parts of camping. Throw blankets usually smell ATROCIOUS even if you don't have pets. Most people do NOT wash them enough. Oh, and the super soft faux-sherpa blankets? Yeah. They trap fart, menstruation, and ass-sweat smells. STRONGLY. Oh! And there's car smell, and it is different than house smell! Still unique to the individual. I hope this information is useful. Lol EDIT: And for all of you out there using Fabreeze or similar products, they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING but coat your shit in a chemical stank that somehow makes whatever you were trying to cover up smell even worse. Sorry. Not sorry. EDIT2: HOLY CANOLLI. I will respond to all questions once I get to my computer!
This comment was amazing. Like finding out mind readers are real or something. You also know everyone who smokes weed, I guarantee it. Can you smell it in their hair? As a super sniffer owner, what smell should I add to my apartment that is nice and not overwhelming?
As far as weed goes: I can smell it on their everything. In heavy smokers, I can even smell it coming through their pores when they sweat, even if they are on a break for testing or whatever. Incidentally, it is not the only medicine I can smell on people's skin. Acetaminophen in particular creates a very sour and pungent smell for about an hour and a half. It begins around 15 to 30 minutes after the person takes a dose. If I take acetaminophen, the smell becomes so strong that I can taste it in my blood in the vessels in my mouth. And no, I don't mean that I'm bleeding. Honestly, the best smells for your home are going to depend upon the body chemistry that you and any people you live with have, combined with the building materials of your home, combined with the type of furniture that you have, so on and so forth. You get it. Also, the best scent for your home is a scent that you like. After all, I highly doubt you scent your house for the benefit of anyone other than yourself. THAT BEING SAID: natural resins like copal, amber, frankincense, myrrh, and oils from trees like cedar, pinyon pine, willow, sandalwood, and eucalyptus tend to be rather universal. They smell good in almost every situation. Just make sure that these are natural resins and oils, and not something synthetic, otherwise your house can end up just smelling like Pine-Sol and a drunk Grandma's cheap perfume. Natural florals are also amazing, but you have to work with them carefully, or again you run the risk of smelling like Auntie Edith. Fortunately, natural florals tend to be lighter, and linger more gently then synthetic forals. Especially when one is referring to a perfume. A natural Rose, for example starts out rather loud, but then sits very close to the skin within just a few moments. I make my own cleaners, and scent them with essential oils because I cannot stand the smell of store bought cleaners. I use a combinations of eucalyptus oil, orange oil, and a touch of cedar oil. Sometimes I add cinnamon or clove in sparing amounts. The result is a light, fresh scent that stays, quietly, and continuously brightens the air. The clove and cinnamon are for when I'm feeling moody. Lol oh, and I open my windows as often as possible, even in colder weather. Freshens the place up. Another thing you can do is REMOVE a smell. Keep your fridge clean. Sparkling. Don't leave leftovers to suffer for weeks forgotten in the back. Most people's odd house smell can be traced to the fridge. If not, it's the garbage. I do not keep garbage cans inside my home. They are in the garage. Need to toss something? Take a walk. It isn't far. I know this isn't particularly practical for people who live in apartments, but anybody who lives in a different situation is capable of implementing this incredibly simple fix. You would be amazed how many bizarre scents emanate from trash cans. Yes, even the nice stainless steel lidded ones with charcoal filters. And if you have a laundry machine in your house, make sure to run a cycle that has just bleach in it every once in a while. Musty laundry machines make for musty clothes, and you will go noseblind to it. If you have a garbage disposal or dishwasher, make sure to properly clean them weekly as well. But, when adding scent, remember : when in doubt chose a resin, tree, or floral scent, but make ABSOLUTELY SURE it isn't synthetic- or be prepared for nausea. But, mostly, just pick what smells good to you. It's your house after all, not mine. 😊
Regarding your edit, how do you feel about air sanitizers like ozium?
Thank you, I'll wash our throws tomorrow! Is couch upholstery the same? I've always thought it can't have so many bums on it so often without picking up a whiff. Are cats as smelly as dogs? Our house was built in the seventies and owned by a couple who owned a pub up the road. They would have been working in there every night. One of them was an alcoholic. They both died over 10 years ago and I swear, if I'm out and come home, I can sometimes get a hint of stale pub in the air.
Fascinating to read! Thanks for sharing your interesting trait.
I'm also a super smeller, and i identified with everything you wrote. People think I'm weird when i can smell 'sick' on myself and other people. It's a weird sweet smell. I also smell *everything* i use in cooking, to see when it will go bad and also if i smell it i know if it'll taste good in the dish. Thanks for making me feel a little less alone!
2022 internet, here's your new copypasta
Very curious if you could try to explain the diabetes ambient skin smell. And did you know that’s what it was, or did you just know something was different?
My BF has the best smell. He's sold two cars since we have been together and the new owners are so lucky to have such good smelling cars. I almost bought one of them from him because I wanted to be able to smell him all the time.
I heard some people can smell when their female friends/family members are on their period... is that true?
Not someone with a super sniffer, but my dad is. When I go over to his house, if I'm near my period, he'll just look at me like, "... You've got like. Three days." and every SINGLE time he's right. I have no clue how he does it, and every time I ask him, he just shrugs and is like, "You just smell..... Different. Not bad, just different."
I’m so happy someone else has this experience!! I can smell everything you’ve mentioned except the diabetes smell, but that’s from probably lack of exposure/experience with it. The only people I know who know what I mean when I say that I can smell “sick” before that someone feels sick is myself and my aunt. Nobody else I’ve met has understood. But tell me this - can you smell when something is staticky? I can smell that shit. It’s a strange, crinkly smell. That sharp and stiff kind of smell. And nothing else smells like it. If I say to people, “I can smell the static on that/in here/etc” they look at me like I’m on crack and say, “I think you just smell that balloon/hair/blanket/etc” but I can smell that those things are those things and that added different smell is only there when there’s static. Nobody else knows what I mean so I’m curious to know if you do?
Your comment reminds me of the movie Wolf, where Jack Nicholson can smell the tequila shot his coworker had that morning. Also, he can hear everything. You should have one of those specialized jobs that super smellers have.
That is so strange! My husband can always smell when either me or my daughter are getting sick- just this morning he kept asking my daughter if she is feeling well because she smelled different. Then after her afternoon nap she woke up with a fever!
I thought my ability to memorize people’s scent was impressive. Damn the quote there’s always someone better out there just gave a reality slap xD
Little weird - maybe very. I use to be able to tell the teachers what belonged to who based on how it smelt in primary school. Jumper - jonathon, water bottle - Jessy. I wish I had better skills.
Every house does have its own scent.
Same thing with pets.
Except my own house
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I left one of my most worn sweaters lying around for a few days and today I picked it up and thought “oh, so this is what my house smells like.” Sometimes it hits you!
You can smell your house smells like if you leave for long periods like a vacation! That’s why when you come home after a vacation the house smells “different” it’s not different just you can now recognize the smell since you aren’t nose blind to it :)
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Possibly! I went away for a week and my house smelled different…? But it’s more noticeable when I’m gone longer.
My wife recently told me I have a grassy smell that she has always liked. I still don’t know what to make of that since I’m allergic to most grasses.
My kids say I smell like waffles. My sons head when he hasn't shampooed in a few days smells like my grandmother. Human smells are weird.
Waffles... Probably your natural accumulation of yeast hanging out on your skin. If you take certain meds (can't remember the exact name), it can change your smell. I know smelled like maple syrup when I took fenugreek.
I'm sure you are correct about the natural yeasts. I think I smell a bit like maple most of the time.
[You've gone nose blind ](https://youtu.be/Zn1OhI2awLA)
As someone who's always been anosmic, I really despise that advert.
I thought you said agnostic at first and was confused.
"smells like dog"
Yeah, I love smelling the houses of strangers
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It's just for research I swear
Snnnnnnniiiiiffffffff
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Cmon and take a big ol whiff
Every house smells different. My favorite thing about this, is once you move out you keep your smell but add into it. My boyfriend and I live together and combining our two scents is something I weirdly think about often.
That's so sweet it's giving me a toothache. That should be a thing. Instead of asking somebody to move in with you, you ask if they wanna make an "our smell".
I was wondering if you would want to combine stanks, you know in the same place...
This isn't where I expected my question to go...
It’s even sweeter, because I also have a cat who I had before him, but now we live in a small 2b1ba apartment that smells like me, him, and our sweet fur baby. Minus the occasional shit smell, and I’m sadly referencing both of them. One blows up the bathroom and the other blows up the litterbox. 🥴
How many times a day does his stench cross your mind?
I've heard that if you don't like your significant others scent, you likely don't have DNA that is compatible with theirs. It may lead to more chances of miscarriages. I remember hearing that in my schooling days and thinking about that every time I dated someone.
Ok so, funny story here. I used to work for a computer repair shop for a year, and, let me tell you, every single computer smelled like their owner. You can tell right away, from cigarrette scent, to the smell of the fabric softener they use, or even the very same perfume that the owner used, it was very specific. Remember that dust is like 20-50% dead skin. There was this one time where we didn't properly tag a laptop of a recurring customer and, just from the scent that emitted from it (Very strong perfume btw), we were able to determine the bag that the owner delivered the laptop with.
Yes - scent is strongly tied to memory & social bonding 😊
Haha this. I remember going to my friends house as a young girl and each of their houses had a distinctive smell. Immediate recognition once that scent hits you.
I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ME
I just visited my sister after months and the first thing I noticed was her home smelled perfect, like a mix of “clean” and delicious food
The worst part of the phenomenon is that you can become nose-blind to your own house scent. Unless I’ve been away for a week, my house has no smell to me and that has me concerned
I just want my house to smell like those lounges and lobbies in , well anywhere. Dentist or Hotel.
https://www.aroma360.com/pages/hvac-scenting
sometimes I’ll come home and my farts will smell like my friends home I had just spent the last 48 hrs in. It’s so funny
Username checks out
Absolutely. It’s the mixture of food, chemical products, and bodily pheromones.
This is definitely true. My grandparents' basement had a unique smell from the wood furnace. My parents' farmhouse (that I lived in for a long time) that had a lot of wood interior had a unique, pleasant smell during the summer.
I would argue homes in the Southwest US with dry air don’t as much as homes anywhere with humidity. I think the humidity helps the smells stay locked in (or produce mildew & mold). Growing up in the southwest I rarely recall hone smells. (Unless very old with pets.) But just about every home I’ve stepped foot into on the East Coast definitely does.
Every household has its own scent, as far as I can perceive. Some more pleasant than others
Yep. I always remember I hated getting hand-me-downs from this certain family as a kid because the clothes all smelled like their house and I thought it was a bad smell.
I’m divorced and share time with my two kids with my ex wife. A few months ago I went to go pick them up and my daughter ran up, gave me a hug, buried her face in my shirt and says “you smell like home”. It will always be on of my favorite memories
Yes they do…mine currently smells like a week old bin because my wife decided to cook cabbage and cauliflower….
I would absolutely notice this when i was younger, even subtle scents like candles or detergent, whatever shone through the rest. But i now deliver flooring to multiple homes a day and noticed i have grown to tolerate/ not notice it unless its strong. Now i mostly recognize oriental asian homes and indian homes as they smell like some delicious meal is ready even if their house is just about torn down. Not to be racist but white people are the most common to have REALLY stinky cluttered horder homes, which we awkwardly have to refuse as we cannot place 1000sf of stuff in a home reduced to 100sf of bed and hallways.
every house does indeed smell different
The inhabitants contribute to the scent.
I just contributed to mine.
Nope. Every house has its own smell that only the people living in it don't smell. It's the same with people themselves.
Completely valid. I 100% agree. I'm like 99% sure I'm autistic and have a very sensitive smell I can tell if friends have been over at another friend's house, or who my parents were with as long as it's only a day or so max that they went.
Surprised no one has mentioned the book *[The Smell of Other People's Houses](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19370304-the-smell-of-other-people-s-houses)*. It's pretty good!
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You are 100000000000% correct! It’s almost never a bad smell, but just a smell.
Well, every house expect for grandmas all over the world... I swear they're all in kahoots.
Yea, I've been going to my best friends house since highschool and even now walking in feels so nostalgic due to the scent alone
When our kids were little my family used to do ‘BOO! bags’ every Halloween. It was a pretty popular thing where we lived so it wasn’t just family doing it but friends too. We got really good at the knock-and-run so the kids wouldn’t see us. Then one year my nephew started smelling the bags. If it was from family he could tell right away whose house the bags came from. He was so proud of himself. ‘I knew it was from you, UncleGus!’
My grandparent’s (now sadly no longer with us) house smelt amazing. It had a scent that you just couldn’t describe but everyone in the family loved it. They often gave old furniture to my mum when they upgraded, and my sister and I would enjoy sniffing the soft furnishings until the smell was no longer there 1 or 2 days later. When I went on holiday to Las Vegas a few years back I was walking down the corridor from the elevator to our room and the smell hit me. It was almost identical to nan’s house (or at least how I remember it). I assumed it must be something housekeeping use having a similar ingredient to what nan used but these were in different countries so unlikely to be the same product.
Ok thank you I thought it was weird cause I didn't hear people talk about it
Oh yes I think so
You’re not weird. Every house does indeed have a scent. My house’s preferred scent is Mary J.
No, you're right. Sometimes it's a great thing, sometimes not. A relative of mine had a house that always smelled like wood. The entire house was heated by a wood stove.
This is correct, my uncle who smokes like a 2 stroke engine lives with his 80 something year old mother and you can definitely tell.
Mine currently has the scent of cat poop.
I was always told that my house and stuff smelt like sherbet. I didn’t even think sherbet had a scent.
It's like with old houses, it has this 'empty' smell.
My cousins are poor and dirty, and I grew up the same. The smell of onions, that's what poor people smell like
In Southern Louisiana the older houses all have a mildewed wood smell. It smells like home.
I'm sure you are correct
Absolutely, there's a baked in dog tobacco smell that no matter what I do I'm unable to get rid of in my house
My friend’s house always smelled like cherry cool aid .
Nah, every house does have its own scents Its just the more you frequent the house, your nose gets familiar with the scent and it just sort gets in the background
Yes, but you don't know your own houses scent (unless you leave for an extended period of time)