The Unexpected Place You Can Use Fabric Softener In Your Kitchen

Garbage disposals are one of those modern kitchen conveniences that we feel lucky to have. Rather than cleaning out leftovers from the drain, you can flip a switch, and a machine will take care of it for you, grinding away the small pieces of food into even smaller ones. However, since it's dealing with stuck-on bits of old food, the disposal tends to smell now and then. But fabric softener can help with that.

While that might sound unexpected, fabric softener is a well-known workhorse of a product — it can even be used while mopping the floor or cleaning your walls too. And now you can grab it to help nix odors coming from your disposal. A funky drain is a relatively common occurrence, as it's caused by decaying food lingering on your appliance's blades or drain pipes, resulting in a garbage-y smell. Here's how fabric softener can help eliminate that, and here's how it works.

To banish the smell coming from your drain, you only need liquid fabric softener, a spoon, and several ice cubes. While the machine is off, throw a handful of ice cubes into the drain. Follow this with two tablespoons of fabric softener, and flip the switch. Let the machine grind the cubes and softener for one to two minutes before turning it back off. That should be it — the smell should have dissipated!

If it hasn't, you can repeat the process one or two more times to dislodge stubborn food particles stuck in the machine or plumbing. You might have a small food block somewhere, so more ice might be necessary to help push it down the system.

If you're worried about using a laundry staple in the kitchen, you don't have to be concerned. Fabric softener is specially formulated to blend well with water and is easily drained by plumbing, so pouring it down your kitchen pipes is safe. It won't cause any blockages or damage to your pipes.

Are you wondering how a laundry staple is deodorizing your kitchen pipes? The trick is combining the two ingredients together: ice and softener. The ice is necessary because it acts as a dislodging tool. When the blades grind the hard ice cubes, food is able to get ousted from difficult-to-reach spots in the machine, such as underneath the blades. As it gets pushed down the pipe, the ice can also help dislodge any scraps stuck on the pipe walls or trapped in a bend. For an extra power boost, you can even add coarse salt to the cubes, adding something abrasive to help remove smaller pieces.

However, for this hack to work, you also need to add a deodorizer alongside the ice cubes. That's where the fabric softener comes in. It will coat the components inside, masking the lingering smell until it dissipates on its own. Since the food particles are now dislodged, the odor shouldn't linger for too long, but the fabric softener ensures you can smell something fresh and clean until that happens.