How to Minimize the Odor From Cigarettes in Your Home

Secondhand smoke is classified as a Group A carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Inhaling secondhand smoke for eight hours is the same as smoking one pack of cigarettes, according to Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Unless you prohibit smoking in your home, it will always contain some secondhand smoke. If prohibition is not possible, protect your family and others in the home by adopting several measures to at least minimize the smoke and its odor.

Kitty litter
Multipurpose cleaner
Vacuum
Duster
Carpet steam cleaner
Rags
Laundry detergent
Bowls
Vinegar
Air purifiers

Instructions

- 1
  Contain the smoking to one room in the house. Close the door, turn on an exhaust fan and open the windows in that room. Close the bedroom doors in the house as well. This helps prevent the smoke that drifts out of the smoker's room from going into the bedrooms.
- 2
  Require the smoker to put cigarettes out in an ashtray filled with kitty litter. Do not let cigarettes burn out on their own.
- 3
  Wash down the rest of your home to get rid of most of the smoke smell. Wash walls and molding with a multipurpose cleaner. Launder curtains, clothes, throw rugs and other linens. Beat pillows outdoors and wash if possible. Vacuum and dust thoroughly. Clean out cupboards and closets too. Steam clean carpets and upholstery, and wash floors with an appropriate floor cleaner.
- 4
  Fill bowls with vinegar and set them in the other areas of the home to absorb any remaining smoke or the smoke that creeps in from the smoking room.
- 5
  Use an air purifier that has a HEPA filter. If possible, put one in each room, especially in the bedrooms and family room.

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