Its not just vampires that don’t like garlic…..

“Dad I have to take some ingredients in for Food Technology. I tried to write the list down.”

So all the ingredients were carefully packed into the school bag. The last item. What does that say, big something.

“Think it’s a big garlic.”

Ok you can have a few cloves. Job done.

Fast forward to the end of the school day.

“Dad it wasn’t a big garlic it was a big turnip.”

No damage done and some laughs. Well that was until I went to empty the school bag.

Wow what a smell. A really strong garlic smell filling the room emanating from the bag. It was that bad I was tempted to call the Ghostbusters. Apparently when our son had discovered that the garlic was surplus to requirements he just throw it back into the school bag. Now everything stunk. The bag, the books, the pencil case, the calculator, the iPad.

One hour and one full bottle of Lemon Surface Cleaner later everything apart from the bag smelled ok. The fuming school bag would just have to be washed. Chucked into the washing machine – job done.

Contentedly I walked to make a drink. A thought crossed my mind. Houston we have a problem!!!! Some numpty forgot to empty the washing machine before the garlic bomb started it’s cycle.

60 minutes later. The bag still stinks. But progress – now the school clothes and my sports kit stink of garlic. So second washing attempt this time with triple the soap and half a bottle of fabric conditioner.

60 minutes later. The bag, clothes and now the washing machine stink of garlic.

Advice was sort from the internet. Third washing attempt but this time with added vinegar and three cut up lemons.

60 minutes later. Thankfully success. Strong garlic smell replaced with strong lemon smell. I’ll take that. Luckily after tumble drying the lemon smell is now almost pleasant. Unfortunately the school bag was obviously not tumble dryer proof. It now resembles a shrivelled prune.

A very tired Dad sits down with a well earned coffee.

“Dad you smell of garlic….”

I can now see why vampires don’t like garlic…..

81 thoughts on “It’s not just vampires that don’t like”

  1. Lol! We Indians use a lot of garlic in our cooking so we are well aware of the lemon trick to get that smell off our fingers. It’s tastes good but I don’t think much of the smell! 😷 🍋👌

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  11. This will make you feel better: my friend was about to call pest control after getting the smell of a dead rat under the floorboards. (If you have never smelled this then, trust me, you have dodged a bullet.) Then, curiously, she realised that the smell was not coming from the actual floorboards but rather an area above it, at head-height, and she couldn’t understand how this could be.

    It turned out that she had bought a whole roast chicken when shopping one day, put it in her backpack with her other shopping and somehow never taken it out. The backpack was hanging on a hook above the so-called ratty floorboards and that was what was causing the smell. She hadn’t missed the chicken from a meal, e.g. thinking, “Now I know I planned a meal for tonight but what was it?” She had even been shopping many times since, bought further items, put them in the backpack and not noticed that there was already a whole chicken in there. 🤣

    The chicken had rotted so badly that it had become one with the backpack, so both chicken AND backpack had to be wrapped in swathes of bin bags and disposed of. 🤢

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      3. Well, I get the forgetting of a chicken or any other food item from shopping. It’s the size of the backpack that wows me. It’s big enough to hide a chicken plus pile more groceries on top. Damn. Does it come with a back brace & hiking boots?

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  13. When, five years ago, we moved into our house which had been impregnated by the fumes of human and canine incontinence, my sister brought us a large container of clear vinegar which she said would remove the lingering pong. It did. I think we have now lost the aroma of vinegar

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  14. I use garlic in my stews and savoury dishes, plus take garlic capsules to help keep my blood pressure stable. I believe that parsley is good for counteracting the smell, though how much you would need for your little adventure is beyond me. It could also stain everything green of course. Glad the lemons worked though.

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  20. I was going to suggest lemon and/or vinegar in the wash & rinse. They are also really good at preserving clothing fibers & lemon juice whitens.

    I haven’t used fabric softener in over a decade. It is notorious for causing mold in front loaders and breaking down clothing fibers.

    Garlic oil is some strong stuff. My Vietnam vet talks about the Vietnamese consuming a lot of it…keeps mosquitoes away. Garlic sweat… 😓😅😷

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      1. My laundry routine is Ecos detergent:
        http://ecos.com/product-category/laundry

        For whites, I use non-chlorine, hydrogen peroxide based ‘bleach’, for lack of a better term (chlorine bleach will destroy clothing quicker than fabric softener and, burn your lungs). Whites get the lemon juice rinse.

        Dark & permanent press get the same detergent but, a white vinegar rinse.

        I don’t use dryer sheets. I use three wool balls. If you get static, they turned in the dryer too long or the heat was too high.

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  21. Oh. Man. Totally me. This would be totally me. And I would be sitting just so with a cup of something just to sit and accept whatever’s happened at this rate. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah parenting!

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