Reducing odors in your vehicle can be a challenge for nomads. Living in a small space creates concentrated smells (especially with multiple people or pets!), but fortunately most smells are fairly easy to reduce or eliminate. The easiest way to reduce most odors is more ventilation. It also helps to reduce condensation.
Toilet odors
If you have a bucket toilet, composting toilet, or similar, be sure that urine and solids are separated. This significantly reduces odors. Empty your tanks often.
If you have a portable toilet and are camping either at a campground or farther away, you can create a temporary outhouse by using a shower tent to move your toilet out of your vehicle while you camp.
Laundry odors
Store your (dry) laundry in a closed vinyl dry bag (used for keeping gear dry for water sports) or garbage bag, or do your laundry more often. Wash bedding more often. Fabric choices matter! Wool or cotton base layers will retain less odor than synthetic fabrics; see this post to learn more.
If you have a storage unit that you visit regularly, keep dirty laundry there until laundry day.
See the Laundry page for additional tips.
Human odors
Keeping clean while living in a vehicle can be challenging. If you don't have a shower in or on your vehicle, there are other tried-and-true methods for personal hygiene, or you can find other places to shower. Don't smoke or vape in your vehicle.
Body hair naturally collects oils, microbes, and smells; removing unnecessary hair can reduce smells. (Armpit and groin hair does provide lubrication for movement, so you may wish to leave some hair for comfort.) On your skin, the sebum, oils, and dead skin cells can also hold odors, so be sure to exfoliate when bathing to scrub away dead material. For exfoliation, you can use a paper towel with some salt and a little baking soda. (Baking soda can be very difficult to remove though if you don’t have lots of water!)
Hydrogen peroxide is an amazing deodorant/body wash. If it has removed lots of microbes, there might be a smell after you use it, so be sure to do a quick rinse with water. Hydrogen peroxide is effective against fungus and is very useful for women's health. Compared to cleaning with alcohol, it is better for your skin and will keep you smelling fresher longer.[1] Be careful using it around open cuts or wounds as it can damage tissues.Pet odors
Cat litter boxes require ventilation and frequent cleaning. Dogs living nomadically may require more frequent baths than those who spend most of their time indoors.
Cooking odors
Cooking in your vehicle releases water vapor and oil/grease particles. This oil will settle on nearby surfaces and any fabric or other porous surfaces will absorb the oil.[2] This includes the headliner fabric present in nearly all vehicles. Cook outside your vehicle whenever possible.
Surface odors
Are your vehicle floor or walls carpeted? Carpet (and similar fabrics) can hold smells. They may need deep cleaning or replacement.
Mattress ventilation
If you have any type of bed in your vehicle, mattress ventilation is very important to keep mold and mildew from forming. Ensure that the space under your bed is well ventilated. If that's not a possibility, you'll need turn over your mattress regularly so that its underside can dry out. An alternative solution is a plastic waterproof mattress cover, which may decrease comfort.Continue reading …Cleaning
The small space inside a vehicle gives less room for smells to dissipate. Be sure to sweep/vacuum regularly.
Covering smells
To some extent, you can cover or neutralize odors in your vehicle by adding better smells, such as incense, air freshener products, brewing coffee, etc.
“ Burn some Palo Santo, holy wood. It's extinguishes odor it's antibacterial anti fungal antiviral and the inhaling the smoke is an actual antidepressant as well. You can get it from crystal shops usually or metaphysical shops or healers.[3]”
Purchase charcoal odor absorbers and work to reduce humidity in your vehicle.
Planning your build
When planning your build, use non-porous, easy-to-clean surfaces near cooking areas. Have a good strategy for ventilation. Create a ventilated space for shoe storage.