Why Japanese Homes Never Smell Musty — 9 Habits My Mother Never Skipped

Tomorrow morning, open the closet on the outside wall of your house, put your face in among the coats, and breathe. That close, shut-up smell is not the age of your house, and it is not your cleaning. You bought the cedar blocks and the sprays and the plug-ins, and the smell came back every time, because a perfume only sits on top of it, my dear. In my mother's house in Japan, in a country with wet, heavy summers, I never once smelled it. It was not a product. It was nine small habits she never skipped, and every one of them costs nothing but a few minutes. WHAT THAT MUSTY SMELL IS: It is not dust. It is the breath of tiny molds and bacteria that wake up in anything soft that stays damp for more than a day or two, a coat, a towel, the back of a closet. It needs water that stays and air that does not move. Take those away, and it starves. THE NINE HABITS: 1. CHANGE THE AIR EVERY MORNING. Ten minutes, a window at the front and one at the back, every door inside open, the closets too. A house puts about two gallons of water a day into its air. A shut closet keeps last week's air. 2. DO NOT MAKE THE BED RIGHT AWAY. Throw the covers back for an hour. You lose close to a cup of water into your bed every night. Air the bedding in the sun once a week. 3. DRY THE BATHROOM AFTER THE LAST SHOWER. Cool rinse down the walls, squeegee, door open, fan running thirty minutes. NEVER leave the steam shut in all night. 4. NOTHING WET WAITS. Laundry out the minute it stops, washer door left open, towels hung open to full width. For towels that already smell: ½ cup oxygen bleach powder, half your usual detergent, NO fabric softener. 5. CLOSETS NEVER FULL. A flat hand between hangers, nothing touching the cold back wall. Once a season, wipe that wall with 70% rubbing alcohol on a folded cloth. 6. FURNITURE OFF THE OUTSIDE WALLS. A hand's width, four or five inches, behind the dresser, the sofa, and the headboard. 7. SHOES DRY BEFORE THEY GO AWAY. One night on the entry floor, newspaper in wet pairs, baking soda in a coffee filter or a bag of charcoal in each corner of the cupboard. 8. THE WEEKLY LOOK UNDER THE SINK. Empty it for one minute, touch the floor, keep a folded newspaper down there and change it every Sunday. A brown ring is your leak alarm. 9. OPEN THE WINDOWS BY THE AIR, NOT THE CALENDAR. Cold winter air is the driest air there is. On sticky summer days, keep them shut. A twelve-dollar hygrometer: keep the house between 40 and 60 percent. THE HONEST PART: These habits keep a dry house dry. They do not dry a house with water coming in, so if the smell stays after a month, find the leak. Mold smaller than a doormat on a hard surface you can clean yourself with gloves and an open window; bigger than about ten square feet, or on soft drywall, call a professional. NEVER mix bleach with vinegar or ammonia. On smoke, pollen, or heat-wave days, keep the windows shut and let the fans work. Anything soft that gets soaked must be dry within a day or two, or it goes. WHY NOBODY TOLD YOU: A plug-in scent with refills, $24. A fresh linen candle, $22. A fabric odor spray, $8. Closet moisture tubs, $15. A musty towel booster, $12. That is $81, bought again every month, against an open window, a squeegee, and a $12 meter you buy once. Tonight: open the closet on the outside wall, breathe in, put your palm flat on the back wall, and leave the door open all night. Then tell me in the comments one word, cold or warm, and how old your house is. Not one of them goes unread.