Stinky Car Newspaper Trick

I don't think I drove my car all weekend. When I got in to go to work Monday, it reeked. As if the windows had been left open in the rain, then closed for a time. Except nothing in the car was wet.

I drove with the windows open, parked under a tree at work, got in, and...ugh.

It's gotten worse every day. I checked under the hood and under the car for dead animals, but didn't see anything, and there's absolutely no odor until you open the car door. I delivered all the cardboard recycling to the township bin, hoping it was just an old pizza box. Under the boxes were blankets from last spring's soccer season. Threw those downstairs to wash. Nothing else in the trunk to smell bad.

So of course it smelled worse the next day.

I checked under the seats in case something fell out of a grocery bag. Pulled out the floor mats. Kept removing things that had no chance of being the cause:

And still it reeked.

I thought about taking it to be detailed, which would get the floors shampooed. But I don't have the time or money for that. I thought about shampooing them myself. But I don't have the time or equipment for that.

So I turned to an old remedy I've used for other things. I think it's an old Heloise tip, suggested to get cigarette smoke out of a suitcase or something.

I've...

STUFFED MY CAR WITH NEWSPAPER!

It would probably work even better if I stuffed the whole thing, but...yeah, I don't have time for that.

So I did this around 2:00 this afternoon, and when I took the pictures at 6:00, it was already working! The odor was about half ugly festering evil, half newsprint. I work at home tomorrow, so sometime in the afternoon I'll see if it worked completely. And I'll let you know!

But FYI, it totally works to get cigarette smoke out of fabrics and other items that can't be easily washed.

Anyone have a favorite Hint from Heloise?