Cleaning the Impossible

Musty Cabinets and Drawers

Jeanne Marie Olson, who owns an old house and blogs with her husband about their adventures fixing it up at House in Progress, couldn't get rid of what she calls the "hundred-year-old mustiness" that seemed to cling to the insides of cabinets and drawers—until she tried vodka. "Obviously, don't use the expensive stuff for this," she says, but the alcohol effectively removes the mold and mildew that cause musty smells (and she promises it won't make your cabinets or drawers smell like the inside of a dive bar). Fill a spray bottle with inexpensive vodka and spray it onto the surface; then wipe it dry.