Let’s face it, life is stinky. It’s full of dirty kids and burnt popcorn and sweaty socks and doesn’t even get me started on the diaper dilemmas. Sometimes even after picking up, putting away and wiping down your home, it still has a funk. Sure, you can pick up your favorite spray product of bottled freshness, but do you really want to cover up gross smells with gross chemicals? Probably not.
Here are 5 ways to improve the smell of your home naturally and effectively.
Essential Oils
These little potent bottles can do wonders around the house. You can buy an expensive oil diffuser, or you can make your own with a glass jar, baby oil, essential oils, and simple wooden skewers. You can also use essential oils when you change your air filter, add a few drops directly to the filter and it’ll last for months to keep your home fresh.
Baking Soda
This is the universal cleaning agent for your home that naturally absorbs odor. You can keep an open box in the back of your fridge, pantry, bathroom, mudroom, bedroom, anywhere your odors tend to linger. You can also make your own air freshener by mixing baking soda with essential oils in a small jar and leaving it out to attract smells and diffuse odor.
Bake
Don’t worry, you don’t have to whip up a batch of cookies every other day to keep your home smelling good (although we aren’t necessarily against that idea). You can use your oven and stove as a natural air freshener. Bake pure vanilla in any type of fish at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.
Make natural potpourri by boiling cinnamon sticks, apple peels, orange rinds, and whole cloves in water. You can keep this simmering on the stove for a while and is particularly effective for more open floor plans where the scent can travel throughout the house.
Oftentimes, this little hidden part of your kitchen can trap smells and hold on to stinky stuff for weeks. Freeze lemons or limes in vinegar using an old ice cube tray. Crush up a few of the citrus ice cubes every couple of days to keep your disposal fresh and clean.
Car fresheners aren’t just for cars.
Plug them into your air conditioning vents to add a fresh scent to the air that is already circulating in your home.
