All houses have their own smell. You know what I am talking about, you go to visit your parents or grandparents and you are hit by a wave of nostalgia as their “house smell” hits you.
We all want our own homes to smell great, but there are many things that can make this hard, especially if you have kids and pets! Well today, no matter if you live on your own or with a cat, a dog, and a crazy family, these tips will make sure your home smells great.
Let The Fresh Air In/Bad Air Out
If it is nice and warm outside, crack open those windows and let that old and rough air that is kind of musty out and let the fresh air from the outside in. It is best to open windows in different rooms to get a nice cross breeze going. If there is no musty wind, you can use desk fans near windows to blow air inside a room.
Of course, if it is the dead of winter, this is not ideal, but opening the windows just a tiny bit for a few minutes can make all the difference. If you live in a cold climate, an air purifier is a good alternative.
Make A Stove Simmer
What is a stove simmer? Well, this is a real classic and something that your grandma or mother did back in the day. The idea is that you simmer some water in a pan and then you can add some lemon or orange, perhaps a little bit of cinnamon or mint?
It is up to you what you want to add, but doing this can fill the house with a lovely and natural aroma. It is a real warm smell as well which is even better.
Clean Your Drains And Garbage Disposal
I am a bit of a clean freak, but a while back I would be sitting in the living room and then an odor would hit me. It turns out it was the sink in the bathroom, to be honest, I cannot remember the last time I cleaned that actual drain under the sink, but all that nastiness was filling the house and it was awful.
So every once and a while make sure that you clean those drains properly. Also if you are lucky enough to have a garbage disposal, clean out all that nasty food that can get stuck in there.
Everyone Loves Baked Goods
My grandparents’ house always had the smell of cookies as my grandma was addicted to baking. Well if you are having company over and want to make sure the house smells great, try baking some cookies or a cake and the whole house will smell great.
Not only that, but you will have something tasty to eat after. Cookies, cinnamon rolls, cupcakes and banana bread are my personal favorites.
Use Your Air Vents
We kind of take our air vents for granted and I bet you who are reading this right now are having to think really hard about where the air vents in your place are even placed! Well, you can actually use your air vents to spread a nice scent through your home.
Use something like a car deodorizer and hang it in front of the vent, the air that comes into your home will spread the scent all over the house. Every now and again will catch a whiff of it and you will love it.
Dryer Sheets Can Really Freshen Up A Closet And Dresser
Here is a great tip for your closets, especially if your kid’s bedrooms are a bit ripe! What you can do is place a dryer sheet at the bottom of each closet. This will keep the closet fresh for a while and also help keep the whole room a little fresher. Dressers can also benefit from having dryer sheets placed in them.
Use Sprays…. Cleverly
The easiest way to freshen up a house is, of course, to go to the store and buy air freshener. The thing is people tend to use air freshener in the wrong way. It is so easy to overuse air freshener. All you have to do is one good spray in the middle of each room.
Now one other thing to do is to use the same scent in each room. It may seem like a good idea to use cinnamon in one room and vanilla in another, but some smells do not go well together and it can make your house smell kind of “weird” instead of nice.
Keep Those Carpets Clean
A carpet can be a haven for dust and pet hair. Keeping the carpet clean is a great way to keep the awful smell of dust out of your home. While regular vacuuming is, of course, a great way to keep the floors clean, use some carpet freshener in each room to really give the room a nice smell.
While buying carpet freshener from the store is the easiest way, you can actually use some baking soda and a little hint of citrus to make your own carpet freshener if you like.
Make Perfume Bombs
Ok, so you may be visioning some kind of device that is going to explode in your living room and spray the latest Beyoncé fragrance all over the place! It is far easier than that. What you do is take cotton balls and then get your favorite perfume, heck it can even be something nice and cheap from a dollar store!
Just get something that smells nice and you soak the cotton ball in it. You can now place these around the house, out of sight so when someone walks into a room they can smell something nice and not know where it is coming from.
These are just a few of the ways that you can make your house smell good. Of course, if the whole “home remedy” thing from your grandma is not something you are keen on doing, there is so much choice when it comes to things like air fresheners and carpet cleaners that you can make your house smell fantastic with very little effort.
Just make sure that you are keeping the carpets clean, the drains and garbage disposal clean and your house will smell great!
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