Certain scents are associated with happy memories. The smell of freshly baked cookies might bring about reminiscence of your childhood. The smell of chlorine or the sea could bring you back to the time that you took a vacation in a tropical island.
The whiff of apple pie, your mom’s perfume, the pages of old books – all these scents bring back a lot of memories because the strong smell triggers something in the brain.
If you want your home to be filled with such lovely scents that trigger happy memories, you should definitely exert the extra effort in making the house smell great.
One of the most common solutions used by homemakers is to buy commercial air fresheners or deodorizers. Although these products give off a strong scent, there’s also a disadvantage to using them.
First, you would need to spend a lot of money buying commercial home sanitizers, air fresheners, and deodorizers.
Second, these products are usually made with strong chemicals which may not necessarily be healthy for your family. Although there are other products that you can use to purify the indoor air quality inside your home, it’s still better to stick with all-natural solutions. Not only will you eliminate the need for the use of harsh chemicals, but you will also save a lot of money in the long run.
10 Affordable Techniques to Making Your Home Smell Great
Now, what are the top ten inexpensive ways for you to make your home smell great?
The trick is to get to the root of the problem. If there’s a room in the house which smells like dirty laundry, for example, check out if the smell is coming from the dirty laundry hamper in the laundry room. Those dirty socks will definitely smell, so you need to come up with a solution to neutralize the odor.
From making your own citrus-scented room spray to getting rid of nasty pet smells, here are ten of the most inexpensive ways to make your home smell great:
1. If your home smells funky, mix some homemade deodorizing solution.
Again, the key to having a great-smelling home is to get to the root of the problem. If there is a nasty smell in the living room, you can use this homemade deodorizing solution.
Put the liquid in a spray bottle and spritz it onto the problem area or into the air. Here’s the recipe:
- Prepare 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 2 to 3 drops of essential oil, and distilled water.
- The scent of the essential oil can be anything from lavender to lemon, cinnamon to vanilla, or peppermint to orange.
- Thoroughly mix the baking soda and essential oil, then add to a spray bottle that can hold 8 to 12 ounces of liquid. Add the distilled water and shake well. Spray.
2. Freshen up your carpeted floors.
If you have carpeted floors in the living room, it is bound to get smelly after some time due to the foot traffic and all the accidental spills on the floor surface.
To get rid of the small, mix one cup of baking soda with one tablespoon ground cinnamon. Put the mixture into a clean parmesan cheese dispenser or a similar container, then sprinkle generously onto the carpet. Let stand for thirty minutes to about an hour, then vacuum as usual.
Your family members will smell the hint of cinnamon on the carpet, and they will think that you cooked something sumptuous in the kitchen.
3. Deodorize those smelly shoes!
The bane of every household – especially the big ones – is to have a stack of just-worn, smelly shoes whose odor permeates every room. To prevent this from happening, allow just one area in the house as a place to put the shoes in. You can make your own shoe organizers or buy one from commercial stores.
To prevent the shoes from smelling, spritz the following solution:
- 2 teaspoons of thyme or tea tree oil (although you can use just about any other scent)
- 2 cups of water
Put the solution in a spray bottle and liberally spritz on the area where there are pairs of shoes lying around. Make sure that the shoes are completely dry before wearing them.
4. Use scented candles.
Cinnamon or orange peel candles are perfect for deodorizing a room. You can make your very own orange peel candle using orange peel and olive, canola or vegetable oil. Or, you can attach cinnamon sticks to stick candles using hot glue. Once the candle is lit, the cinnamon lighting up will create a wonderful scent that will waft through all the rooms in your house.
You can also use commercially available scented candles. Lighting them up will fill your home with scents that trigger good memories.
Cinnamon can make your house smell like the holidays in one second, so give it a try!
5. Get rid of nasty pet smells.
If you have dogs or cats as pets in the household, it is natural for the smell of the animals to permeate the home. In between dog baths or trips to the groomer, you can use the following solution and spritz on the body of your smelly canine friend:
- 2 cups distilled water
- 3 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol
- 12 drops of essential oils
Mix these thoroughly then put the solution inside a spray bottle. The solution will last for two to three weeks. There are certain essential oils which have additional benefits for your pets, so it’s best to use them as the essential oil in the mixture.
To repel fleas, you can use lavender oil. Cinnamon or eucalyptus oil can repel mosquitoes, lice, and ticks. Lemongrass oil can ward off fleas and flies. For the 12 drops of essential oils, you can use one or a combination of these variants.
6. Make a simmer pot with rosemary and lemon.
In a small stockpot, you can mix water with rosemary leaves, one sliced lemon, and vanilla extract. When you allow the mixture to simmer slowly all day, the rooms inside your house will smell amazing.
The mixture can be used for up to two days, then changed with a fresh pot if you want the scent to remain inside your house.
7. Make a natural room diffuser.
When you go to the mall, you will usually find room diffusers with fancy packages. They’re expensive but once opened, they actually smell weird instead of nice. You can make your own room scent diffuser using natural ingredients and the scent you prefer.
For this, you will need a few wooden bamboo skewers, a lemon scented all-purpose cleaner, and a small glass or jar. Fill the container halfway with the cleaning solution. Add the bamboo skewers inside the glass and set on top of the living room table or your side table in the bedroom.
8. Go for a DIY potpourri.
You can buy all the materials needed for a wonderfully-scented potpourri at about any crafts store. The dried leaves and flowers will serve as the base, and the scent will come from essential oils.
You can even dry the flower petals or leaves yourself, although this will take a much longer time. Once the potpourri base is dry, add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice. Store in a container for up to two weeks, then pour the now-scented potpourri in a pretty container to display in your living room’s center table and make the house smell amazing.
Create a potpourri of dried herbs to make your house smell great no matter the season!
9. Scent up those wood blocks or pine cones.
Wood blocks and pine cones make for the perfect base for a homemade air freshener. If you have small blocks of wood lying around, use a small brush to paint it with the scented essential oil of your choice. Leave the wood or pine cone to absorb the scent overnight. Once the scent fades, all you have to do is add a few more drops of oil onto the wooden blocks or dried pine cones.
10. Make a citrus-scented room spray.
Lemon, orange and other citrusy scents make any area smell amazing. To make your very own natural citrus-scented air freshener, just fill a small spray bottle with water. Mix ten to fifteen drops of citrus essential oil like orange, lemon, tangerine, grapefruit, or wild orange.
You can even include the actual peel of the fruit onto the mixture to make the spray bottle look prettier. Use the mixture as you would a commercial air freshener.
You can also use a commercial diffuser but instead of filling it with commercially available scents, use drops of essential oils. There are certain variants of essential oils which have calming and soothing properties while others simply smell divine once placed in the diffuser.
No matter which among these natural air fresheners you end up using, what’s important is to make sure that the source of the nasty smells are cleaned up. Afterwards, generously spritz homemade air fresheners made from natural ingredients or essential oils, and your home will smell amazing in no time at all.
Pin it for later:
