Nothing is worse than working into your home and being greeted by a bad smell. It could be your bins, a blocked drain or any number of other things creating the nasty aroma. There are ways to make your home smell fabulous all the time. It just takes a bit of effort and forethought to do this.
Just think about smells for a short while and decide if you would rather be greeted after a hard day at work by fresh air that reminds you of a spring day, or food smells from last night’s meal.
Fresh Air
Even on a cold day, open your windows for just five minutes and let some fresh air in. This will get rid of any stale smells that have accumulated, especially overnight. It will be much easier to give your home a pleasant smell if you have disposed of the bad ones before you start.
Bins
Cleaning bins is a job that can easily be forgotten. Most people use bin liners and just pull them out and replace them without a second thought. The problem is that bin liners will let smells through them and eventually your bin will smell all the time.
All it needs is some warm soapy water to clean the bin, and then perhaps a fresh air block left in the bottom. This will stop your bin developing nasty aromas.
Have Your Drains Cleaned
Blocked drains can create some very unpleasant smells that will soon seep into your home. Have them cleaned at least once a year to reduce the risk of this happening. It is not just the smells they create that can be bad either, they can make a pipe burst if the blockage is really bad and then you could have even more problems.
Deodorise Your Carpet
Carpets can hold smells in their fibres and this can be even worse if you have cats or dogs. The problem is that you do not always notice that your carpets are giving off a stale smell, but if you deodorise them every few weeks, this will not happen. In most cases, all you need to do is scatter the powder onto the carpet and leave it for half an hour. Then you vacuum it up and hey presto, a nice smelling carpet.
Candles
Candles are a great way to make your home smell pleasant and some of them do not have to be lit to achieve this. They will give off an aroma anyway and they can be used to suit the room they are in. There are many different types of candles on the market, but if you want to be eco-friendly and have some that do not give off smoke or toxins, soy candles are the best option. They burn far more purely than most alternatives.
You could use lemon or orange in your kitchen and maybe lavender, which is relaxing, in your bathroom or bedroom. There is no end of fragrances to choose from and they could have your whole house smelling beautiful in no time at all.
Flowers
Fresh flowers and flowering plants will have the same effects. They will not only make the room they are in smell really nice but also they will add some colour and interest too. It is great if you can cut some from your own garden, but if not leave it until the end of the day to shop for them. Often the supermarkets discount the prices then so you will get better value for your money.
Cleaning Products
The smell of the chemicals from cleaning products may well remind you of when you were a child and your mom cleaned the house, but you do not have to use products that are full of chemicals anymore. The natural cleaning product market has become huge and there is no end of choice of different products for you to choose from.
Instead of your children relating chemicals to cleanliness, use one of the ranges that have fruit, for example, as its base and then when you clean your home could smell of grapefruits or oranges. There are also some things that you possibly already have in your kitchen cupboards that are great for cleaning. Bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and lemon can all help to remove stubborn stains, for example.
Change The Beds Often
We can become accustomed to our own smells very easily and these are transferred onto our bed linen at night. You do not notice this yourself, but changing the bed linen often will mean your bedrooms always have a nicer smell to them.
Ironing Spray To Freshen Your Laundry
Fetch your washing in off the line and it smells lovely and fresh. However, if you then leave it in a laundry basket for a few days before you iron it, that freshness will have gone. You can put it back by using a scented ironing spray. This will work well for bringing the freshness back and can also be sprayed onto your beds to give them a pleasant aroma too.
Fabric Freshener
A quick spray of fabric freshener on any materials, such as sofas and curtains, can help to make your home smell as fresh as the day these things were new. Materials do tend to cling to smells from around them, but they do not have to stay if you use a fabric freshener.
Use Laundry Conditioners
There are two ways to help your fabrics stay soft and smell nice when you are doing your laundry. You can use dryer sheets or fabric conditioners, and both of these can be used in other ways too.
The dryer sheets can be left in wardrobes or drawers to make them smell fresh and clean. Just change them occasionally as the pleasant smell they give off does eventually disappear.
Mix a little of the fabric condition in some water, wring a cloth our as dry as you can and then wipe your skirting boards and door frames with it. They will be nice and clean and smell very good as well. You do not need much as the fabric conditioner, as then the areas you clean with it will be sticky.
Clean Shoes And Coats
Sometimes the bad smells are brought into our homes from outside. It could be some mud that has dried on a pair of shoes or a coat that got wet in the rain and is now smelling damp. They key here is to clean and dry anything that has been outside before they get to that point and then you will avoid the unpleasant smells they can create.
Wet umbrellas are another thing that gets forgotten, but they need to be dried when they are brought indoors as well.
Pillow Spray To Relax
This one does not suit everybody, but if you spray your pillow just before getting into bed, it can make relaxing after the challenges of the day much easier. It has the same effect as getting into clean sheets after a bath or shower and using a natural one with something such lavender, will have you dozing off in no time at all.
Need A Quick Fix?
If you have short notice of some guests arriving and need a quick fix, there are several things you can do to make your home smell inviting. Getting some coffee brewing is one way. A freshly baked cake will always smell delicious or if you are really stuck and do not have the time, cut some lemon slices and put them in a bowl of water. Microwave them for just one minute and the aroma will fill your kitchen when you open the door. This will clean your microwave at the same time, so two jobs were done at once. I wish I was a baked cake kind of gal but I’m more your burned bun, so lemon it is.
Make Your Own Air Freshener
Air fresheners can be expensive, but you do not have to spend a fortune if you make your own from natural products. All you need is three-quarters of a cup of water, either 2 tablespoons of vodka, rubbing alcohol or real vanilla extract and a few drops of essential oil for the aroma you want to create. Combine them all in an 8oz spray bottle and shake well before each use.
Now you can freshen your home without any of the nasty chemicals that commercial air fresheners contain. Not only will your home smell nicer, but also you will have the health benefits of fewer chemicals in the air of your home.
Make Your Home Smell Fabulous
The tips above are not new and you may already use some of them to keep your home fresh. If you have not tried some of them before, give them a go and see how much nicer your home is to come home to after a hard day at work. What top tips do you have to make your home smell fabulous