One of the first things that hit you when you enter a place is how it smells. Most people think that it is the furniture or the overall visual appearance, but some think that the smell hits you before you even see the details in a space. Given that difference fragrances impact your brain differently, it is important to make sure that your home does not smell bad even if it does not smell overtly fragrant. Home is where we all go to unwind and if the welcoming smell is stale socks and trash, your mood will instantly sour.
Trash and debris are part of our life. So avoiding them all together will be hard. But what we can do is manage the waste and clutter in our home to make sure that the home is not just clean but also free of unpleasant smells. So if you’re on a path to make your home fragrant, here are 5 super simple tips.
1) Source of unpleasant smells must be removed
No amount of covering up with air fresheners will save you if the source of that smell is still lying around. Step one should be emptying the trash cans and food waste every day, or more than once a day to make sure that they don’t sit and rot further.
Also, invest in dustbins with a lid, especially for bio and food waste storage. These two categories of waste are also highly toxic, keeping them closed would be a wise move. Secondly, keep in mind that footwear tends to develop unpleasant odours if left uncleaned for long. If you don’t want to spend money on fancy aerosol sprays, just get a small jar of baking soda and place it in your shoe rack. Baking soda has superpowers that make them absorb smells of all kinds.
2) Cook with the exhaust on
Cooking smells may not always be pleasant, especially with non-vegetarian food. If you cook without enough ventilation, the whole house will fume up and start smelling of whatever you cooked even hours later.
If you don’t have a chimney or hob above your stove, at least leave the exhaust fan on. Also leave the kitchen windows open which will allow free flow of air and thus, carry away the cooking smells.
3) Hang some fragrance packets
Leading brands like Aer and Odonil have come up with pocket-sized packets of concentrated fragrance gels. They absorb bad smells while also releasing the potent fragrance. They’re great not just in bathrooms, but also shelves, kitchens and any other space that could use some freshening.
While commercial fragrance packets aren’t expensive per se if you’re hesitant about buying them because of the chemicals that could be contained in it, you can make your own fragrance pockets. Turn to our good friend Google, for DIY homemade potpourri and fragrance packets. With a few simple ingredients like cinnamon, citrus fruits and dried flowers, you’ll be able to make one in no time at all.
4) Essential Oils & Mists
Essential oils were one of the oldest sources of fragrance. These highly potent fluids can be used as perfumes, fragrant additives in almost any beauty product and as room fresheners. Use cases for essential oils are endless!
With no additional tools or aids, you can make a room smell like an essential oil by simply soaking a cotton ball in the oil and leave the cotton ball in the open. In no time, the whole place will smell wonderful!
If you have the money, invest in an oil diffuser. These come in two forms – electric and non-electric. The non-electric ones are more affordable and are pretty simple fare. Typically has a small plate under which there is a container for a t-light candle or some form of heat. A few drops of oil are dropped on the plate and the candle is lit under it. The plate heats up, thereby heating the oil and releasing fragrance into the air. The electric ones send out the oil added to it as a mist and would thereby produce stronger and more uniform fragrance across the room they are placed in.
You can skip all of this and simply mix the essential oil and some water in a spray can and spray it all over your house. This would be the easiest way to make your home fragrant without chemicals.
5) Candles, flowers & natural incense
For those of you who aren’t fans of aerosol sprays ( which are effective btw) due to fear of allergies and such, natural options are available in plenty. Scented candles ( DIY and store bought), fresh flowers, herbal incense sticks, oud, products like frankincense etc are great options.
Most herbal options have the added benefit of repelling insects making them great choices when it comes to making your home fragrant.
Cleanliness Is Key
A quick search on Google is enough to reveal that making your home smell good is something that can be done in a 100 different ways. But it all usually boils down to cleanliness. Like we mentioned before unless your home is clean and free of sources that produce unpleasant smells, you will never manage to cover the odour up.
What we’ve presented here is merely the top 5 easy techniques that people use to make their homes fragrant. If you have any similar tips, do let us know in the comments below!