Everyone loves to walk into their home (or another’s home for that matter) and be greeted with fresh, pleasant aromas that feel inviting, scrumptious, and clean....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Unfortunately, many of the products on the market that claim to do just this (and fool us at the same time) can be filled with often questionable chemicals that we are unwittingly spraying all over our homes and mindlessly breathing in.
On the bright side, we can all have delicious-smelling homes without spending money on products, bringing chemicals into our homes, or having to produce a bunch of empty, plastic bottles for recycling with just a few items that we probably already have lying around our homes.
Bar brewing coffee or baking cookies, here are some tried and tested OGP solutions for some eco-ways to make your house smell amazing.
1. Recycled Candles
Candles are fantastic for creating a romantic or cozy atmosphere and can also be used to make your house smell scrumptious. Many of the scented candles on the market can be pretty pricy these days.
That only serves to make it even more of a heartbreak and/or annoyance when your wick runs out, and you are left with a bunch of wax stuck to the sides of the jar.
Instead of ditching or storing away the seemingly useless object, there is a really simple way to rescue that wax and make it into a whole new candle for future burning.
What’s more, there is a good chance that you don’t even have to buy anything else to complete your candle-making project. Read on to learn How to Make New Candles from Old Ones.
2. Simmer Pots
A wonderful way to fill your home with a sweet aroma is to make a simmer pot. These are cheap and easy to make, you can use things that you have on hand, and it doesn’t require any special equipment or too much time. Another great bonus for using simmer pots is that they help to humidify the air.
Dry air can be an issue for some, especially during the winter. To make a simmer pot, you simply get a pot and fill it with water and wonderfully smelling stuff.
Fruits, herbs, spices, foliage, and maybe a few drops of essential oils are great candidates. You can get very inventive and create blends to suit different times of the day or year. Learn How to Make Simmer Pots for Every Season.
3. Lemons
Having a house filled with the scent of lemons makes it feel so bright, fresh, and clean. It may also make you feel uplifted and energized, too. Lemons contain citric acid which is naturally antiseptic and antibacterial.
As well, its acidic nature is excellent for breaking down grease and alkaline buildup such as limescale, and it works as a natural bleach, too.
All these powers combined make lemons a great, cheap, non-toxic, and compostable solution for many household cleaning jobs. Check out these innovative ways to use lemons at home. Here are 5 Ways to Clean and Freshen Your Home with Lemons.
4. Autumnal Aromas
There is something very snuggly about autumn. The outside is glorious with its reds, oranges, and yellows, and it’s not too cold, yet, so fall walks are appealing. However, it’s just chilly enough to pull out blankets and sweaters and wrap your hands around big mugs of hot chocolate.
There are a few ways that you can achieve an autumn-scented home without much fuss, cost, or the use of questionable chemical store-bought air fresheners. Here are a few ideas for you to play with this fall season and make your house smell like an autumn hug. Here are 5 DIY Ways to Make Your Home Smell Like Autumn.
5. Cinnamon Sticks
Cinnamon is one of those culinary heroes of the holiday season. Walk into the kitchen when the sweet potatoes are roasting, when the pumpkin pie is cooking, and the smell of cinnamon transports you into the winter wonderland. Most of us love the smell of cinnamon.
We love the taste of it: think cinnamon rolls, cinnamon-raisin oatmeal, mulled wine, graham crackers, apple pie… Even so, most spice cabinets have a lonely container of cinnamon sticks that haven’t been visited for months (or more).
It’s stuffed somewhere near the back corner, next to the anise. If you want to embrace the joyful aroma of cinnamon, check out these 10 Creative Ways to Use Cinnamon Sticks!
6. Rice as an Air Freshener
Harkening back to rice’s absorption attribute, the same quality makes it a good medium for air fresheners. Rice can be coated with nice-smelling essential oils and scooped into sachets to tuck around the house for freshening up.
This—with a bit of lavender or other calming aromas—can also be a thing to stick on a nightstand or beneath a pillow to help with sleeping.
As if we needed more reason to stock extra rice in the pantry! It already has a long shelf life and provides quality calories. Now, we know how to use it for so much more. Here are a bunch of fun and Handy Ways to Use Rice That Don’t Involve Eating It from Hand Warmers to Air Fresheners.
7. Potpourri
We only have a few senses, and smell is one of them. Our noses are bound to flaunt their talents as often and outwardly as possible, no matter if the scent is good or bad.
So, just as we like to see beautiful paintings on the wall, just as we want food that tastes delicious, we choose the music we like, and we want sheets that feel nice, we ought to enjoy what we are smelling. There is a vast palette of (natural) perfumes from which we can pull. Read on to learn all about How to Make Your Own Potpourri.
8. Smudge Sticks
Smudging is the practice of burning herbal material, most often for ceremonial or spiritual purposes. First Nations people of Canada and Native Americans of the United States traditionally employed (and still do) smudge sticks to purify or bless people and places.
These days, the term smudging is sometimes used for burning smudge sticks as insect repellent or about smudge pots utilized to prevent frost in orchards.
Others burn them in new apartments to symbolically clear away bad mojo left by previous tenants. It’s also practiced in other spiritual pursuits, such as Wicca. Take a look at how to make DIY Smudge Sticks..<<CONTINUE READING>>
