- Allison
All-Natural Ways to Make Your House Smell Lovely
In my years of always striving to have a clean and well-kept house, I have learned one thing that I never knew before: you can have the cleanest house on the block, but if your house does not smell appealing and fresh, it can make all of the cleanliness in vain. Yes, having a clean house is very important, but people's sense of smell has far more of an impact on them than seeing some dirty dishes on the counter.
Scents and fragrances are wonderful things. I mean, who does not want their house to smell nice? Good fragrances also have a myriad of health benefits because they help relieve stress and promote relaxation. The only issue is that, sadly, most fragrance options available are chock-full of harmful chemicals that harm you, your family, your kids, and even your pets.
In this article, I will show you a bunch of different ways to ensure you always have a good-smelling home by using all-natural (and cheap!) methods.
- Fresh Air -
Truly, nothing is better than some good ol’ fresh air to keep your home smelling clean. I try to open the windows at every chance I get, and where we live, the weather is relatively mild, which means that I leave the windows open for a large part of the year. Not only does fresh air keep bad and musty scents from lingering in your home, but it is tremendously beneficial for your health. I mean, we could all use a little more fresh air, am I right?
Obviously, sometimes the weather interferes, so we cannot leave the windows open continuously, but when you can, I recommend doing so.
-Baking Soda -
Baking soda does a LOT to help your home smell nice, and I think a lot of people do not realize that. What we normally do is light a candle or spray air freshener over bad smells, thus covering up the bad odor. But what baking soda does is absorb the bad odors, so you would not even have to light a candle or spray an air freshener because you could not smell the bad scent anymore. It essentially gets rid of the root of the issue.
This is also a great option for those who want bad scents out but do not necessarily like to have a lot of fragrances in their home. I like to keep baking soda in my fridge, my bathroom, at the bottom of trash cans, and in tea bags around the house. I also like to keep bad odors out of my drains (especially the kitchen one) by adding some baking soda and vinegar to them.
- Candles -
Candles are probably one of the most popular ways to scent a home, as you can pick from dozens of scents, and they lend an instant cozy feel to any house. The only problem is that many of them are riddled with chemicals that fill the air with toxins. Because of this, I prefer to buy our candles locally, but there are many non-toxic options online, and there is even the option of making your own.
What you want to look for when buying a healthy candle is what kind of wax it is made with, the wick that is attached, and what the fragrance is made of. You want a wax that is either beeswax, soy wax, or coconut oil. Avoid paraffin and palm wax, as these are said to be harmful to your health. You want a wick that is made of cotton, hemp, paper, or wood. And you want the fragrance to be made of ONLY essential oils; there should be no synthetic ingredients in it.
- Incense -
This is probably my favorite way to keep our house smelling good (besides the baked goods, of course). There is just something about the smoky, rustic yet relaxing, warm, deep scent of incense that is so appealing to me. It does a great job of filling your whole house with a scent of your choice, and organic incense has many health benefits as well. Incense is also very affordable, no matter where you get it, even organic ones.
There are many different types of incense, so choose one according to your preferences. But, when choosing any incense, you should look for ones that are labeled as natural and/or organic, and they should contain 100% natural ingredients (made with pure woods, herbs, fragrances, etc.). If you decide to get incense sticks, then hand-rolled is preferred as opposed to machine-made.
- Essential Oils -
Essential oils are great because you can use them by themselves, or better yet, you can make your own candles, wax melts, air fresheners, and such using them. The possibilities are nearly endless with essential oils! The bad news is that, like with most other products, there are fake versions. The list below gives tips on how to spot a pure essential oil.
You should only buy essential oils that are labeled as “100% pure essential oil” and/or organic.
The essential oils should be sold in dark, amber glass bottles.
The ingredient list should not withhold any information from you and should list the part of the plant(s) they used, the Latin name of the plant(s), how the plant(s) was grown, and how it was processed.
Price is a good indicator; in most cases, you pay for what you get.
- Baked Goods -
This is an option that I think many people do not think of often, and that is to bake more. This is not a necessary option, but it is a good one that pleases everyone because everyone knows that nothing beats the smell of baked goods in the oven. I bake a lot of bread, muffins, cookies, scones, and such, and because of this, my house consistently smells like a bakery. :) This is also helpful for our health because I talked about it in one of my previous articles about how good making things yourself is for your health.
Again, totally not necessary, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Let me know in the comments below what you like to bake that makes your house smell good!
- Air-fresheners -
Toxic air fresheners are one of the quickest ways to fill your house with chemicals, so it is important to find a good air freshener that uses quality ingredients. When I used Febreze, I almost always got an instant headache, and that should not be the case. You can make your own air freshener, which is something I want to do soon, so that may be a cheaper and healthier option. When purchasing air fresheners, simple and minimal ingredients are best, so always look for that; all of the ingredients should be 100% natural.
- Tea Bag Air-Freshener -
This is a great option for shoes, closets, cabinets, etc., as tea bag air fresheners work best at warding off bad odors in small areas. You should refresh the tea bags by adding a few extra drops of essential oils every 2-3 weeks.
This is a simple recipe I use:
Ingredients:
Baking soda
Essential oils
Dried herbs/flowers (Optional)
Unbleached tea bags
Instructions:
Fill the tea bags with baking soda until they are about halfway full.
Add the essential oils of choice until the scent is as strong as you like.
Add any dried herbs/flowers if you want, and use a little spoon to mix it up (could also mix it in a bowl or use your hands to rub the sides of the bag until it is all incorporated).
- Wax Melts -
Another one of my favorite ways to scent our home is with wax melts. Wax melts are essentially like mini candles without a wick; they melt and produce a scent when placed over a source of heat. They also lend an instant cozy feel to a house, and with the massive variety of different wax melt holders, they can fit any decor style. There are tons of different scent options available, so choose the ones you like, of course.
When looking for non-toxic wax melts, you want to use the same principles that you would use for candles: they should be made up of either beeswax, coconut oil, or soy wax, contain no dyes or synthetic ingredients, and the fragrance should be made up of 100% essential oils.
- Honourable Mentions -
I decided to list two forms of fragrance methods as honourable mentions because of the reasons I will list below.
Scent Stix
Scent Stix (pictured on the right) is a brand that sells non-toxic sticks that release odor. I got it as a free gift from Thrive Market. The reason I listed this as only an honourable mention is because, while they do work, they do have a few flaws. For one, they are quite pricey considering the scent does not last a month, as they say. They do release a decently strong scent for about the first week when you refill it, but after that, you have to pretty much go right up to it to be able to smell it. I have found that they work best for small rooms, such as bathrooms.
It is a good option if you do not mind replacing the sticks more often.
Potpourri
I listed this as an honourable mention because I have heard many good things about potpourri used in bowls or bags, but since I have not personally used them before, I cannot give an accurate review.
I hope this article helped you discover new ways to scent your home in a non-toxic way. What are your favorite ways to make your house smell lovely? I would like to know!
If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comment section below. Or contact us directly by email (you can find it on our site).
See you next Wednesday!