Have you ever come home, walked into the house and thought, "What in the heck is that smell?"
I did the other day. Our house just had a stale, closed up smell. Everything that could possibly leave a scent in the air was and they were all fighting for dominence. It was not pleasant.
Sometimes the smells of the house, cooking food, a full garbage can, pet smells, dirty clothes in the laundry room, dusty, stale closed up smells seem to take over. We just can't get rid of them.
So what do you do? Do you pull out that can of air freshener you bought at the store? Does it help?
Or does it add another unwanted smell to the house? A chemical smell? An aerosol smell? And does it last?
I've moved away from using those scents in a can sprays to freshen the house. They just don't do the job the way I'd like. Plus, the scents offered are nothing that I want my house to smell like! I'm trying to get a more natural way to freshen the house.
One of the best ways I've found to freshen the house is to open windows. In the summer, the windows here at the farmhouse are always open. Always. As soon as the frost is out of the air in the spring, we start opening them for a little bit each day. The only times we close them are during plowing times, because the dust that flies is crazy! In even the winter, if there is a warm day, say over 35, I'll open the windows a wee bit. It gets cold, but it certainly freshens the air.
Another thing I do is to make my own air freshener spray. I'll boil some water with a bit of sage and sea salt. Once it cools you can put it in a spray bottle. Use it to spray the walls, the garbage can, furniture, sheets/bedding etc. I imagine you could put other scents into it instead, but I've found that the sage stays quite well. Keep it in the refridgerator.
Something else I like to do is to do a stove-top air freshener. Take some water, add cinnamon sticks, orange peels, lemon peels, vanilla beans, sage, etc to it and bring to a boil. Turn it down and let it simmer. The wonderful smells will fill the house!
Experiement! See what works in your house. Try freshening your house the natural way ... you'll never go back!
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