Homemade Air Fresheners

Everyone likes having a nice, fresh smelling home.  But, let's be real.  Sometimes things just stink.  One solution is to spray a commercial air freshener into the air.  While that might work for some people, it doesn't work for me or for many who live in my house.

The best way to freshen your house is to clean it up.  Open some windows, empty all the trashes, and keep the laundry clean.  Run cut up lemon slices through your garbage disposal.  Make sure you clean out the bottom of your dishwasher.  Sometimes,  if you don't pre-rinse your dishes, food particles can get caught in the bottom of your dishwasher and they can start to smell bad.

To make non-toxic air fresheners, you can use household items.  One idea is to dip cotton balls into vanilla extract and leave them out to freshen the air.  Lemon extract, orange extract, almond, peppermint, etc all work well, too.  You can also simmer cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peels, and other things like that in a small pot on the stove.   Just don't forget it's there!  Fresh flowers also lend a nice scent to your home.  Roses are particularly aromatic.  Rose oil can be mixed with water and sprayed into the room.  Any kind of oil you like can be used in this way.

This is just scratching the surface of the many ways you can make your home smell good.  There are countless other ways, too.  One of my favorites is to bake something delicious (like cinnamon rolls).  Another good one is to burn a scented candle.  Just be careful with this, because some of the highly scented ones can cause allergy or asthma attacks.