The light fragrance of a beautifully scented home will exude a special atmosphere. It will make a home feel clean, comfortable and indulgent. It will obviously be absent of pungent odours such as cigarette smoke, strong kitchen odours or the dreaded odour of a teenage son's soccer shoes!
But how can you create such a home without cloying, heavy scents or spending a lot of money? Well, the answer is natural products. They were successfully used in the home for many years before the production of artificial scents. In recent years, there has been increased concern over the health issues of strong, synthetic products. Many of them leave trace chemical elements in the home that contribute to asthma and allergy problems among others.
Not surprisingly, there has been a resurgence of interest in the power of natural cleaners. Not only are they far healthier for your body, they are also much kinder to the environment. So today we will entirely focus on how natural home remedies can be used to eliminate bad smells in your home. Once you discover the power of some products like white vinegar, we promise you won't go back to synthetics! So let's get started.
Sodium bicarbonate is so powerful and flexible a cleaner that some experts claim it is the only cleaning product you will ever need in your home. It may be bitter to taste, but it's not dangerous to ingest in small quantities either. This is good news for those with children and small pets. But it's a good quality in any case when you're considering a product to clean eating areas.
Its neutralising properties will eliminate odours in the fridge. But its granular texture also means that it can be used to work on stubborn stains. In general, it's good to apply the soda in a paste like form in kitchens and bathrooms. Just add a little water and leave the paste on stubborn surfaces such as your oven. It will absorb grease and all matter of debris. It's better just sprinkled liberally on carpet stains, left overnight and then vacuumed in the morning.
Gym shoes or synthetic shoes can smell really bad quite easily. White vinegar is often recommended, but the liquid may be a little too powerful for delicate materials. Essential oils are powerful antiseptics. Buy a little spray bottle and add two teaspoons of thyme with 2 cups of water. Vigorously shake to combine as much as possible. Spray the insides of the gym shoes daily to eliminate odours. Don't forget that airing out your shoes is good as well. Something lovely and natural like this wooden cabinet by the Cotswold Company might do.
The smell of fish or meat in the fridge tends to become unpleasant after just a day or two. But an open glass of water with a few spoonfuls of sodium bicarbonate will help. Potatoes are another powerful solution. Just peel a potato and leave it in the front of the fridge. The inner fibre will soak up all the unpleasant odours and leave your fridge smelling fresh and clean. Just replace the potato every few days.
Cigarette smoke gets into everything it touches. It's can even be transferred from clothing to bed-sheets and sofa covers long after the cigarette has been put out. While it's best to air out the home, vinegar also helps. Just combine a quarter of a cup with a couple of litres of water and wash down the walls. It doesn't smell particularly nice, but it's certainly better than the odour of cigarette smoke and the smell of vinegar will pass quickly enough. Australian eucalyptus oil is another powerful deodorizer. Just spritz under the cabinets and leave soaked cotton pads under the drawers.
White vinegar is perhaps one of the most overlooked natural cleaning products. It can be used to clean porcelain, windows and mirrors. It's also very good at removing toilet bowl stains. Just pour half a cup of white vinegar in the toilet bowl and leave overnight. Throw in some sodium bicarbonate for good measure. It will froth and bubble up, but that's fine. Just flush your toilet in the morning for dramatic results.
Finally, we'll explore one of the most beautiful air purifying tools - houseplants. Spider plants, peace lilies, devil's ivy, aloe vera and daisies are all air purifying plants that can be grown indoors. They remove trace chemical elements, clean the air and cool it down as well. There's plenty of science to back this one up, so don't hesitate to indulge in a little indoor greenery.
If you are interested in houseplants, you will love this Ideabook Which kind of plants can I keep in my apartment?