How To Make Your Home Smell Good: Our Top Tips for Creating an Aromatically Inviting Space
Stepping into a person’s home can instantly put your senses on high alert.
Your eyes focus on the lighting and colors, your ears perk up to even the softest sounds, and the smell, for better or worse, can hit you like a freight train — evoking strong emotions and perhaps conjuring up memories from the past.
One whiff and you are taken back to your grandma’s kitchen with snickerdoodle cookies baking in the oven, the warm smell of citrus on a hot summer’s day, or the lavender bubble bath your kids used for years.
Feeling happy and relaxed, you want to make your home smell this good all the time.
Keep reading as we sniff out how to make your home smell good naturally, sharing some helpful tips on keeping your house clean.
Table of Contents
12 Ways To Make Your Home Smell Good Naturally
#1: Create a Simmer Pot
A timeless tradition, creating a simmer pot can fill your home with a lovely fragrant scent and be customized to your mood or season.
Simply fill a small saucepan, cast iron pot, or slow cooker with water and put in your simmering ingredients on low for a couple of hours, adding water as needed.
Here are some seasonal simmering ingredient ideas that will be sure to inspire your senses:
Winter: Coffee beans, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, anise, and allspice
Spring: Lime slices, mint leaves, sprigs of thyme, and fresh ginger
Summer: Grapefruit slices, lavender sprigs, and almond extract
Fall: Apple cider, pumpkin spice seasoning, cinnamon sticks, ground nutmeg, vanilla extract, and whole cloves
Like the sweet and homey scent of a simmering potpourri pot, a good house cleaning service can help make your whole house smell good all the time.
Tidy Up Portland! specializes in natural, green cleaning supplies and limits the use of disposable products while thoroughly cleaning your home. We never use harmful chemicals — only natural products — because the health and safety of your family and the environment are important to us.
Contact us today, and we’ll make your home feel like a breath of fresh air.
#2: Use the Power of Citrus
Zest up your home with the energizing fragrance of citrus.
Fruits like lime, lemon, grapefruit, and orange all help to increase mental alertness and sharpness. These citrus scents are not only long-lasting, but make a space feel balanced, calm, and affectionately welcoming.
There are many DIY ways to make your home smell good using citrus. You can try:
Creating your own homemade scent spray: Choose your favorite citrus fruits to cut into thin slices. Place the slices in a mason jar with hot water and shake gently to release the essential oils from the fruit (adding a few drops of citrus essential oil can intensify the aroma). Let sit for a couple of hours before using it as a spray.
Making citrus rind air fresheners: Use a knife to carefully cut out the flesh from the citrus rind of your choice. Combine sea salt, essential oil, and flowers or herbs in a bowl. Pour the salt mixture into the rinds, and enjoy for up to seven days.
Cleaning your household appliances with lemon: Throw a few slices in the dishwasher before running a cycle or clean your microwave using a little kitchen chemistry to make your home smell clean.
#3: Clean and Deodorize With Baking Soda
Sometimes you’ll need to remove unpleasant smells that linger in your home — baking soda is a fantastic way to get rid of those troublesome scents.
It’s a common pantry item that’s not expensive and is a natural, eco-friendly cleaning option.
Baking soda can help deodorize effectively by neutralizing odors, rather than just hiding them by bringing both acidic and basic odor molecules into a neutral, more odor-free state.
Here are some ways you can deodorize your home with baking soda:
Place small bowls of baking soda in areas like the pantry, refrigerator, and around the stove to absorb overwhelming cooking odors.
Sprinkle it onto your carpet or rugs. Let it rest for about an hour so it can absorb all the icky smells, and vacuum it up when you’re ready.
Make a lightly scented baking soda spray by combining one tablespoon of baking soda with a few drops of essential oil. Pour the mixture into a large spray bottle and fill it with water. You can use this as a room spray or on anything that’s smelling a little funky.
#4: Keep the Garbage Can and Disposal Fresh
Two of the biggest culprits that may contribute to a foul-smelling house are your garbage can and the kitchen sink disposal.
Dispose of your garbage regularly and try sprinkling a little baking soda at the bottom of the can after you remove each bag to keep it smelling fresh.
You can put lemon rinds down your garbage disposal, turning it on with hot water running for about a minute. If you really want to pack a punch, follow up with a half cup of baking soda and hot water.
#5: Regularly Wash Your Pets and Their Spaces
You love your fur babies, but they can sure cause a big stink sometimes. Keeping your house clean with dogs and other animals can be a challenge, but we have some tips that may help.
Washing your pets regularly can keep your home cleaner and help it smell better for longer. Most dogs benefit from baths at least once a month, although breeds with longer hair may require weekly bathing.
Having a set schedule to clean the spaces that your pets use can also help you maintain a fresh aroma in your home. Here are some ways to naturally make your home smell good with pets:
Vacuum often to collect pet fur and dander.
Use a spot-cleaning carpet washer at least once every three months.
Mop your hard floors.
Use an air purifier for dust and dander.
Wash your pet’s bedding at least once a week.
#6: Purify Your Space With Live Plants
Houseplants add a beautiful touch of green to your home, but they also work to filter the air through a process called photosynthesis, cleaning the surrounding air by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.
Research indicates that certain plants can reduce pollutants and absorb airborne toxins in the air, including:
Carbon dioxide
Benzene
Formaldehyde
Ammonia
Carbonyl
Nitrates
Sulfates
Carbonate
Live plants acting as a natural indoor filtration system can reduce the odors that these pollutants and toxins typically emit.
Examples of air-purifying plants that are safe for dogs and cats include:
Bamboo palm
Spider plant
Gerbera daisy
Boston fern
#7: Open Windows for Ventilation
Fresh air can do wonders for removing stagnant air and improving your home’s smell quality.
Opening your windows to circulate the outdoor air within your home can reduce stale odors that may be trapped inside. Be sure to open as many windows as possible to create greater airflow throughout your house.
#8: Don’t Forget the Fridge
The forgotten leftover Chinese food from two weeks ago, the intense fishy stench that hits you as you open the door — a bedraggled fridge can make you downright squeamish.
When your refrigerator gets stinky, try storing an opened box of baking soda anywhere inside.
The microscopic sodium bicarbonate particles from the baking soda rise out of that box and move around through the air, eliminating any foul odor that may try to interrupt your day. Your refrigerator’s built-in fan can give these particles an added boost, as do you every time you open and close the door or rearrange items on a shelf.
#9: Use Vinegar To Clean and Absorb Odors
Like baking soda, vinegar is another magical ingredient that can make your home smell good naturally.
The acetic acid molecules in vinegar bond with volatile compounds in the air, neutralizing them. As the vinegar evaporates, it takes those neutralized molecules with it — leaving behind no scent at all and eliminating any gross smells that existed before.
Use it as a natural home cleaning product to clean your microwave, dishwasher, and washing machine.
#10: Vacuum Frequently
Regular vacuuming removes dust, food, dirt, and other pollutants that can cause your home to reek. It’s a commitment, but keeping up with the vacuuming can keep your home feeling refreshed and smelling pure.
But, if you don’t have time for frequent cleaning or would rather be doing something else, we can take care of it for you.
Tidy Up Portland! specializes in maintenance cleaning services tailored to suit your household's needs. Whether you want weekly, biweekly, monthly, or a one-time service, we’ll keep your home spotless and smelling great.
#11: Make a Schedule for Cleaning Upholstery and Curtains
An often neglected and overlooked part of a cleaning routine, your upholstery and curtains should be maintained as they can hold in a lot of under-the-radar odors.
From movie nights to TV dinners and battling unforgiving colds, your couch sees a lot of action. Every time you sit, lie, plop, or move around on your upholstered furniture, you’re potentially releasing the musty scent of dust, grime, mold spores, and bacteria into the air.
Not to mention the cooking odors from the kitchen that seem to have a way of permanently sticking to your upholstery.
Upholstery cleaning helps remove those odors by removing the source.
In general, it's a good idea to perform surface cleanings to your upholstery and curtains every three to four weeks, and a deep clean once or twice a year. You may find that you’ll need to clean your upholstery and curtains more frequently if you cook often or have active pets or kids.
#12: Keep Your Home Clean and Decluttered
Odor-causing molecules caused by the accumulation of dust, dirt, and grime can stick to surfaces in your home.
A regular cleaning routine can not only make your home look better but can minimize these residues to improve the smell and air quality of your humble abode.
Maintenance will require some ongoing effort, but establishing a consistent cleaning schedule and breaking down the tasks you need to complete on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis can reduce the risk of disagreeable odors returning.
Make Your Home Smell Good With Regular Cleanings From Tidy Up Portland!
When you just don’t have enough hours in the day, Tidy Up Portland! can be your helping hand, making your home a clean and inviting space.
Dependable and transparent, we pride ourselves on providing top-notch service that doesn't include chemicals or toxins to make your home sparkle. Our green cleaning methods can make your home smell good naturally.
The way your home makes you feel is important to us. It’s more than just cleaning, it’s about caring — caring that your home feels so delightful it smells like a memory that can make you smile.
We’ve made booking a house cleaning in Portland as simple as a click of a button. Visit our online booking portal to set up a date and time that works for you.
