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Clever hacks to make your home smell amazing

Sure, fresh flowers can help a room smell lovely, but what about the rest of the house? That’s where these brilliant shortcuts come in.

Get oven-fresh smells without baking

Fresh-baked cookies and pies smell amazing, but you don’t need to make an entire recipe to fill your home with a warm scent. Brainstorming how to make your house smell good? Pour a teaspoon or two of ground cinnamon and cloves on a baking sheet. Leave it inside a 95°C oven for half an hour, keeping the door ajar. You’ll fill your home with a lovely spicy scent.

Use dryer sheets

Tape a new dryer sheet to the back of your dresser to make your underwear drawer smell fresher. You can also tuck some sheets behind curtains or under chairs.

Make fridge fragrance

You already know baking soda can neutralise fridge odours, but here’s a new trick: Dampen a cotton ball with vanilla extract and leave it on a refrigerator shelf to add a pleasantly sweet fragrance. You could also try dabbing lemon juice on the cotton ball instead.

Put food scraps to use

An unfortunate side effect of garbage disposals is that they can start to smell like, well, garbage. If you’re wondering how to make your house smell good, just toss leftover orange or lemon peels down the drain. Do it once a month to keep things smelling fresh.

Or try salt

No citrus peels? No problem. Dump half a cup of salt into the disposal, then turn on the disposal while running cold water. The salt will dislodge any waste stuck inside while neutralising their odours.

Try a stovetop fragrance

You can make your own home fragrance without shelling out for expensive candles or diffusers. Add several lemon and orange peels to a cup or two of water, then let it simmer for a few hours, adding water as needed. You’ll freshen the air and the pot in one step. You could also try this trick with a handful of cloves, keeping it simmering for half an hour.

Take an extra-luxurious shower

Tie a few eucalyptus branches together, then hang them on your showerhead, behind the stream of water. Your steamy shower will release the aromatic oils, giving you an invigorating wash time, according to blogger One Good Thing By Jillee. Eucalyptus oils can help respiratory issues like asthma, colds and sinusitis, so try this next time you’re sick. The scent will stay fresh for about a week.

Flip a switch for scent

Steal this old realtors’ trick: Turn off your lights until the bulbs are cool. Now place a couple drops of vanilla extract on your light bulbs. When you flip the lights on, the heat will gently spread the scent and make your home smell like fresh-baked cookies. This works better with incandescent bulbs, which get hotter than CFL bulbs.

Catch fridge drips

Drips from bottles and containers can leave foul-smelling residue on the shelves of your fridge. To keep it contained, leave a plastic lid under each container to act like a coaster and catch the drips. Once they start getting dirty, you can easily toss them in the dishwasher to clean the mess without scrubbing.

Get the stench out of Tupperware

Tomato juice is a surprising solution when soap and water won’t get the smell of last week’s dinner off plastic containers. You can also use it to wipe down a nasty-smelling fridge.

Make it lemony fresh

Cut a couple of lemons in half, then place them cut-side-up in a dish. Leave the dish near a litter box or in a bathroom to give the room a lemon-fresh scent.

Freshen a freezer failure

When a power outage makes your freezer stop working, you could be left with the smell of spoiled food. Get rid of the scent by pouring fresh coffee grounds – even used ones will do the trick – in the freezer overnight.

De-stink your garbage

To keep nasty garbage odours at bay, sprinkle a bit of baking soda or borax in the bottom of your garbage bin. The crystals will help neutralise the smell of those kitchen scraps. Replace the powder every time you take out the garbage.