8 Cleaning Hacks to Keep Your House Looking and Smelling Fresh

Pretty much everyone wants their house to smell nice, but that can be tougher to attain than you might imagine–especially if you don’t regularly clean your house. After all, you can light all the soy wax candles you want, but that won’t magically disperse the funky odor wafting from the kitchen trash can. If you’re wondering how to make your house smell fresh around the clock, here are eight tips to remove the bad smells and add some pleasant fragrances in their place:

Do a ‘smell audit’ of your house

The first step to making your house smell fresh is getting rid of anything that smells gross. Conduct an odor audit of your house to identify anything that smells funky or gross. Make sure to take frequent breaks throughout, as your nose quickly acclimates to smells and you might not even notice it after a few minutes. Once you’ve identified everything that smells off, do a deep clean of all those areas to get rid of whatever may be causing the smell.

Use odor-neutralizing products

Some items are just going to smell a bit funky no matter what, including litter boxes and trash cans. For these areas, seek out odor-neutralizing products that will absorb the nasty smells and leave the items smelling as neutral as possible. There may also be other things you can do to keep the smell in check, such as changing litter regularly or taking out the trash before it can go rotten. There’s no replacement for getting rid of these smells completely, but for necessary items that you can’t get ditch completely, this is a good compromise.

Pay attention to problem spots.

Some spots in your house are very likely to smell at some point. These odor hotspots include the refrigerator, the garbage disposal, bathroom trash cans and shoe racks in the mud room. Take extra care to clean these areas and incorporate them into your regular cleaning schedule whenever you vacuum, mop or dust. It will take an extra few minutes each week, but it will go a long way towards keeping these problem areas in check and reducing possible odors. If you really hate having to deep clean, these regular wipe downs will also help you put that off indefinitely.

Take advantage of common household products

Special odor-neutralizing products are great to have on hand, but there are a couple of general use products that also have strong odor-fighting powers. In particular, baking soda and dryer sheets will make your home smell good. Baking soda is known for its odor-absorbing powers, which is why you’re supposed to keep an open container in the back of your fridge. Baking soda can also be scattered on mattresses and other large items that can’t be washed. Leave it for a few hours and then vacuum it up. You can drop a dryer sheet on the bottom of your trash can to absorb bad smells, or tape a scented one to a box fan to disperse fragrances.

Light some scented candles

Once you’ve gotten rid of all the bad smells, you can then focus on making good smells in your home. Lighting scented candles is a classic move for a reason. They smell awesome and they provide appealing ambient light. For the best results, trim the wick before each burn to make the candle last longer. Place the candle in a secure place where it can’t be knocked over by children or pets. Keep it away from drafts, which can blow out the flame or cause the candle to burn unevenly. Remember to never leave a candle burning unattended since it is an open flame.

Set up reed diffusers

Candles are fantastic, but they do require monitoring and can’t be burned for more than a few hours at a time. If you’re looking for another way to make your home smell great, reed diffusers might be the solution you’re looking for. Diffusers use reeds full of microscopic channels to absorb the scented oil and disperse its particles into the air. Because they don’t have open flames or need electricity, reed diffusers can be placed anywhere as long as they won’t be knocked over. While the scent won’t be quite as strong as candles, reed diffusers work 24/7 to provide around-the-clock fragrance.

Spritz a room mist

If you need to quickly add fragrance to a room, room spray will act fast and immediately make it smell better. Room mist dilutes the fragrance oil in a carrier liquid so it can be sprayed around the room. As the spray dries, the smells will fade faster than a candle or a diffuser, so you’ll need to re-spray periodically to keep the fragrance coming. However, room spray is a great solution when you’re concerned about kids or pets knocking over candles and reed diffusers.

Get yourself some plants

Plants not only add life to your space, they also help filter toxins from the air–as well as dust and germs that can aggravate your body. Seek out plants that will purify the air, such as English ivy, snake plants, spider plants and the dragon tree. Most of these houseplants don’t have a smell of their own, so if you’d like to add a nice fragrance to your space, you can also pick a bouquet the next time you go to the grocery store. Place the whole floral arrangement in the dining room, or split it up and put the bunches around the house for an all-over scent.

Keep your house looking and smelling fresh with these eight tips. Remember that you need to get rid of any bad smells first before trying to add some pleasant ones!