Do you like to come home to a relaxing and inviting environment? I know that after a long day at the office, before I used to work outside of the home, it was always a nice feeling coming home to a good smelling home.
According to some studies people with a good smelling home use less pain medication, have lower heart rates and blood pressure, experience less fatigue and anxiety, and sleep better at night. A clean and good smelling home can decrease fatigue, colds, headaches, coughs, sore throats, and flu-like symptoms. In a study by the Agricultural University of Norway, showed that common illness rates fell by more than 60 percent in offices and homes that smelled good and did simple things like adding plants and scent diffusers.
Every now and again I love to entertain guests. A close friend or a colleague from work will pay us a visit at home. Have you noticed that your house has adopted an unpleasant smell because you were too busy to thoroughly clean and have all the rooms of your house tidied? So how do you get your house back to smelling really good? We have some tested and trusted ideas for you.
#1: Windows for Cross-Ventilation
A good smelling house needs the help of open windows to achieve its aim of a pleasant smell. Without open windows, the same air gets stuck within a room in your house or the different rooms in your house and no new air comes in. This means air inflow and outflow aka air circulation becomes restricted.
To counteract unpleasant smell in your house, leave the windows open but pay attention to windy and freezing temperatures to avoid negative impacts on your paint, chimney, and pipes. Make sure your windows are properly insulated and sealed. A window that is poorly insulated can cause condensation that will accumulate and cause paint chipping, rotting and even mold around your window.
#2: Trash the Trash
Garbage disposal - and at the appropriate time - is a must if your house must smell good. There is not an in between here. Once you begin slacking with garbage disposal, the discarded food remnants in your trash bin becomes rotten and spreads its stench from your kitchen/bedroom to your sitting room and the rest of your house.
One of the best ways to avoid the stench from your trash bin becoming the default smell in your house is to adopt a twice weekly form of disposal. Wednesday and Saturday every week could work and so could any other two days of the week evenly separated with 2-3 days in between.
Beyond the food remnants in your trash bin, also pay good attention to your sink or wash basin because food remnants and debris get stuck in the sink strainer and sink trap. These two areas hold the most amount of debris in the wash basin. We recommend that you take out the debris and thoroughly wash the drain strainer whenever you do your dishes which should be at least once daily; cleaning the sink trap could be done once a week because of its location.
#3: Clean Your Refrigerator/Fridge Freezer
Your refrigerator or fridge freezer stores food for a long period of time so that you can easily warm them up for use when you desire to. However, because we are humans with different choices to make everyday, we often forget some food in there for a long period of time and they get expired.
After expiry, they become rotten and pollute the frozen air in either of these electrical appliances. The more you open them, the more the polluted frozen air seeps into your house and ruins the good smell. Even without opening your refrigerator/fridge freezer, the rotten air seeps in slowly and gradually builds up.
To deal with this and retain the good smell in your house, you need to frequently clean your refrigerator/fridge freezer and dispose of rotten food, meat, fish and vegetables. You can also use odor absorbing baking soda. This is a simple and cheap solution to help keep your refrigerator smelling clean and odor free.
#4: Wash Your Towels
Wash your towels after a couple of days of usage. And air them the right way and in the right place as well. Towels absorb lots of water and moisture from your body after a shower and not only that, but they also get dirty after repeated use. A mix of moisture and dirt do not mix well (no pun intended) so change your towels after a few days (twice a week is a good idea) and throw in the dirty one in the washing machine. Mixing a small amount of color safe bleach or a diluted amount can help kill odor causing bacteria and mold on your towels.
Extra tip: Colored towels could be deceptive hence if you find it difficult knowing when to change your towel and wash it, you could just go for white towels. They would tell you when it is the right time to wash and change them after 2 or 3 days.
#5: Flush Toilet after Use - and Drains too
Toilets and drains need flushing to be and remain clean. So, after use, flush them with a good volume of water. Then, every week, wash your toilet with a drain cleaning product; twice monthly or monthly, do the same thing with your drains. Use cleaning products like S. C. Johnson & Son. Check your homes plumbing often. Check out of the way places like under the sinks and behind your shower/bath kick panels. You might be surprised to see some leaking or even mold.
You should have these issues fixed immediately before they turn into big problems. A small drip under your sink can cause your shelving to rot and even cause mold. Even uninsulated pipes behind your shower or bath can cause condensation to build up and cause mold which in turn can lead to breathing issues.
#6: Dry Your Footwear after Use
Footwear needs drying because your feet sweat and the droplets of sweat get in contact with your footwear through the tiny pores on your feet. When the sweat droplets come into contact with the fabric of your footwear, it builds up over time. When that pair is not aired properly, your footwear begins stinking.
You can either wash your footwear if it was made with a cloth material. If not, after each wear, ensure it stays under the sun for an extended period of time in order to kill the germs and possible stench.
Scent orbs from footwear stores help as well. Do not forget to follow the cleaning instructions from the footwear company. Quite often your new sneakers will come with care instructions.
#7: Grow and Nurture Fresh Plants
Not to be forgotten, do these: choose, buy, grow, and nurture fresh plants with the right kind of scent you want your house to be associated with. Here is a list of very common and easy to find house plants/flowers that you might consider when naturally scenting your home, Azores Jasmine.
For intense fragrance, grow jasmine, 'Marino Blue' Heliotrope. Vanilla honey describes the sweet scent of these pretty purple flowers, Spearmint, Night-Blooming Jasmine, eucalyptus 'Silverdrop', Corsican mint, 'Angel's Blushing Beauty', Angel's Trumpet and Lemon Balm. Of course, there are many more, but these are inexpensive, hearty, and readily available.
When you breathe, your body takes in oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This opposite pattern of gas use makes plants and people natural partners. Adding plants to interior spaces can increase oxygen levels.
Once you have sorted out the choice and purchase aspects of this, focus on growth and nurture. A good place for growth and nurture is near your windows or on the window sills - and the reason why this works is because your plants will be adequately aerated and also spread the scent to all the corners of your house. Another benefit to having more greenery and house plants is the added.
#8: Clean & Care For Your Domestic Pets
We love our furry friends, but domestic pets can often make your house smell funny. To combat this, you can develop a simple cleaning regimen for your loveable pets. There are many brick and mortar pet stores and online stores where you can purchase grooming tools and pet safe shampoos and cleansers.
We suggest a weekly brushing for your pet as well as cleaning around their paws, mouth and a nice trim around the rear areas to keep them from getting soiled when your pet “goes”. Although there are many suggestions on how often you should give your pet a full bath you want to be vigilant and make sure that you are using a shampoo that does not irritate your pet.
#9: Clean Your Floors
Your carpets and floors can harbor lots of dust, dander and grime. Designate some time each week to give those hardwood floors a good brooming and then at least once a month go over them with a nice hard surface cleaner mop or even a steam cleaning. This will help keep them clean and smelling fresh.
For your carpets and rugs a weekly or bimonthly cleaning should be sufficient depending on the foot traffic and if you have pets or not. We also recommend a nice area mat or rug at your entryways that will capture the dirt and grime before it has a chance to spread to the rest of your home. These small entryway rugs/mats are also a perfect place to remove and place your footwear.
#10: Fragrance Oil Scent Diffusion
Its time to step into the next level of modern scent technology. No longer to you need to spray chemicals into the air you and your family breath and cover up undesirable odors in your home. Little wall outlet plug in cartridge systems are limited to small areas, take up your wall outlets, are not child friendly and can be expensive over time.
Innovative luxury fragrance house, Argos Fragrances has come up with the ultimate solution to your home and office scenting needs. They have made a simple yet beautiful Pure Fragrance Oil Fragrance/Scent Diffuser. Argos scent diffusers are space saving and ultra-quiet. Argos diffusers are super-efficient, look modern, attractive and are easy to use. Argos Pure Oil Scent Diffusers come is a variety of sizes for use in your home, office or even in large spaces.
Once you purchase your machine, simply add pure fragrance oil and program it to exactly what days and times you want it to run and even the fragrance strength/density. You can even select from several premium fragrances that are just next level, beautiful. Argos fragrance oils are some of the purest and most elegant scents you will ever experience.
Now you are not just covering up odors. You are giving your living and workspace life through the most beautiful scents. You and your guests will absolutely be in love with the way your home/office smell. Not only is a good smelling home attractive but it will enhance your mood and lead to better health. Do all these, in addition to regular cleaning and tidying up of the rooms in your house and you will be all set with that good smell for your house.
For more ideas and tips, you can contact us at Argos Fragrances, and we will be happy to speak with you about scenting your home or office spaces with beautiful natural oils through Argos Pure Oil Scent Diffusers. Argos scent diffusers are waterless, quiet, super-efficient and the best part is they don’t use harmful chemicals or synthetics. You will definitely be remembered the next time you are hosting family or friends and we are willing to bet that it will be one of the first comments your guests make when they enter your home or office.
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