This little Brisbaneite is so tired of the rain, the Sunshine State is not living up to it’s name at the moment!
Everything is damp and smells so musty. I also find that all these grey skies are making my mood go a little ‘grey’ too, so have been putting my essential oils to good use this week, trying to lift my spirits and stop my home from smelling like an old granny’s that has been locked up for months.
So here some easy ways to freshen up your home so it smells as good as it looks!
BURNER – My aromatherapy burner has been working in over drive lately. I get all my citrus oils out as they not only smell fresh, they are so uplifting and help to ease a bad mood. Lemon, Lime, Tangerine, Mandarin and Lemongrass have all had a work out lately. Simply fill your burner with water, light a tealight and add 6 drops of your favourite oil. For the next couple of hours your house will smell wonderful.
SIMMERING POT – Another great way to fragrance your home is to zest and slice a lemon and a lime, place in a saucepan half filled with water and allow to simmer on the stove.
CARPETS – In a freezer/plastic bag, place two cups of Bicarb Soda, and 10 drops of Essential Oil (love lemon for this) and give it a good shake to disperse the fragrance. Using a seive, sprinkle the Bicarb over your carpets and allow to sit for at least an hour before vaccuming. The Bicarb Soda and lemon will neutralise any odours leaving everything smelling fresh.
CLOTHES – Everything is so damp and the ‘clean’ clothes coming out of my wardrobe don’t smell fresh like they should. Take a couple of eye makeup removal pads or cotton wool balls, put 4 drops of Essential Oil (lemongrass is my fav for this) and place in your wardrobe or drawers.
TOWELS – Damp towels smell yucky, and as I don’t have a dryer or the sun to help here at the moment, when I was my towels, I add 6 drops of Eucalyptus Essential Oil into the rinse cycle. This not only kills germs but odours as well. They smell so clean, love it.
Wishing sunny days for all of us again, but in the mean time at least our homes can smell good!
What have you been doing to stop your home smelling musty.
Sharing today for #IBOT at Essentially Jess
Oh I know! This weather! I am going to go and put a saucepan of loveliness on right now 🙂
Enjoy, in winter add a stick of cinnamon and the whole house gets a warming scent, just lovely. 🙂
Great tips – especially love the one about the drops in the rinse cycle. I just have to remember to go and do it before the cycle is finished. My tip, which will sound incredibly basic I’m sure, is to open up the house. When I had a cleaner she would come in and the first thing she’d do is go to all the bedrooms and open up the windows wide, and the front and back door. I wondered why I hadn’t thought of that!
Hi Rachel, I put the Eucalyptus into the spot where you put the fabric softener in the machine. That way it gets added to the wash without me having to remember, and I am a super fan of open windows, struggle in winter when it is cold and I want to keep the heat in. 🙂
What great ideas! I especially like the oil drops on the eye pads. Thanks for sharing. Fairy wishes and butterfly kisses to help the rain disappear.
#teamIBOT dropped by xx
Thanks Rhianna, I always love ways to make things easy. 🙂
Great tips – I am *so* over the rain. Luckily I was in NZ for the past week and missed most of it but my car smells musty and terrible and everything just feels damp here!
Bring on the sun I say!
I have this issue in my car right now. I might try essential oils – it’s the only thing I haven’t tried.
I hope you dry out soon X
You can use the bicarb/essential oils on carpet in the car very successfully. Good luck. 🙂
I swear my house smells like ‘old person’ and I can’t figure out what it is – maybe the couches? With 3 kids under 5 there has been some spills, any suggestions other than getting them cleaned professionally? Thanks for other great tips 🙂 Emily
Hi Emily, I am experiementing with two carpet cleaning recipies at the moment that you can make at home. Will have a post on that very soon. 🙂
Hi Nikki! I’m so glad I stopped by – I will definitely be trying the trick to freshen the carpets! I also like citrus smells, like lemon and orange, and thanks to “potty training” a new puppy who still has accidents (yuck), these carpets definitely need help! I guess that mixture on the carpets won’t be good for the animals, though (puppy and cats), so that probably means they will have to be contained in one room until I vacuum – that could be tricky! Thanks again.
Hi K’lee, I have a pussy cat who has no issues with me playing with bicarb and essential oils, puppy might be a little different. 🙂
I’m on the Gold Coast and we’re lucky that our windows are sheltered so I’ve had the house open a lot, it’s helped to keep the place aired out and smelling fresh. A really fantastic way to make your home smell nice is to put some coffee beans into a small candle holder and then pop in a vanilla scented tea light – the whole place smells amazing when I do this.
Thanks Kyla, experimenting with coffee beans now. I have some vanilla oil and am trying these two together to see what happens. 🙂
Oh these are awesome tips! I really want an oil burner now, cause I hate the house being smelly
Hi Jess, just grab a burner from a cheap shop, they don’t have to be fancy, or expensive. The most basic one does a beautiful job. 🙂