To get rid of bad smells in your home and make sure it smells nice instead, don’t make the mistake of using synthetic scents sold in shops in the form of candles, scented sticks, diffusers, etc.
It has now been proven that all these products are toxic and pose health risks due to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) they contain. Instead, turn to natural solutions such as the 7 we suggest here, effective and healthy tips from grandma!
1 – First, ventilate your home regularly
As our grandmothers know, ventilating your home regularly is a simple and essential step to renew the air and make it healthier, but also to get rid of bad odours, even the most stubborn ones.
By leaving your windows open for 10 minutes a day, whatever the season, preferably in the morning or very late on summer evenings, you can rid your home of cooking smells, tobacco smoke, damp, etc., and above all prevent them from becoming ingrained in fabrics (sofas, armchairs, curtains) and on many surfaces in the home.
2 – Clean with natural products
Keeping your home clean is obviously essential for a healthy home, but also for a home that smells good.
Rather than using chemical cleaning products whose ingredients are as harmful to the health of the occupants as they are to the environment, follow the example of our grandmothers, who have long used natural products, whose effectiveness and non-toxicity they know well.
Choose natural cleaning products such as white vinegar, baking soda, black soap, etc., which can thoroughly and safely clean every room in the house.
These non-harmful products are also very effective at getting rid of unpleasant odours in the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, etc., and leave a delicious clean scent throughout the house, without any health risks, unlike combustible products such as scented candles and incense, or sprays, diffusers and scented sticks.
3 – Get rid of damp and mould odours
To get rid of unpleasant odours in the home, it is important to know where they come from, especially when it comes to sewer fumes, mould or damp, for example.
It is common for such unpleasant odours to come from the washing machine. There are a number of very effective tips for preventing and getting rid of these unpleasant odours.
First, check the drain filter on your washing machine, which may be clogged, preventing water from draining normally and causing it to stagnate, which leads to unpleasant sewer odours.
We also recommend leaving the door of your washing machine slightly open every day to allow moisture to escape, and regularly washing the detergent dispenser with bicarbonate of soda or white vinegar.
In the kitchen, unpleasant odours caused by poorly maintained pipes can also be prevented by cleaning them thoroughly, for example with soda crystals mixed with hot water.
4 – Baking soda: an effective natural odour remover
Getting rid of unpleasant odours in the home is child’s play with this foolproof tip from our grandmothers, which involves using baking soda, an eco-friendly product known for its many virtues.
Baking soda has, among other things, unprecedented natural odour-eliminating properties!
Simply place small bowls filled with this white powder, which acts as a powerful odour absorber, around the house (in rooms, the refrigerator, cupboards, etc.) and replace this natural product every month.
Bonus: bicarbonate of soda is also very effective when mixed with lemon and water, a mixture that you can use as a spray to deodorise fabrics in the house that cannot be put in the washing machine.
5 – Coffee grounds to get rid of kitchen odours
Our grandmothers have always kept their coffee grounds because they know how useful they are around the house, especially as an effective odour remover.
This natural solution can be used, for example, to eliminate odours coming from your kitchen sink by simply placing a little coffee grounds in the sink and then pouring hot water over them.
This old wives’ remedy helps to deep clean your pipes and eliminate any unpleasant odours that may escape from them.
Placed in a small dish in your refrigerator, coffee grounds are also very effective at eliminating unpleasant odours, such as cheese.
6 – A bouquet of dried flowers and plants to make your home smell naturally fresh
To keep your home smelling fresh, you can use this old wives’ remedy, which involves making your own all-natural fragrance blend to keep your home smelling pleasant for a long time.
This is a good solution that avoids having to buy synthetic fragrances full of chemicals that are known to be harmful to health.
We are talking about making your own potpourri, i.e. a dried mixture of flower petals and fragrant plants, which you then place in a pretty container.
To create this 100% natural fragrance diffuser, you can use rose petals, lavender, honeysuckle, aromatic herbs (mint, rosemary, etc.), or even vanilla pods, pine cones, cloves or cinnamon sticks.
7 – Citrus fruits: an eco-friendly solution for freshening up your home
We all know about the health benefits of citrus fruits. But did you know that you can also use them to make your home smell nice and give it a delicate fragrance?
Oranges, lemons, mandarins and grapefruits in particular are excellent natural deodorisers!
Simply cut a lemon or orange in half and place the pieces in a container in your refrigerator to eliminate unpleasant odours.
Citrus fruits also work in the same way if you do the same thing in other rooms in your home, particularly in the toilet or bathroom. In addition to helping you get rid of unpleasant odours, these fruits also help to delicately fragrance your home.
To make your home smell even better, an effective old wives’ remedy is to stick cloves into your citrus fruits, which also have the ability to eliminate unpleasant odours.
To get rid of bad smells in the kitchen, you can also boil lemon juice in a little water with a clove. This is another very effective old wives’ remedy that you should definitely try!
