dotdailydose
We all want a nice-smelling home, but it’s not always as easy as lightning a candle. With pets, food smells and generally unpleasant odours easily manifesting in your house, here are some easy day-to-day practices to ensure your home smells fresh:
- Remove stains right away. Removing any nasty stains should be the first job on your list, as many spills can produce strong or unpleasant odours that get worse the longer they’re left.
-
Look out for bugs. Insect infestations can also be responsible for some unpleasant or stubborn smells, so taking action against them could make a huge difference to your home.
-
Consider using essential oils. You could also consider an essential oil diffuser. These are a fairly affordable way to introduce a scent of your choice throughout every room, adding a touch of class that will be appreciated by your guests’ noses just as much as your own. You can find our guide for how to choose the perfect scent for your home below.
-
Use organic materials such as lemon. Did you know using lemon in the bathroom can help neutralise bad smells? Once any lingering fragrances are gone, you can effectively replace them with fresh lavender pouches.
-
Make sure your clothes are fresh. Keeping your clothes fresh might be a less obvious, but very effective, way to improve your home’s fragrance. Bad smells can easily linger on fabrics, so choosing the right laundry product and washing regularly is vital to stop smells at their source.
-
Be mindful of the cleaning products you bring into your home. Finally, choosing cleaning products you like the smell of can be a great way to save time and money. A great tip is to choose neutral-smelling products and adding your own essential oils in the smell that you love. It creates a cosy ambience whilst leaving your surfaces clean.
Choose the perfect scent to match your mood
Our favourite smells are decided by two things; the way we smell things and the close connection between smell, memory, and mood
At its most basic, your sense of smell relies on your nose and brain working together. Whenever you inhale, tiny molecules in the air (released from the substances around us) go into the nose and stimulate thousands of odour receptors.
The unique combination and concentration of molecules sends a message your brain decodes and, eventually, recognises as a particular smell. Over time, your brain builds associations with different smells and these can become powerful triggers for memory.
Why is that? Well, without strong links to memory, you would find yourself surprised every time you sniffed. Because of how tightly the two are connected, some smells might take you back to your childhood, reminding you of a favourite day at school, a beloved grandparent or even a family holiday. If you were happy when that first memory happened, you’re likely to be happy when you smell that reminder again years later.
Therefore, smells can impact your mood and even improve it, so below are 6 smells to look out for to match your different moods.
Feel happy with vanilla
Certain scents can boost your mood via endorphins — the brain’s feel-good chemicals — and vanilla happens to be a strong aromatic stimulant, shown to help reduce anxiety.
Choose jasmine for serenity
Jasmine is a natural relaxant for the mind and body. Jasmine is known to have a calming effect on the nervous system, improving restlessness, irritability, and insomnia. The scent of Jasmine can be a more effective sedative than sleeping pills. Jasmine tea is also known to ease muscle tension.
Lavender will make you feel calm
Lavender has been shown to affect the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system controls bodily processes associated with anxiety, such as heart rate, breathing rhythm, and hormone secretion. Lavender can help in regulating these bodily processes by restoring a neutral state.
Need motivation? Ginger is the answer
Ginger affects the release of dopamine in the brain, known as the “motivation molecule,” as it increases productivity. It’s also reported that ginger can help elevate mood and banish negative feelings.
Eucalyptus can make you feel fresh
Eucalyptus is often used in cold-relief products because of its anti-inflammatory properties, clearing up mucus and making you feel fresh and cleansed. It also has the ability to freshen up the mind and relieve brain fog.
Increase your focus with peppermint
The scent of peppermint stimulates the hippocampus area of the brain, the area that controls mental clarity and memory, particularly long-term memory. Basically, the aroma of peppermint – primarily the menthol component – triggers you to wake up and pay attention.
Cinnamon is the favourite home smells of Filipinos
Looking at Google Search Data, Cleanipedia (part of Unilever) looked into which smell the majority of Filipinos prefer in their homes when it comes to candles, diffusers and the like. It turns out that people in The Philippines love the earthy, subtly floral smell of agarwood, accounting for 24% of search interest. No other fragrances seem to come close for locals however, with ‘aloe vera’ holding 15.5% of interest in The Philippines, and ‘leather’ 11.7%.
