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Do you have a wish list? I do.  Some of the items on my wish list are scented candles, plug-in air fresheners or one of those lovely wickless candle warmers.  While these choices aren’t always frugal, there are quite a few DIY ways to keep your home smelling fresh.

Give one or two of these a try and enjoy your fabulously-frugal smelling home!

-Simmer cinnamon sticks and oranges on the stove (or on low in a small crockpot) – it’s better than any candle or artificial fragrance.

-Whenever you use fresh squeezed lemon juice, throw the rinds in your garbage disposal… it freshens up your kitchen.

-Baking soda sprinkled on the carpet and vacuum it up.  You can also put vinegar in a dish and let it sit out a bit if you need to absorb some stinky odors.

-A little liquid fabric softener diluted with water in a spray bottle makes a frugal Febreeze.

-Perfume samples from magazines or a spritz of nice perfume on a cotton ball can be placed in discreet places for the scent… or you can use vanilla extract as well.  Use herbal tea bags as sachets and put one in your vacuum if it has one of those cup filters instead of the bags.

-Essential oils can be dabbed onto a cotton ball and tucked around the house.   I use different scents for different seasons, like Lemongrass and Grapefruit, Lavender or Orange.

-Vacuum often, and spritz with vinegar…  it stinks to high heaven for a couple minutes then smells fresh!  Keep windows open and run a fan to circulate air, also mix a few drops of tea tree oil with water in a spritzer bottle and spray that after vacuuming.

-Leave out whole coffee beans in a pretty bowl (or nestle a candle into a basket surrounded by coffee beans, when the candle warms up the scent of the coffee beans will increase).

-Press cloves into the skin of an orange, all the way around. Hang them from ribbons. Smells great, even after it dries all the way up…which takes a couple of weeks.

-Add a couple of drops of Essential Oil on your furnace filter… it lasts for a couple of days and the whole house smells wonderful.

-You can dab a bit of vanilla extract or diluted essential oil mixture onto light bulbs (while turned OFF!). When they’re turned back on, the gentle heat of the bulbs distributes the scent. This is good when you don’t want to add moisture to the air. If no one in your family is chemically-sensitive, you can dab a bit of air freshener stuff or tiny bit of perfume (a little goes a long way!) onto light bulbs.

-Use Baking Soda!  Use it on carpets instead of spending extra money on the carpet fresh stuff, just use regular baking soda.  Also use it in your garbage disposal with vinegar.

-Put a little pumpkin pie spice or just cinnamon in a small pot with a little water and simmer it on the back burner of the stove for awhile. It makes the house smell like an apple pie is baking.

-Put a tablespoon of vanilla in a microwave safe dish – ‘nuke’ it for 25 seconds and set the dish wherever you want it to smell good.

-In your bathroom,  place a small cup of Fabuloso floor cleaner behind the toilet on the floor. You can’t see it, and it smells so good!

-Put a few drops of Peppermint Oil on a cotton ball and hide them around the house.  They will freshen it up along with keeping out rodents!  You can also hide dryer fabric sheets in furniture, closets etc. to keep things smelling fresh.