Hate how stale (and possibly smoky) your room smells but don’t want to use those god-awful commercial air fresheners? After all, most of those spray can air fresheners make your room smell like something out of a chemical weapons factory. You could always use those scented candles available in the market, but they can get a little pricy and the cheap ones really aren’t very effective at all. But fret not, we have a solution for you that will not only help banish those odours but will also help you impress your guests with how handy and creative you are.

The stove approach

You know how, when you burn something on the stove, the whole house smells of it? Well you can use the same concept to make your house smell good as well.

What you do is cut up some aromatic fruit (whatever smells good to you) along with some herbs, etc. and place in water (about 3/4th full) in a small saucepan

Bring the mix to a boil and then lower the heat to let it simmer. The aroma from this will then waft through your house (much like cooking smells do) and you can let it simmer until you feel that you’ve had enough.

Once you let it cool, you can bottle the remaining mix and re-use it later. Don’t wait too long as these things don’t have much shelf-life since they’re 100 per cent natural.

Here are some handy ‘recipes’ from www.cleanmyspace.com to get you started:

Fall wonderland: 1 sliced orange, 5 cinnamon sticks, 2 tablespoons of whole cloves

Orange Amaretto: 1 sliced orange, 1 tablespoon almond extract

Sweet mint: 2 sliced limes, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Gingerbread: 5 1/4 inch slices of ginger, 1 tablespoon almond extract, 3 cinnamon sticks

Orange creamsicle: 1 tablespoon vanilla, 1 sliced orange

Cordon bleu: 1 lemon, 1 tablespoon of peppermint extract, 4 sprigs of rosemary

Italian backyard: 1 lemon, 1 tsp black peppercorns, handful of basil

Forest: Cedar twigs, by themselves. I love cedar.

Regal cream: Bergamot tea (Earl Grey), 1 tsp vanilla extract

Oil is well

Does that sound too complicated? Are you just terrified of kitchens in general? Don’t worry as here are a few other solutions that don’t involve stoves and are actually pretty handy. Credit for these goes to the good people at www.organicauthority.com.

Spray it, don’t say it: Just take a few drops of essential oil (available at any market) and add to water in any kind of spray bottle. You can stick to a single oil or create your own mixes. Just don’t overdo the oil as these can get very strong indeed. Voila! You now have your own handy spray air freshener!

Cleaning up: If you’ve ever smelt what cleaning surfaces with a dirty or smelly rag can do, then it’s a good idea to reverse that problem and make it work for you. Here we simply take 4 tablespoons white vinegar, 3 cups water and several (up to 10) drops of your favorite essential oil in a spray bottle. Now, the next time you’re cleaning surfaces, just use this mix and you’ll have your house smelling sweet and being sanitary at the same time!

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 23rd, 2014