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So Sweet: 21 Natural Ways to Scent Your Home
By Mary Ellen Pinkham
MSN Women / Food & Home

Long before aromatherapy candles, potpourri beads and plug-in air fresheners, women used simple home fragrance techniques to scent their homes. I included several creative fragrance suggestions in my first household hints book:

1-Selling your home? Before an open house, add to a pot of water any combination of allspice, cloves, orange peel, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and fresh ginger, and simmer the mixture slowly on the stove. Prospective buyers will feel instantly at home.

2-Running late with dinner? Buy a little time by sauteing an onion in a little oil. The savory aroma will serve as a signal to hungry family members that dinner is on the way.

3-Want to give your home that "what's in the oven" fragrance? Consider the idea I called "faking baking": Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar in a tin pie pan and burn it slowly on the stove top over very low temperature or very low flame.

4-No time to clean? A spritz or two of pine cleaner will give unexpected visitors the impression that you slaved all day.
Times have changed since I wrote those first words of advice, but the simple techniques still work like a charm. Want a few more homespun fragrance tips? Here are up-to-date suggestions that will rid your home of off odors and circulate sweet scents throughout the day.

Natural Air Fresheners:
5-Vinegar is an inexpensive, effective deodorizer. To get rid of unpleasant odors (like cigarette smoke), pour 1/2 cup of vinegar in each of several containers and place them around the room.

6-Another smoke-neutralizing tip? Fill ashtrays with cat litter! This product puts out cigarettes and absorbs the smell.

7-To eliminate the scent of cabbage or other disagreeable odors wafting through the kitchen, simmer cinnamon sticks or cloves in a pot of water. Or boil 3 tablespoons of vinegar in 1 cup of water.

8-Rid your hands of fish odor by washing them with vinegar, then rinsing them with water.

9-Lingering odor on your plastic or wood cutting board? Cover the board with a paste of baking soda and water and let it set for 15 to 30 minutes. Remove the paste with hot soapy water - and as a final step, rub the entire board with a little lemon juice.

10-Oven cleaners tend to leave behind a strong chemical scent. To freshen the air (and your oven), place orange peels in the oven and bake them for l5 minutes at 300 degrees. Or do the same with a whole unpeeled lemon. After baking, leave the oven door slightly ajar, and take care not to touch the fruit until it has completely cooled.

11-Blast garbage disposal odor with simple ice cubes! Mix 1 cup of vinegar with 1 cup water (or enough water to fill an ice tray). Pour the mixture into your tray and freeze. Pop the ice cubes in the disposal and grind. Another thrifty option? Rather than discard orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime peels, freeze them and run a few through the disposal from time to time. Remember to flush the disposal with cold water afterward.

12-Sour microwave smells are easily eliminated. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to 2 cups of water and microwave the solution on high power for 10 minutes. Leave the lemon water in the microwave for another 10 minutes, and then wipe down the microwave walls with a clean cloth dipped in a bit of the mixture. Repeat if necessary.

13-For simple fridge fresheners, cotton balls soaked in vanilla, or an open container of coffee grounds (even used coffee grounds!), do the trick.

14-The ultimate litter box deodorizer? For every 5 pounds of litter, add 2 teaspoons dried mint and 1 cup baking soda.

15-To quickly deodorize a bathroom, strike a match.

Sweet Home Fragrances:
16-To fill your living room with a spicy aroma, throw orange or tangerine peels, pinecones or potpourri into your fire.

17-Or make fragrant fire starters (nice presents for homeowners). Tie 6- to 8-inch pieces of pine and balsa branches, dried heather and lavender, small bunches of rosemary and thyme, and several cinnamon sticks together with raffia. As a finishing touch, glue small pinecones to the raffia bow with craft glue or a hot glue gun.

18-Old-fashioned pomanders add fragrance and make lovely decorations. To create your own clove-studded fruit, first choose an orange, lemon or lime; then poke holes in the surface with a pin and insert whole cloves into the holes. You can opt for a traditional look (surface entirely covered with cloves) or create your own unique design. To preserve a pomander, place it in a paper bag with powdered orrisroot, seal the bag, shake the contents and store the bag in a warm, dark spot for three weeks before use.

19-Scent a room or doorway with a potpourri wreath! To make one, brush white glue over the surface of a green Styrofoam wreath form, cover each and every inch with potpourri (don't leave bare spots!), and let your wreath dry overnight. Make a bow with wide, wire-edged ribbon and add it to your wreath. Voila - it's ready to display!

20-Another way to enjoy your favorite potpourri all day? Simmer it in a slow cooker.

21-To fill each room with a sweet scent, fill a length of panty hose loosely with your favorite spice blend, tie it at both ends and place it inside a hot air vent.