Natural Outdoorsy Scents

Air fresheners, candles, perfume, soaps, and other artificial scents can be overbearing and filled with harmful ingredients. But there are times when your home or your car need a little freshen up. There is a simple, all natural, lovely solution to fix those fishy problems. Fill your home with subtle scents of spices and herbs. These inviting aroma’s go a long way to leave a good first impression of your home. I especially recommend using natural scents if your house is on the market. A family friend relator had once told me they advise their sellers to bake cookies or boil cinnamon in water right before a potential buy drops by to create a good first impression. 

There are many different natural scents one can achieve in their home. Today I will be going over how to use pine or cedar twigs/needles to create a natural room scent. These scents that are pleasing to one person may not be to someone else, so consider what perfume, soap, and candles scents you like and customize this technique to what your nose likes. 

Ingredients: 

• pine or cedar twigs 
• bay leaves 
• nutmeg 

Combine the ingredients into a small pot on the stove top (on a low heat setting) and cover with water. Keep uncovered to release the natural scent and create a pleasant scent throughout your house. Add more hot water as needed. As the water evaporates from the pan, top it off with additional hot water. It needs to be hot when it added so that it doesn’t cool down the temperature of the scented water.

higher heat = more fragrance 

These cooked scents can be reused 2-3 times. After they have been heated and simmered for awhile (the water will become cloudy and some of the ingredients will lose their colour). Store the natural scents (with the water) in jars and keep them refrigerated in between uses. 

Other scents you can make are citrus, herbs, extracts, and spices