Trying to sell your home?
Skip the old advice to have cookies baking in the oven and definitely pass on the commercial scented candles or air fresheners full of toxins. Instead scent your home with natural essential oils.
In addition to making your home smell clean and fresh, essential oils are less likely to cause adverse reactions than the synthetic fragrances found in candles and air fresheners. And offering freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to people who can’t eat them (due to avoiding processed food or allergy concerns) isn’t going to win any bonus points either, LOL!
When we were searching for our new home, there were several places that did indeed bake tube-dough cookies to scent the house (which we politely declined) but most used heavily scented candles to mask pet odors, smoke odors or just make the home smell “nice”. Two homes were actually so bad we had to leave before seeing them fully. Even if the house had been to our liking, I certainly wasn’t going to purchase a home that would have lingering fragrance odors in the floor, walls and cabinets!
An easy solution is to use real essential oils. It’s a great idea to have essential oils around anyway- for natural everyday cleaning, for use in a natural first aid kit or even as an addition to some recipes. Essential oils also raise the vibration of the home and combined with natural sea salt may actually have some air purification effects.
You can simply mix up a spray bottle with a bit of alcohol (like vodka), water and several drops of essential oils and spritz it around or try this recipe from Aura Cacia, a producer of essential oils.
Vanilla Amber Aroma Crystals
1 cup coarse ground sea salt
1 tsp jojoba or grapeseed oil (just enough to make the salt crystals glisten)
25 drops vanilla essential oil
10 drops lavender essential oil
10 drops sweet orange essential oil
Mix salt and oils, pour into a decorative dish or bowl, and set on a table. Placing it near a warm, sunny window or near a heat source will help diffuse the aroma.
You can also make up your own blend to scent the salt crystals, and perhaps match the mood of your home or location while doing so. Have an earthy home near the mountains? Maybe some cedarwood, pine, frankincense or patchouli would be part of a good mix. Bright home near the beach? Maybe some citrusy oils like lemon, lime, grapefruit or lemongrass would be part of your blend.
Have fun with it and know that you’re promoting safer and more pleasant air in your home!
Our house is for sale right now and I’ve been using drops of essential oil in decorative jars and vases to scent areas. A word to the wise: even essential oils can be too much for some people. Use them sparingly and certainly not mix and match scents in different rooms!
Great tip! Good luck with the sale!
Our house is for sale right now and I’ve been using drops of essential oil in decorative jars and vases to scent areas. A word to the wise: even essential oils can be too much for some people. Use them sparingly and certainly not mix and match scents in different rooms!
Great tip! Good luck with the sale!