AskWomen, how do you make your home smell good?

Do you want it to smell like something specifically, or just not smell bad?

I'm mostly afraid of the "smelling bad" part, especially since I have a dog. It basically comes down to "keep your house clean," but these are the things that make the biggest difference:

-Taking out the trash that night if there's any kind of leftovers/meat/meat packaging/dairy/dairy packaging. Don't let it sit and go bad inside your house. -Doing the dishes! Even if I don't think I've eaten anything particularly stinky, even if I rinsed out my dishes...bad smells usually lead to the dishes in the sink. -Keeping fabrics clean. Fabrics hold smells. Wash your sheets/duvet cover/dog beds/curtains/carpets/towels regularly. Vacuum regularly. (Truth be told, I bought a super cheap area rug so that when it starts to smell like dog, I can throw it out without feeling so bad.) -Fresh air! Open windows! -Don't let the bathroom stay humid. -Do your laundry. Even if you have enough clothes to go a few weeks...do you really want all those sweaty, dirty, stinky clothes just hanging out in your room? Like I said, fabrics hold smells. -Wash and brush the dog, if you have one. I'm convinced most people don't groom or bathe their dogs very often because so many dogs are so stinky and oily. I know it's not good to over-bathe dogs, but I think every few weeks is OK. My dog gets it monthly, plus wipe-downs when he's dirty. If your dog is stinky, it doesn't matter how clean your house is. It smells like dog. -If you have a cat, keep the litterbox in the most remote place possible - the garage, the basement, I don't know. I don't have a cat so I don't know the "best practices" but I have a nose and that "litterbox smell" is the worst. If it's in the bathroom or in the laundry room off the kitchen, people can smell it.

I still light a freshly scented candle pretty often. Halfway because candles just feel cozy. Halfway because I'm paranoid that my house smells like dog but that I just can't tell because I'm used to it. And my mom always said fire burns up smells - I don't know if that's true.

/r/AskWomen Thread