Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s suddenly 2013. We welcomed the new year with a wet, cold and rather dreary day. Which means my heat is running almost nonstop. I found a DIY home humidifier trick from Good Housekeeping that adds some much needed moisture to the air. Bonus: it makes my house smell amazing!
DIY Home Humidifier Ingredients
Add a stick of cinnamon, a peel of grapefruit, and maybe a shake or two of allspice or nutmeg to a large saucepan of water. Keep it on low and make sure to add water when needed. That’s it! Just let it simmer all day. The moisture in the air is great for the house – and my skin. It gets so dry in winter!
The boiling water releases moisture into the air in the form of steam; the same way as a humidifier. To circulate the moist air, add a fan next to the stove to blow the air around a bit.
My hubby said it started to look like a “witch’s brew” but the concoction still smelled amazing on the 2nd and even 3rd day. Plus the smell is so homey. It makes me want to bake.
What do you do to make your house smell great?
I also like to use some special teas for the same affect. I thought of this years ago when trying to sell my home! It worked, I sold my house in three months from posting it.
That’s super smart Ann – love that idea for an open house :)
We always used to keep a cast iron kettle on top of the wood stove in the living room. We’d put mulled cider spice mix in it. Its made up of orange peels, allspice berries, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
That sounds so warm & cozy! And I bet it smelled even better!
This sounds awesome! I hate when our home is dry and of course who doesn’t love their house to smell good.
Oh wow. My house always just smells like whatever I last cooked (currently bacon…*ahem*) so this woul dbe a great remedy!
Eep! Had no idea you had moved, so I responded once and figured you’d not updated in months! Thank you for coming back.
this is fantastic! i love home sprucer-uppers that use all-natural ingredients and are easy to make. i have a stick of cinnamon to use too! thanks for sharing :)
Oooh, what a great idea! I love grapefruits. Happy new year!
I’ve never thought about doing something like this, but it’s such a great idea!! I definitely need to try it.
xo,
Angela
headtotoechic.blogspot.com
This is fantastic!! I love this kind of thing and I have a grapefruit downstairs — I’m tempted to go get it right now.
Happy new year!! :)
I’ve done this with lemon, rosemary, and vanilla but I just love the idea of grapefruit peel! I bet it makes the house smell so homey and refreshing at the same time.
Ohhh, rosemary & vanilla sounds (and probably smells) amazing!
I never thought about just keeping something on the stove all the time, but when I think back I am pretty sure my great-grandmother did this.
I am going to give it a try for sure
As of now, Bath and Bodyworks candles are all over my house.
Brett
I need to get some candles! But I’m always so worried the kids will burn the house down – Henry enjoyed Hanukkah a little too much… :)
I use oranges, lemons, cinnamon and whole cloves. My daughter loves to come to my house as she says it reminds her of her childhood. I have been doing this for about 20 years.
My mom used to do this! She’d use oranges instead of grapefruit, but I remember how amazing it would make the house smell. I need to do this–I could use a humidifier right now!
I know, everything is so dry! And I was surprised how much the grapefruit smelled – even just peeling it was amazing.
I shall give this a try too!
We’ve done this with apples and cinnamon or orange peels and cloves if you want to mix up the scents! I’ll bet something like lemon peels and herbs would smell really good, too.
Next time I’m definitely trying cloves – I love how those smell!
My skin has been so dry lately. I’m so doing this today!!
Happy New Year! xo
My chapped hands NEED this! Happy new year, Stephanie!