The Simple German Hack That Instantly Makes Your Home Smell Better

There's one thing worse than a house that smells bad — having to pay tons of money to make it smell better. There's nothing wrong with loving a fancy candle or choosing the right signature scent for your home design. But sometimes, you just need a super quick, totally free hack to make your home smell amazing.

Enter: lüften. It's the German practice of opening windows to improve air circulation in your home, minimizing the stuffiness that can make your place smell stale and funky. It doesn't matter if outdoor temperatures are frigid or they're fiery; many German homeowners do it every day, all year long (and sometimes, it's even required by an apartment lease!). The process is simple. As the dirty air exits out your window, it takes the old pollutants, odors, and moisture with it, paving the way for calming whiffs of fresh, clean-smelling air to take its place. As far as home hacks go, it's our favorite kind — super low effort with a super high reward.

Before you fling open every window in your place to say goodbye to foul smells and improve your home's air quality, know that practicing lüften effectively requires some strategy. First, there's actually two different types: stobßlüften and querlüften.

Stobßlüften translates to "shock ventilation," and refers to opening the windows of one room for a brief period — 10 minutes or so. This is done two or three times per day, preferably at least once in both morning and evening. Querlüften is cross-ventilation, where you'd open all the windows in the home for longer periods to promote air flow throughout the entire space. There are benefits to both. Stobßlüten is more commonly used in colder months, when a fast blast of cold air can help improve air quality and reduce staleness without making the place too frosty (or overextending your heating system). Querlüften makes more sense in the milder months, when a nice breeze can help promote air flow without making too much of a difference for your indoor temperatures — just be sure to turn off your heating or cooling system if you're going to do this extended window-opening ritual.

Additionally, be mindful about how wide you open your windows. True lüften practice requires opening them wide to let as much air in and out as possible, especially during stobßlüften. A tiny crack just isn't going to give you the total overhaul needed to minimize smells.