The Laundry Essential That Can Make Your Home Smell Fresh & Clean

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You dream of stepping through the front door into a clean and fresh-smelling home, but instead, it smells just on this side of musty. Opening your windows for around 15 minutes daily can work wonders to freshen your home, but if you're in the middle of winter, that's not always possible. And sometimes, you just need a little scent boost, even if the house doesn't smell stale or musty. If that sounds familiar, there's one easy hack you've got to try to make your home smell clean with items you already own: dryer sheets.

Made of thin pieces of fabric, dryer sheets are doused in fabric softener and scents to cut down on static and add a touch of scent to your laundry. But there's so many more ingenious uses for this laundry essential besides adding one to your dryer, including slipping them into your throw pillow's slipcovers to create a clean, fresh scent in your home. This easy hack works because every time someone sits down, or even simply adjusts a pillow, a touch of scent will be released. This is especially great if your pets sit on the furniture (us too!) and you don't want your couch to smell like dog. Let's dig into how to make your home smell amazing with this laundry essential.

To try this hack out in your own home, take a dryer sheet and place it between your slip cover and the pillow. The placement itself — on the backside or front of the pillow — likely won't make a huge impact on the scent, but play with it to see (or smell) which one works best in your home. Make sure to replace the dryer sheets once a month or when the fragrance fades to keep the scent fresh.

Do you have to use the same scent throughout your home? You can, but you don't have to. In fact, using uplifting scented dryer sheets, like Method Ginger Mango Dryer Sheets, in common areas, like the living room, can help brighten those spaces. Meanwhile, tranquil scents, such as Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Lavender Dryer Sheets, used in bedrooms can help you unwind.

Don't love dryer sheets? You can ditch dryer sheets for a DIY alternative by adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil to a piece of old fabric or reusable cotton pads, like Chloven Reusable Makeup Remover Pads. Essential oils can be powerful, so start with two drops and add more to find the right scent level for you. Make sure the oil has fully dried on the fabric before adding it into your slipcover to avoid accidentally staining the pillow.