Few things are more embarrassing to a homemaker than unpleasant odours in the house. A foul-smelling bin or musty smelling curtains can make even the smartest of homes uninviting.

The truth is, though, that if you care about your home environment it's unlikely that you'd let a bin that smelt of last night's supper stay that way for long. Cleaning it with a good detergent or bleach will soon put pay to the waft of what may well have been a delicious take-away permeating throughout the house. But what about those odours that go unnoticed, the everyday smells that we sometimes live with, without ever smelling them ourselves?

Perhaps you have a cat or dog, or even a hamster scurrying around its wheel that is all very much part of the family. But however well they are cared for and kept clean it's almost impossible for them not to impart their own particular odour around the house. It's just we seem to get immune to smells that become very familiar to us.

And if someone in your house smokes you will know that it's a smell that tends to hang around. Even if you vacuum and polish on a regular basis, the odour can linger in your carpets and soft furnishings for weeks on end.

It's also terribly time-consuming to take all your curtains down to clean them - not forgetting the huge expense if they have to be dry-cleaned. Equally how many of us really have time to take off the sofa covers and give them a good wash like we do our clothes and bedding? Obviously all your soft furnishing will benefit from being cleaned once a year to keep them fresh and hygienic but also because unwanted dirt and grit can reduce carpet and fabric life and stop harmful mites and bacteria from ruining the fabrics.

But even if you do as much as you can, spring-cleaning once a year and opening your windows often in the warmer months it's still useful to have something at hand to use on a regular basis.

A bowl of pot pourri with a favourite scent can really lift the air and hide unwanted odours. Scented candles and air fresheners are another useful device for overcoming those day-to-day aromas that go unnoticed. And by spraying Febreze on your curtains, rugs and soft furnishings you'll instantly get that glorious sense of freshness in the house. If you're a freshness lover and can't bear the thought of friends and visitors smelling something that has gone undetected by you and your family, there's no reason now why you can't open the door with confidence and offer an open house to one and all!