The simple cotton-ball hack that could solve your stinky trash can problems

There is no problem too big or too small for essential oils. Can’t sleep? Try lavender. Need to set the mood for date night? Try jasmine. An aromatherapy diffuser can easily become the center of your home sanctuary (it’s one of those things you don’t realize you’re missing until you have one and then can’t imagine how you possibly lived without), infusing your rooms with joy (as far as organization guru Marie Kondo is concerned, at least) and helping you feel energized. And now, there’s a new functional reason you need essential oils in your life, stat: to make stinky trash a thing of the past.

Try soaking a cotton ball in a few drops of essential oil and then placing it under the bag in your garbage can. The cotton ball neutralizes the stink.

The garbage can get pretty rancid, especially in your kitchen, where you discard food remnants (looking at you, pescatarians!). But according to Apartment Therapy, an easy hack to avoid your meal-prep oasis doubling as a veritable landfill involves none other than your trusty kit of essential oils.

Try soaking a cotton ball in a few drops of essential oil and then placing it under the bag in your garbage can. The cotton ball neutralizes the stink, and for an added bonus, certain oils have other useful properties, according to Apartment Therapy: Tea tree and citruses fight bacteria, mint repels rodents, and neem deters bugs.

Basically, having an arsenal of essential oils on hand is the most responsible thing you can do as a living, breathing (and smelling) adult.

Experimenting with your oils? Here’s a beginner’s guide to mixing them and the reason why (and how) you need to clean your diffuser.