Interesting you mentioned the dust and dead skin because I was just reading a book (totally unrelated to this topic) a couple of days ago that mentioned this...that might explain why sometimes I can perceive an odor and other times can't. I leave all of my windows perpetually open because of this issue.
A friend of mine (who doesn't appear to have any odor issues) had one of those timed air freshner dispensers (sort of the home version of the ones you find in office/public bathrooms) in her apartment. I've been thinking about going that route too but don't want to do commercial products because of the further toxicity and long-term side effects they could cause. If anyone knows of any organic, natural automatic air freshner dispenser products, let me know. Until then, I'll keep looking.