We all want our houses to smell like clean linens, spring meadows, and lavender blossoms, but have you ever thought about how safe these air fresheners are? According to the EPA, majority of store bought fresheners contain phthalates, petrochemicals, formaldehydes, aerosol pollutants, and many other harmful chemicals. Many of these chemicals are known to cause serious health issues, including reproductive and respiratory problems!
I wanted to share some safe and natural ways you can make you home smell good. And to be honest, back when I used chemical air fresheners, I would often get headaches from the scents and my asthma would act up. These natural ways are not only safer for you and your family, but the scents are so soothing for the body and mind!
Natural air fresheners
1. DIY Air-Freshener – this is the simplest, most effective way to make your whole house smell incredibly delicious!
Take the peel of 1 lemon and 1 cinnamon stick, put it in a small pot filled with water, and let it simmer on low heat all day. Make sure not to let all the water dry out. You can keep adding water to this for 3 days. Every time I have company coming over I turn the stove on, and everyone thinks that I’m baking them some fabulous dessert!
I sometimes add orange peel, apples, couple of drops of vanilla extract, or few springs of rosemary to this. If you like something “spicier” for the fall season, add 3 cloves. The possibilities are endless, be creative and find a scent that best suits your mood!
2. Use essential oils! I have 3 spray bottles filled with water, to which i’ve added a few drops of lavender, lemon and spearmint essential oils. Each morning I wipe my kitchen and bathroom countertops with the lemon spray bottle. The lavender I use to spray sporadically around the house. And the spearmint I usually spray on the porch, or by the front door because it helps to keep spiders away. And it makes everything smell so fresh! And the best part is, these are totally safe and non-toxic, so I can feel OK about spraying this around my kids, or sometimes on them because they think its fun!
3. DIY reed diffusers. So simple to make, and without all the chemicals like the ones found at stores. Take a small bud vase and fill it with a carrier oil, such as jojoba oil or baby oil. Add in essential oil of your choice, about 20-30 drops. And add in a few bamboo skewers. It’ll take a couple of hours for the oil to travel up the skewers, but once it does you will have a light fragrance coming out for a few weeks.
4. DIY sachets. I buy premade silk or cotton sachets from a craft store, but you can sew your own from left over fabric. I add dried herbs, flowers, or essential oils to dry rice. Usually do lavender, but you can try vanilla, rose, lemon, or anything else your nose prefers! Mix the herbs and oils well and fill up the sachets. Tie it up with a ribbon. I use these in drawers, linen closets, and even the car!
5. A really simple way to put some nice frangrance in the car is to use a wooden clothespin. Add a few drops of any essential oil you prefer all over the clothespin and clip it on one of the air vents. This is usually good for a couple of months, and all you’ll need to do is add more essential oil to the same clothespin when the fragrance starts to fade.
All of these methods and tried and approved by myself and my family. And the best part is, not only does it make my house and car smell amazing, it does so without giving me headaches. Natural fragrances actually have a way of making me feel more relaxed and at ease. Give these and try and let me know what you think!
This is great! Thanks for the wonderful tips!
Saira – glad you enjoyed it!
I’m so so so glad that you posted this! Just last week I was looking up natural and effective ways to freshen air. We’re big on trying to mask funky smells, so this will definitely come in handy iA! 🙂
Ninja, we know all about funky smells esp with our desi cooking 😉 Glad you found it useful!