Home is where the heart is, and you can make your home a much more inviting and welcoming place by keeping it smelling fresh and fragrant.
Even if you love to keep your home neat and tidy, cleaning often goes on the back burner if you have young kids or you just don’t have it in you after a long, tiring day at work. Or maybe you’re having guests over and need to get the musty smell out of your spare bedroom. And let’s not forget the bathroom, which can quickly smell foul even if you have just cleaned it.
Commercially-available air fresheners can be hard on your pocket, and they contain harmful chemicals that can enter your body when you breathe.
You can set all your worries aside as we have come up with the 4 chemical-free, DIY air fresheners to dispel foul odors from your home naturally.
The following recipes are basic guidelines. You can increase or decrease the quantities as needed and substitute the herbs, spices and essential oils used here with your favorite aromatic herbs and oils.
Contents
Method 1: Room Air Fresheners with Herbs and Essential Oils
You can prepare DIY air fresheners by simply mixing baking soda with different herbs, spices and essential oils of your choice. In fact, you can also combine baking soda with an equal amount of cornstarch to get rid of body odor.
# Sandalwood and Cinnamon
Cinnamon and sandalwood will have your house smelling of the exotic East and its alluring spices.
Just mix sandalwood essential oil and fine powder with baking soda and whole cinnamon sticks to add a soothing fragrance to your home.
Things you’ll need:
- Baking soda – ¼ cup
- Sandalwood powder – 2 teaspoons
- Sandalwood essential oil – 15 drops
- Cinnamon sticks – 2
Step 1. Combine all ingredients in a glass jar
- Put ¼ cup of baking soda into a glass jar.
- Add 2 teaspoons of sandalwood powder.
- Add 15 drops of sandalwood essential oil.
- Mix all the ingredients well.
- Put 2 medium-sized cinnamon sticks into the jar.
Step 2. Cover the mouth of the jar with mesh or breathable fabric
- Cover the mouth of the jar with mesh or breathable fabric.
- Secure it in place by tying a brightly colored ribbon around it.
You can make multiple jars and put one in every room to keep your home smelling fresh, fragrant and inviting. This DIY air freshener will last about 1 month, just shake it up after 10 to 15 days if the aroma is fading.
# Lemon
If you love a fresh, lemony scent, then this DIY lemon air freshener is for you. Combining natural lemon zest, lemon essential oil, and baking soda, it’s fun to make and easy to use.
Things you’ll need:
- Baking soda – ¼ cup
- Lemon zest – 1 to 2 medium-sized lemons
- Lemon essential oil – 15 drops
Step 1. Combine all ingredients in a small, glass jar
- Put ¼ cup of baking soda in a small, glass jar. Ideally, it should fill the jar, leaving just ½ an inch from the neck.
- Add the lemon zest from 1 to 2 medium-sized lemons.
- Add 15 drops of lemon essential oil.
- Mix well using a wooden stick.
- Cover the mouth of the jar with a small piece of mesh or breathable cloth.
- Secure it with a brightly colored ribbon.
Place it in any room of your choice to give it a tangy, tropical scent. This DIY air freshener will last about 1 month, just shake it up after 10 to 15 days when its intensity fades.
Method 2: Air Freshener Spray
You can also make a DIY air freshener spray to banish household odors instantly. Just mix lavender or any other essential oil of your choice with rubbing alcohol and distilled water. You can also use rubbing alcohol in multiple ways for health and beauty.
Things you’ll need:
- Lavender essential oil – 10 to 15 drops
- Rubbing alcohol – ¼ cup
- Distilled water – ½ cup
Single-Step Method: Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle & spray it where needed
- Pour ½ cup of distilled water into a spray bottle. Using a medium-sized bottle, it will fill it about halfway.
- Add ¼ cup of rubbing alcohol. If you don’t have rubbing alcohol, you can use vodka instead.
- Add 10 to 15 drops of lavender essential oil.
- Shake well to mix all the ingredients thoroughly before spraying it.
You can spritz this air-freshener spray where needed to banish foul or musty odors from your home.
Method 3: Air Freshener Gel
An incredibly simple way to make a long-lasting DIY air freshener is by using unflavored gelatin crystals, an essential oil, salt and water to make a fragrant gel base. You can add artificial flowers, pearls or any other items of your choice to make it look pretty.
Things you’ll need:
- Salt – 1 tablespoon
- Gelatin, unflavored – 1 tablespoon
- Rose essential oil – 15 drops
- Water – 1 cup
- Food coloring (optional) – 1 or 2 drops
- Artificial flowers (optional)
Step 1. Dissolve the salt in hot water
- Heat 1 cup of water in a pan.
- Add 1 tablespoon of salt, and mix well until it dissolves completely.
Step 2. Mix in the unflavored gelatin & pour the mixture into a glass jar
- Remove the pan from the heat and let the water cool down a bit.
- Add 1 tablespoon of unflavored gelatin crystals.
- Stir well with a wooden spoon or stick, until the gelatin crystals dissolve completely.
- Let it cool down a bit more, then pour the mixture into a glass jar.
Step 3. Add food coloring, rose oil and artificial flowers
- After pouring the gelatin solution into the glass jar, add 1 or 2 drops of food coloring. You can use any color of your choice, just start with a small amount and add more if you want a deeper shade.
- Add 15 drops of rose essential oil and mix well.
- Let it solidify a little before adding any decorative items to prevent them from sinking all the way to the bottom.
- You can then add artificial flowers or any other adornments that you desire.
- Now, let the gel further solidify. You can put it in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours to speed up the process.
Step 4. Prepare a perforated lid to finish off your gel air freshener
- Last but not least, prepare a perforated lid for the gel air freshener to diffuse the fragrance and prevent the gel from drying up too quickly.
- Just take a jar lid with its center removed and cut out a lid top from a thick piece of colored paper.
- Screw the lid with the paper center onto the jar.
- Use a toothpick or any other sharp object to pierce holes in the paper lid.
Your DIY gel-based air freshener is ready for use. It will last you an entire month.
Method 4: DIY Potpourri
Who doesn’t love potpourri? It both looks and smells good. Making your own potpourri is not just easy, but highly rewarding as well.
Things you’ll need:
- Dried flowers and leaves – enough to fill a jar
- Rose essential oil – 10 drops
- Lavender essential oil – 10 drops
- Whole cloves (optional) – 10 to 15
- Marbles – as needed
Step 1. Combine dried flowers and essential oils in a jar and seal it shut
- Dry the flowers of your choice for at least 1 week to eliminate all moisture.
- Fill an airtight jar with the dried leaves, flowers, and petals.
- Add 10 drops each of rose and lavender essential oils.
- Screw on the lid and leave the jar alone for 7 days. This will allow the dried flowers and leaves time to absorb and infuse the scent of rose and lavender with their own.
Step 2. Arrange your potpourri to keep your home smelling nice
- After 7 days, remove the scented dried flowers from the jar.
- Depending on the size of bowl you’re using, you can put marbles at the bottom so that the potpourri sits nicely on top.
- Arrange your potpourri to create a beautiful display.
- Optionally, add 10 to 15 whole cloves to add a sharp, spicy edge to the floral potpourri.
Place it in the room of your choice to keep it smelling fresh, floral and fragrant. This DIY homemade potpourri will last at least 2 to 3 weeks. You can keep adding the fragrant essential oils to make it last longer.
Tips
- Another simple way to keep your home smelling great is by burning fragrant incense sticks. Just be sure to keep them away from flammable materials.
- You can eliminate musty odor from an unused room by opening up all the windows and doors to let fresh air and sunlight in.
- Apart from making DIY air fresheners, you can also use baking soda to get rid of odor from your refrigerator.