You bought an expensive air freshener, walk into a room, spray some all across the room, breathe in and the scent instantly makes your nose wrinkle and you sneeze; maybe the scent gives you a headache and ruins your entire day. Sound familiar? Then it is time to switch to natural fresheners and toss the artificial. Our grandmums never walked into bath and bodyworks and spent thousands on fragrances and yet the house always smelt fresh and welcoming.
From the soothing smells of freshly picked herbs to hints of cinnamon, natural scents have a way of cheering me up. These natural DIY fresheners sans chemicals are worth a try!
Cinnamon Spice Air Freshener
INGREDIENTS
• 1/2 whole nutmeg grated
• 1/4 cup ground cinnamon or 5 whole cinnamon sticks
• 1/8 cup cloves ground
• 4 zested oranges or frontier orange peel
METHOD
1. Zest and Dehydrate Orange zest in the oven. Use parchment or foil and bake at 230C for 20-30 minutes. Make sure the zest doesn’t burn.
2. Mix together the dry spices and orange zest/peel.
3. Boil 3 cups water. Once boiling hot lower heat to simmer add spice and zest mixture.
4. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. Let it cool and transfer to a spray bottle.
6. This air freshener can be used over and over again.
Lemon Mint Air Freshener
INGREDIENTS
• 2 whole sweet lemons
• 1 to 2 cups of coarse sea salt
• 25 to 30 drops of peppermint essential oil
• 25 to 30 drops of lavender essential oil
METHOD
1. Cut lemons in half horizontally and hollow out each of the four lemon halves by scooping out the pulp using a spoon. Do not throw out the pulp instead, use make some fresh sweet lime juice 😊
2. Pour sea salt into a small bowl. Add peppermint and lavender essential oil and stir thoroughly.
3. Transfer the salt to the hollow lemon rinds. You'll need 1/4 to 1/2 cup of salt for each lemon half.
4. Sprinkle more essential oil onto the salt if you want a stronger scent.
5. Put each lemon air freshener on a small dish and place them by the window in different rooms around the house.
Wake Up And Smell The Coffee!
INGREDIENTS
• â…” cup of whole coffee beans, leftover coffee grinds or fresh ground coffee
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 2-3 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cups of filtered water
METHOD
1. Heat water and add all of the other ingredients.
2. Stir to help the molasses dissolve.
3. Bring the pot to a simmer.
4. Let the pot simmer for over an hour to two hours, checking occasionally to ensure there is enough water in the pot. If the water is getting low, you can add more. Make sure all ingredients are always covered with water.
5. When done simmering the pot, let the pot cool completely.
7. Drain out the water and transfer it to a spray bottle.