How to Make Your Own No Chemical Air Fresheners

Air fresheners are commonly used in daily household cleaning, but many brand name fresheners contain harmful and potent chemicals. You can make your own effective no chemical air fresheners easily and inexpensively, often using resources that you already have handy. Learn how to make your home fragrant while avoiding the toxins found in many store bought air fresheners.

Things You'll Need

• Small bowls or jars
• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Pure vanilla extract
• Spritzer spray bottle
• Water
• Lavender
• Lemon extract
• Orange extract
• Medium sized pot
• 2 cinnamon sticks or cloves
• Fresh coffee grounds
• 1 lemon
• Cinnamon sticks
• 1 can of coconut milk
• Almond extract
• 1 hand-full of cedar wood chips
• 1 or 2 bunches of lilac
• 1 tablespoon allspice
• 2 diced apples
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 pine tree sprigs
• 3 pine cones
• 1 package of 12 peppermint candy canes or the equivalent
• 1 tablespoon natural vanilla extract
• 1 grapefruit

Instructions

1. For non-spray (stand-alone) air fresheners that you can use in different places in your home, you need five to ten small bowls or jars. Place either two tablespoons of baking powder, two tablespoons of vinegar or one cotton ball soaked in pure vanilla extract in each container. Put one container in the back of the refrigerator and distribute the others in areas of the house where they cannot be reached by children or pets.

2. For spray air fresheners, you'll need a spritzer (fine mist) spray bottle that you can purchase at most grocery or convenient stores. Mix 1/4 cup baking soda with warm water in a spray bottle, attach the nozzle and shake it up well. After the baking powder has dissolved, remove the nozzle and add in a few drops of lavender or one tsp. of an extract such as lemon, orange or vanilla. Replace the nozzle, label the bottle with whatever ingredient you added to the baking soda and spray anywhere in the house.

3. Create an air freshener specifically to combat kitchen smells. In a medium sized pot, simmer one tbsp. of vinegar with either two cinnamon sticks or two cloves in one cup water on the stove while you cook. You can also place a bowl of vinegar or fresh coffee grounds on the counter although the effect won't be as dramatic as with the boiled mixture. A ground up slice of lemon or orange placed in the garbage disposal acts as another type of air freshener.

4. The following mixtures can be used to freshen large areas and even the whole house. Combine two quarts of water with two tbsp. of vinegar in a medium-sized saucepan, bring the mix to a boil and then turn it down to the lowest simmer possible. Now you can choose how to scent your home by adding one of the following combinations to the water and vinegar:

   1) two sliced oranges, one tbsp. of natural vanilla extract and one tbsp. of cinnamon or two cinnamon sticks

   2) one can of coconut milk, one tbsp. almond extract and one tbsp. of vanilla extract

   3) a hand-full of cedar wood chips

   4) one or two bunches of lilac

   5) two sliced lemons, one tbsp. natural vanilla extract and one tbsp. allspice

   6) two diced apples, two tbsp. of cinnamon, two tsp of natural almond extract and ¼ cup of brown sugar

   7) two cinnamon sticks, two pine tree sprigs and three pine cones

   8) one package of twelve peppermint candy canes or the equivalent, one tbsp. of natural vanilla extract and one tbsp. of ground cinnamon, lemon or grapefruit

   How long you simmer the mix is up to you. The scents will fill your home for up to four hours after you've turned off the burner.

Tips & Warnings

• In the case of the simmered air freshener mixes, make sure to add one cup of water for every hour it continues to simmer.

• In the case of the simmered air fresheners, do not stand directly above the steam and breath it in.

• If you happen to be allergic to any of the ingredients mentioned above, avoid using those.

• It's especially important to place air fresheners with vanilla extract out of the reach of children because of its high alcohol content.

References

• UW News
• Ecocycle

Resources

• Creating Non Toxic Cleaning Products