January is the month where so many of us are cleaning out, organizing and getting ready for the year ahead. After we get our rooms looking clean, don’t we want them to smell nice too? Now, I know that there are a lot of very inexpensive air fresheners out there that work really well, but why not try to deodorize your home naturally? I bet you have almost all (if not all) of the items you’ll need and it takes about a minute to make.
All Natural Air Freshener DIY Recipe
You will need:
- A canning jar
- ring
- piece of wax paper
- baking soda
- essential oil
Cut a piece of wax paper a little larger than the opening of your jar and set it aside. Measure about a 1/2 cup or so of baking soda into your jar. You can eyeball it, you just want about that much in there. I used a canning jar that is really old and I would never use to actually can in anymore. It has a really pretty lavender color so it will look pretty and smell good too!
Put in a few drops of essential oil. I used lavender because it smells so good and because it has a calming effect. With 4 kids running around my house, any extra calm I can achieve is a really good thing!
Put the wax paper over the opening of your jar and screw down the ring. Poke a few holes with the tip of a pen or pencil to let the air freshener be able to do its work.
Now, place it on a shelf and let the freshening begin! If you notice that your freshener isn’t working anymore, give it a shake and then a sniff. Can you still smell your essential oil? If not, add a few drops more OR shake the contents of your jar over your carpet to use as carpet deodorizer and vacuum up. Replace the baking soda and essential oil with new and put it back up to deodorize your home.
Cheap and cheerful, just the way I like it!
i wonder if you could use this with a thin cloth instead of the wax paper…?
I’ve used cheesecloth and tulle both and had good success. I just suggested the wax paper because I figure it was something most people would have. Any thinly woven cloth should do the trick, but remember that the weave has to be loose enough to let the air in/out easily 🙂
can i use baking soda that’s been sitting in my fridge or does it have to be new?
It should be new. The soda out of your fridge has got “fridge smells” in it and it might not make a pleasant air freshener when it starts to get warm. Thankfully, baking soda is really cheap!