Between my shoe closet and my litter box closet, I spend entirely too much money on air fresheners. Sprays, beads, and candles all promise to absorb odor, and many of them do, but at a cost. They don’t last very long and I find myself back at Target or Safeway with another basket full of odor cover-uppers — there goes another 20 bucks. Yesterday, my friend May saw my post about DIY sugar scrubs and said, “Hey, did you know you can mix that same essential oil with some baking soda and make your own air freshener?” Um, WHAT?! First, NO, I didn’t know that. Second, you are my favorite person this week. This is a fantastic idea for two reasons. 1) Essential oil will fill the area with a pleasant scent. 2) Baking soda will absorb any foul odors in the area.
I asked her for the deets and here’s what you’ll need …
You’ll only need six items to make this happen — five if your don’t need to get fancy with it.
- A piece of cloth
- A jar, and you won’t need the lid (I save pasta sauce jars for emergency craft projects like this!)
- Baking soda
- An essential oil (pick one you’ll want to smell on a regular basis)
- A rubber band
- Twine, ribbon, yarn, or fancy string
First, fill the bottle halfway with baking soda. Filling it too high will make things difficult when you’re ready to use it as air freshener. Next, add about 10 to 15 drops of your essential oil and mix it into the baking soda with a spoon. Sniff the mixture to see if it’s strong enough for you. If it’s not strong enough add another few drops. I added about 20 drops of lemongrass essential oil in mine.
Take a bowl or small pot that’s about double the diameter of your jar. Use it to trace a circle on your cloth, and cut cut cut. You’ll use this piece of cloth as a new lid for your jar. The cloth allows air (and odor) to flow in and out of the jar. It also serves as a barrier when you’re ready to shake the jar.
Place the cut cloth over the top of the jar and secure it to the jar with a rubber band. You can stop here and bask in the glory of having another finished DIY project under your belt, or you can get fancier with it. With the rubber band in place, it’s much easier to take it up a notch and add festive ribbon, twine, yarn, or string. Once you’ve tied your ribbon around the jar, remove the rubber band. If the ribbon or twine completely covers the rubber band, just leave it there for extra reinforcement.
That’s it! You’re all done! Give the bottle a shake and it should release and extra burst of aroma from the essential oil. Place it wherever you’d like and when you feel that area or room needs some extra help, just give the bottle an extra shake shake shake. Put them all over your house or give them away as gifts! Easy peasy.
