Easy DIY Air Fresheners or Carpet Cleaner

I have the best carpet cleaner and DIY air freshener tip for you.  This is so easy to do and inexpensive and it is totally nontoxic and green cleaning.  So you don’t need to buy tons of sprays and plug ins and such in order to get your home spelling fantastic.

The process is very simple:

- You take baking soda and add a few drops of your favorite essential oil or you might even be able to use cooking vanilla if you don’t have any oils on hand.  I really like Peppermint or Lemon myself.  I find Peppermint has a very pronounced fragrance and citrus or lavender can be more subtle.

You can also get one of these little sprinkle jars from Target or Walmart for about $1.00.  Those make it a bit easier to sprinkle around the house.  An old parmesan cheese container would also work.

Now you just mix a few drops of fragrance oil to your baking soda and you can sprinkle this like crazy throughout the house.  I like to do this about an hour before vacuuming and it serves as an easy carpet deodorizer.  You can use this in the car as well before you vacuum.

If you want to make an air freshener, you can either use the sprinkle container pictured above and just make sure the tab is pulled off so all the little circles are open to allow the fragrance to spread.  That isn’t terribly pretty so another option is to make a little jar like this:

You can make these little homemade air fresheners really easily, I think mine took like 5 minutes to do. The original idea, from Smashed Peas and Carrots, is to make one for each room in the house and use it for an air freshener.

-Simply get a small mason jar and fill it with naking soda and several drops of fragrance oil.  Try not to sprinkle the oil on the sides of the jar but rather concentrate in the center (or it can get a little cakey on the sides.)  With the lid on swish it around.

-Next is to get a piece of cardstock paper- scrapbook paper is usually about $1 per sheet at craft stores or Walmart.  Take the insert out of the lid on your small mason jar and use that to trace a circle on your scrapbook paper.  Cut the circle and insert it on top of the mouth of the jar, screw the outside of the lid back on and you are in business.

-You need a large needle of some sort to punch holes in the top- I used a safety pin at first and when I decided I needed larger holes I just used a sharp pencil to poke.  (That was my make it work moment and you can probably find something that might work a little better in your home.

I personally found the air freshener aspect of this jar doesn’t last very long for us. Maybe a day or two. I actually have mine in my car though so it might work better in a small bathroom.

Now I here is why you might consider this project and why I love this little jar:

• I actually don’t like the smell of normal air freshening products. I much prefer a cleaner scent and not a heavy scent so this has worked great for me.
• Another thing I have started doing is sprinkling this on cleats and inside my girl’s little shoes that tend to get super stinky.
• You can also sprinkle a little baking soda in vases to keep flowers fresh longer.
• Baking soda helps to remove odor in stinky shirts too (baby spit up, sweat and other issues best left unsaid).
• Sprinkle it on a hairbrush if you skip a day of washing your hair or sprinkle it on the dog’s hairbrush to add a little excitement to their grooming.
• Dump about a cup into the toilet as a cleaner and to absorb any odors.
• Put a little at the bottom of the trash can to absorb odors.
• Sprinkle on car seats and jogging strollers and all those other things you might have for the kiddos.

So really the possibilities are endless and I have found this to be a little magic jar. I have been keeping this thing just rolling around in the backseat of the car. Then it is super handy to sprinkle on the carpets and on the car seats when it is time to clean the car. The great thing is that baking soda is so incredibly cheap- you can really be generous sprinkling this all over the place.  That 4lb bag pictured at the top was $6 at Costco.

One other benefit is that we spend a lot of time outdoors and baking soda is a great thing to have in case of sunburn, bug bites or bee stings so having it right in the car is perfect.

PS: You can get the scoop on what essential oil to pick for whatever it is you are after here.  Since I keep my magic jar in the car, maybe I should get the oils for anger management .