With the rains here to stay for the next couple of days, I need to keep the windows and doors shut because of the flies and mosquitoes. And it is but natural for the musty smell to creep into the house. Lighting incense sticks helps for about an hour and dhoops cleanse the house, but sometimes you need more than that. Those of you who know me, know my love for fragrances, natural ones of course. I was looking at having some natural and long lasting fragrances for the home when I discovered these simple and easy to make natural air fresheners for home. Most of the ingredients were available at home and I did not waste much time trying these options.
Making natural air fresheners for home
Making natural air fresheners at home is easy and does not take much time. I have an extensive collection of essential oils at home so I could experiment with various fragrances. However, the best odour removing fragrances are essential oils of lemon, orange and basil. The reason being that these are natural air purifiers as well. The citrus fragrance keeps away flies and mosquitoes at bay. These two easy to make natural air fresheners can be made in a matter of minutes and will freshen up the surroundings almost immediately.
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Baking soda and Essential Oil Mix
You need an empty glass jar with a lid. A packet of baking soda and essential oils. Take a nail and hammer and make holes on the lids. Fill the glass jar with 50 gms of baking soda. Add approximately 15 drops of your favorite essential oil to this. I used a mix of lemon and orange. Shake the jar and place it in any room your want to deodorize. You will need to shake the jar once a day to let the essential oils spread its fragrance. I prefer to use this in the bathrooms. If you are placing this in the bedroom, consider using lavender essential oil so that it can calm and relax you at the end of a long winding day. You can make small batches of this in salt and pepper bottles too.
Sweet lime and Clove Pomander
This is one of the most easiest recipes to make and it takes approximately 5 minutes from start to finish. Take a sweet lime and with a sharp knife draw a pattern to insert cloves in it. Yes, that is all! Hang this in a place that has flies or mosquitoes. You can also use lemons to make a pomander. If you have flies and mosquitoes in the kitchen place it on the kitchen counter to keep these away. Note that you cannot put the cloves directly in the sweet lime because the stem of the clove is not sharp enough. The shelf life of a pomander is roughly a week.
Using natural air fresheners for home
If you are not the type who likes to indulge in DIY crafts, pick up a bottle of essential oil and use it in a diffuser. The fragrance lasts for at least 6 hours. You can also use dhoops that cleanse and purify the air and the effect also stays for a few hours. Natural fresheners help to purify the air and leave a lasting fragrance that is not harmful for you unlike the cheap and chemicals options available in the market. The best part? You know what you are inhaling!
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*All of my reviews are based on my own personal experiences with the brand/products. If it is a sponsored post, it is indicated. Most of the brands and products reviewed are what I have tried and tested and truly recommend! All Photographs are (C) Pratibha unless stated otherwise.*
Pratibha I love both the ideas! I especially love the clove and sweet lime pomander. Does it really take care of mosquitoes and flies, because I have a huge mosquito problem in my house since the past couple of weeks.
Yes it does. I have these small flies at home that reduced considerably when I made these. For mosquitoes why don’t you also try this one – http://www.flipkart.com/omved-mashaka-diffuser-oil/p/itmdttnzgzswbmnq?pid=BEODTTNZGZSWBMNQ&affid=pratsblogg – I use this one as well, it is a diffuser oil. Don’t use more than 2-3 drops and the flies and mosquitoes actually stay away!
Great post, Pratibha! Just this morning, I was wondering how to actually freshen up my place (monsoon time woes!) – I use dhoop but not too much – my people get an irritation in the throat. i was thinking of browsing for some natural ways to clear up the space before that musty smell sets in and lo and behold – your post was in my mailbox! The prob with incense is – smells great but the smoke settles as a funny smell later on.
Thanks – and thanks for the conversation on chat with the tips!
Love, Vidya
Always welcome <3. The monsoon smells made me search for better alternatives and I ended up writing the post 🙂
Going to try these out! You’re so good at this, Prats!
Thank you Corinne!
Hello Pratibha,
This post of yours came JUST IN TIME for my woes 🙂 Thank you. I saw the picture of Great Value Baking soda. It is a walmart brand and where do you get them here? The super stores in Hyd sell cooking soda or baking powder. I am not sure if cooking soda is same as baking soda.
Thanks,
Parvathi
Parvathi, the pic is sourced from the internet as mentioned in the source, you can use normal baking soda. You should get it at any grocery store. Try Hypermart in Inorbit, they have a good variety and they stock international brands as well.
fabulous ideas!! Will try out both.. the regular air fresheners are quite strong so this would be perfect with its subtle aromas 🙂
Excellent tips! I’m going to make the Pomander! NOW! 😀
Thanks, Prats!
I Should definitely try this. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
These are fantastic, Pratibha. I’m going to try both today. I love the idea of the baking soda and essential oils deodoriser. 🙂 Big thanks!
Wonderful ideas! Am going to try these. Thanks for sharing, Pratibha 🙂
Oh you could do these at homes too!! wow thanks for sharing 🙂
This is awesome and very doable! Even I sometimes have little fruit flies which are very difficult to get rid of. Will ty this. Thanks for sharing!
Welcome Priya!