Natural DIY Air Freshener Recipes

Do you like your home to smell nice and fresh?

What if you could create your own ‘natural’ air fresheners using herbs, fruit and spices instead of spraying artificial scents into the air?  There are countless products on the market that claim to freshen up the air in your house.  But often, their fragrances are overpowering, artificial smelling and expensive.

Imagine if your home could have the natural fragrance of citrus paired with your favorite herbs.  Their fragrance is refreshing and not over-powering.  Better yet, they are easy to create with items you may already have in your own kitchen.

Releasing the fragrance is done by adding the contents of your natural air fresheners with enough water to fill a small pot at least 1/2 – 3/4 full.  Heat to boiling and then turn down to low and allow it to simmer.  That’s it!

You can make up one air freshener at a time, or make a few and freeze them until ready to use.  They will keep for at least a week in the refrigerator.  Your natural air freshener can also be frozen – just make sure to freeze it in a freezer-safe container such as a wide-mouth jar, like I have.

There are many different fragrant combinations.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Lime with fresh thyme, mint and vanilla. For this natural air freshener, I cut some fresh thyme and mint from my garden and added a lime that I had sliced.  I then added a teaspoon of vanilla extract and filled the rest with water.

That’s all there is to it.  I told you it was easy to make DIY air fresheners from natural ingredients!

Here are some other ideas:

Basil, peppercorns and lemon. This combination reminds me of my childhood in Southern California where we had a large lemon tree.  The basil came from my home garden, the lemon from the grocery store and the peppercorns from my pantry.

These natural air fresheners aren’t just fragrant, they look great in jars, don’t you think?

Orange and vanilla. I love this combination because it takes only two ingredients AND it smells like orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream mixed together, which was my favorite ice cream flavor as a child. To create this, simply add a few slices of an orange and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. You can add whole cloves and cinnamon sticks to spice the orange and vanilla, if you like.

Birds & Blooms

As you can see, making your own natural DIY air fresheners is easy to do.  In addition to the fragrant combinations that I have made, you can have fun and create your own combinations. In addition to the ingredients that I have used, here are some others that you can experiment with to create your own unique natural air freshener: citrus peels, apple peels, almond extract, peppermint extract, coconut extract, ginger, nutmeg, ground cinnamon, whole cloves, bay leaves, basil, sage, lavender, oregano and rosemary.

What combinations would you like to make?