How DIY Car Air Fresheners Can Make Your House Smell Great
If your car or your home has started to smell a bit questionable, you can freshen up both with DIY car air fresheners. There are several methods for creating car air fresheners that work just as well when used inside a house. For the simplest air freshener, all you need is your favorite essential oil and wooden clothespins. You can add 5 to 10 drops of essential oil onto each clothespin, then clip the pins to the vents inside your home (or car). When your central air or heating (or car AC) turns on, the air will pass through the DIY scented clothespins and fill the immediate space.
Essential oils are a great, natural way to make your home smell better, and while you can use any essential oil you prefer, certain scents do better in eliminating unpleasant odors. Tea tree, lemon, lavender, orange, and rosemary essential oils are often used to fight bad smells. Note, however, when using essential oils in your home, it's important to be careful, as certain oils, such as cinnamon oil, can be harmful to pets.
DIY a cupholder air freshener
While the clothespin method is an easy and inexpensive way to freshen a room while keeping your DIY air freshener out of sight, there are several other ways to add a pleasant scent inside your home or car. If you'd like an air freshener that can sit on your counters, in a cupboard, or behind your trash can, this DIY car cupholder trick will work wonderfully.
First, fill half of a small mason jar with baking soda and add 15 to 20 drops of essential oil. Then, remove the metal lid of the jar, use it to trace the shape on a piece of cardboard, and then cut the cardboard circle. By poking holes in the cardboard and using it to replace the metal lid, you'll have an easy, DIY air freshener you can place anywhere in your home or in the cupholder in your car. For best results, shake the jar after adding the essential oil to help spread it throughout the baking soda.
Create an air freshener with herbs
If you don't want to use essential oils, you can opt instead to make a DIY car air freshener with dried herbs, felt, and a little bit of sewing. Take two pieces of felt and cut them into any size or shape you'd like, like squares, circles, or hearts. Sew the two pieces together, but leave an opening for your herbs. Chamomile, lavender, rosemary, and mint are all great choices for a pleasant scent. Once your herbs are inside your felt pouch, sew it completely shut and use a hole puncher to create a hole at the top. Then, tie a piece of string or yarn through the hole for an adorable hanging air freshener, which you can hang from your car's mirror or anywhere you'd to like inside your home.
This trick will also work without the thread. Instead of hanging your air freshener, you can instead set it on end tables, bookshelves, or a desk to leave a nice concentrated scent. Note, if you prefer, you can use potpourri in place of the herbs. On that note, for an even simpler felt car air freshener, you can add some essential oil to one piece of felt and then attach a string to hang it (no sewing needed).
Whichever method you do choose, these quick DIY car air fresheners can not only work to freshen up the space inside your vehicle, but also easily inside your home.