apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

A simple home made air freshener can be made with
an essential oil of your choice, distilled water and clear alcohol such as vodka. 10 drops of essential oil, mixed into a spray bottle with 1/2 distilled water and 1/2 vodka. (the vodka keeps
the essential oil from evaporating.)

Smells great, all natural, no harmful chemicals....

You could also eat less beans.

I guess it depends on what you're "refreshing". I'm guessing it's not something launderable, or you would just clean it that way. If it's your car, I'd try using baking soda and a good vacuum to get rid of musty odors. Same with furniture, I guess. However, some things are destined to be funky, like my boyfriend's hockey gear. That we just spray with Febreze Anti-Bacterial and hope for the best.

Is Febreze really that environmentall unfriendly? It doesn't seem to be washed down the drain and it's not in aerosol form...

My husband is severely allergic to Febreze. Even though he doesn't have asthma, he begins wheezing and has trouble catching his breath. I am not a scientist, so I don't know if it is the scent that affects him or not. He doesn't have this problem with any thing else.

I switched to using essential oil and vinegar for all my scent absorbing needs, if it can handle liquid. If it can't get wet, I use dryer sheets to help. But if something is really in need of freshening, drag it out on the lawn on a sunny breezy day.

I recommend checking out essential oil websites or vendors because they will teach you proper dilutions of oils that can be used for refreshing fabrics or diffusing to refresh a room. I know that I use diluted tea tree oil and while it maybe smells like the oil for a few hours, all the odor is gone not too long after, you could mix other oils like lavender or rose if you wanted to have a fragrance...if you are looking to disinfect or diffuse the air, Thieves or young living's purification are excellent oils that have been around for hundreds of years and are still commonly used. I diffused thieves when I moved into my apartment to refresh the walls and carpet. Worked like a charm and smells wonderful. Other oils can be found at any co-op or organic market. I think essential oils is a common brand?

oops, I mean Aura Cacia essential oils is a commonly found brand, though I do recommend Young Living. It is just sometimes harder to find.

When I worked in wardrobe, we just used vodka and water, 1/2 and 1/2 to spray on the costumes. I started using it at home. For my fabrics I put a few drops of ceder oil in the mix, I have found that it repels bugs and moths away from curtains and closets. Also, the cheaper the vodka the better!

An old theatre trick for costumes is a combination of 1/2 really cheap vodka and 1/2 water. I use this on my curtains and upholstered furniture at my house and it works great.

What is the upside/advantage to using vodka and water over Febreeze?

I don't really Febreeze anymore now that there is no smoking in bars...just curious really.

I use the Stonewall Kitchen Lavender Mint linen/room refresher. It is nice and light. I have terrible allergies to febreeze, but have not had any reactions to the Stonewall stuff. I also use their hand soaps, and love their soy candles.

http://www.stonewallkitchen.com/prdsell.aspx?L0=LavenderMintFineHomekeepingProducts

While I'm ticked to finally find out how Febreeze works (I'm your target audience for fifth grader-level scientific explanations), *anything* made by Proctor & Gamble is decidedly un-green by most definitions. They're still one of the largest users of animal testing, and purchasing/using products from a company that's responsible for genetically engineering, breeding and destroying millions of lab animals each year is not what I'd consider eco-friendly.

Well, if you consider animals to be part of the environment (I do), than anything that tests on animals is environmentally unfriendly. And Febreze tests on animals, so it is not an option in my home.