5 out of 5 leaves
Sodium Bicarbonate, or baking soda is one of those special kitchen ingredients that can be used in many helpful ways around the home. (Other magic home helpers include vinegar and coconut oil). Baking soda is often advertised as a odor neutralizer, and sold in everything from air fresheners to kitty litter. Recently, instructions for DIY air fresheners have been making the rounds. Do baking soda based air fresheners really work?
The Good
- Better for you – no artificial fragrances of unknown safety wafting through your living spaces
- Better for the environment – this DIY air freshener is made from all natural ingredients
- Saves money – this air freshener can be made with things you probably already have at home
- Easy – goes together in less than five minutes (ten if you go with the fancy scrapbook paper top method)
- Fragrance can be quickly refreshed with a shake
The Bad
- Baking soda alone is not effective against odors – must add an essential oil for fragrance
- Essential oil fragrance can be very strong – too strong for some delicate noses
My Experience
So cute! But does it work?
True confessions time: my bathroom can get pretty funky in the odor department. I have a preschool boy who isn’t terribly concerned about hitting the toilet bowl 100% of the time, and who very seriously adheres to “if it’s yellow, let it mellow“. I also tend to have a trash can filled with the day’s wet diapers (the kids broke the diaper pail, and I’m too cheap to buy another). All this muddled together means you can often catch the scent of stale urine as you pass by the bathroom door. Gross.
I hate the strong smell of the commercial air fresheners. Many are just too strongly scented for me, and make me feel ill. I’ve also read that many of the ingredients in commercial fragrances are chemicals that can cause developmental and reproductive problems, or cause allergies or skin problems (reference info here). I also don’t feel great about having candles, gels, potpourri, oil plug-ins etc, around the kids. The get-into-trouble opportunities are just too great.
I was excited to try out this simple homemade natural air freshener that I read about here and here. It took me less than 5 minutes to assemble, including the time to find a cute scrap of fabric in my sewing basket. I hid it in the corner of my bathroom behind the trash can, hoping the kids wouldn’t find it there. The first version I made was without essential oil because I wanted to see how effective the baking soda was by itself. The answer: not too effective. The odor remained, and I didn’t really notice any difference.
Baking Soda and Essential Oil are all you need
After a couple days, I added 8 drops of lavender essential oil, shook it up and put it back in the corner. Wow – my bathroom smelled like LAVENDER!!. The smell was a bit overpowering for me. I recommend starting with four drops of essential oil, and then increasing as needed from there. Also, I’m not a hug fan of lavender, so having the bathroom overpowered by it was not that much better than the previous stink.
I started over with some fresh baking soda, and four drops of lemon essential oil. This worked great!! My bathroom smells lightly fruity and fresh, instead of perfumed, or stinky. I’ve found that when the fragrance fades, a quick shake of the jar will refresh the oils again, and continue to provide protection against odor. I definitely recommend trying this out yourself – just go easy on the essential oils until you find the level that works best for you.
Have you tried this green idea? What is your favorite kind of essential oil?
Shared at Morris Tribe, Monday Mania, Better Mom Mondays, Homestead Barnhop, One Project at a Time, Titus 2sdays, Living Green, Teach Me Tuesday, Home is Where the Heart Is, Women Living Well, Works for Me Wednesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Adorned from Above, Blog Stalking Thursday, Rural Thursday, Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, Farmgirl Friday, LHITS Linky, Life as a Mom
Interesting. I have always kept a small container of bicarb in the fridge to absorb odours, but I don’t think it works that well. Of course, it might also be because I forget to refresh the bicarb for many months at a time. :S
I love this idea! I am going to make some today
Thanks!!!
OK, I’m gonna try this with fresh orange peel power-blended into the baking soda. I used to do this in the bottom of the diaper pail back in the 70′s (cloth diapers)
I have the same issue. I’m going to pin & try this in my stanky kids bathroom! Visiting from Blog Stalking Thursday
I pinned this to Pinterest. I have similar “boy” bathroom smell issues and am excited to give this one a try! Thanks.
I have a small mason jar with this concoction close to our hamper in the master closet. It does indeed work! Glad you gave it a go!
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This is what I use to sprinkle on the rugs before I vacuum. It helps to get rid of a certain doggie odor. It might be a good idea to hid small jars of this stuff on shelves, etc, around the house too!
I agree, Gretchen! My allergies do not allow me to use any scented air or carpet fresh. I use baking soda with essential oils for my carpet and love it. This also works great as a “sachet” in the car, closet, linen closet etc…
i love this recipe- i do use lavender- and i love using it on my carpets too, with tea tree oil added. it is VERY strong so beware! but it works . thanks for the tips!
Wow, thanks for the idea! I’m not on Pinterest or anything and hadn’t seen this one yet. I have been using essential oils against odors for a long time, but it is hard to dissipate them effectively. This sounds like the right strategy–and easy!
Love this idea, can’t wait to try it! I’m going to make it right away! Thanks
I really need to try this! Thanks for the tip.
I’ve tried this too and it works great.
Thanks so much for sharing with Wednesdays Adorned From Above Link Party. I am so happy to know this about the air fresheners. I have been wondering if this worked.
Debi
I am so going to try this. I can’t stand the artificial stuff the sell in the stores. They’re full of chemicals and give me a headache.
Great idea! I will definitely try this. I love how you store it in a jar with the pretty fabric.
I’ve been wondering if this worked and wanting to try it! Thanks for doing the testing for me
Definitely making one now!! I would love if you shared this at my Throwback Thursday party! Hope to see you there! And thanks for sharing 
http://www.hubbymademe.com/throwback-thursday-no-4/
Love me some baking soda! Will be trying this over the weekend. Lots of pets + a handful of grands ages 4 and under + New England humidity = all natural air freshner, pleeeeez!
Figures i would see this NOW–after having gone out and purchased about $25. worth of oils, plug-in types room freshener, and candles! When i need something again, i am just going this route–looks like a winner! Thanks!
I’ve never heard of this idea before–but I am going to try it. We have three cats and our covered litter box gets stinky easily. I have the supplies on hand already too. My favorite essential oil combination is geranium and lime.
I love this! I just did the same concept in a dollar store parmesan shaker to use as a carpet deodorizer. It smells so good in the container (I’m waiting 24 hours for the oils and soda to meld). I came looking for confirmation that this would work as an air freshener too. Thanks! I have tons of jars and fabric! AND I have two little boys so I SO a good candidate, right?! This will fit perfectly with my newfound love of cleaning the bathrooms and house chemical free with my e-cloths.
FYI just read about essential oils being highly toxic to cats…Google it for more info!
This is great, Im always looking for reasons to use my Eucalyptus essential oil. How long does this last before having to redo?
Thx!