I typically buy the little gel pellet style air fresheners from Dollar Tree. These pellets come in a jar with a vented lid. As the gel pellets dry out, they shrink until becoming hard little beads. I had a couple of the jars right now that have fully dried up. Instead of throwing the container and all away, I came up with a couple of ideas for recycling these jars.
Idea #1 Use the jars for moth balls. If you ever have stored your clothes only to find that a mouse or other damaging pest has gotten to your clothing, you know that adding moth balls will repel most pests. Fill the empty jars with the moth balls. Tuck them into your clothing storage shelves around the boxes or into a large tote.
Idea #2 Fill the jars with potpourri of your favorite scents. A favorite mixture that I like in the kitchen is to place a blend of broken cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, whole allspice, and dried orange peels.
Idea #3 I found a wonderfully easy recipe for making homemade gel-type air fresheners on One Good Thing by Jillee. The ingredients are very simple: liquid potpourri, unflavored gelatin, and salt. A second recipe that she shares in her tutorial used water and essential oils in place of the liquid potpourri. I would recommend testing the containers first by placing hot water in them to make sure they are heat safe.
For those times when you need a spray, here is a very easy recipe. In a small dish mix together 1 Tablespoon of baking soda and 2-3 drops of your favorite essential oil scent. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle and fill with water. Shake to dissolve the baking soda. Use just as you would a store-bought freshener. You can adjust the strength of the scent by adding more essential oil. This mixture is safe for using on furniture or anything that needs a bit of freshening. Knowing the benefits of aromatherapy, I am thinking of making some in a lavender scent to use on bed pillows.
Learning to make your own fresheners, you can easily customize the scents to meet any aromatherapy needs that you may have. Aromaweb has over 60 recipes for making your own aromatherapy blends.
While I am at it, I am going to throw this link out here. Frugal by Choice blog has the recipe for making homemade “Vicks” shower disks.
Enjoy!
