Indoor air can be more toxic than outside. If you are not already using a non tox air freshener in your home, gather these fresh herbs and lemon and your house can be smelling amazing in minutes.
Chemicals in conventional air fresheners can contain hundreds of toxins that can affect hormones and the respiratory system. Using herbs and lemon is an even better smelling, healthier way to make the air in your home healthier for your family.
When you see the word fragrance on an ingredient label, it’s not necessarily natural. A fragrance in a candle, perfume, air freshener, laundry detergent, body care products, can consist of hundreds of chemicals just to make that one particular scent. These chemicals can affect the respiratory system, make allergies feel worse, eyes water, cause skin rashes, and disrupt hormones. It’s easy to avoid them by reading product labels and choosing pure plant-derived essential oils, fragrance-free or unscented. Making your own products, especially with organic ingredients, is always a good choice because you can control the chemical content in just about everything, avoiding pesticides, dyes, fragrance, preservatives, and sulphates.
Benefits of the ingredients in this homemade air freshener
- Rosemary is said to absorb toxins from the air, helps clear the respiratory system, has natural antibacterial properties, and boosts mood. It also repels some insects, so bringing the simmer pot outdoors, once boiled, might help on buggy summer evenings
- Lavender is calming and relaxing when inhaled, has natural antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antiviral properties. If you have a sick family member in the house, adding lavender to a simmer pot is an effective way to clean your indoor air
- Lemon naturally neutralizes odours, gives a fresh, clean scent and is antibacterial. Just about every home cleaning product on the shelf has lemon as a fragrance, but this recipe is the real deal
Method
There is not an official recipe to follow for a non tox air freshener simmer pot. Personal preference matters, so if you are not a fan of rosemary, use another herb like thyme. These pots are easy to customize!
Gather a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and lavender from the garden or the store. You want fresh herbs here instead of dried
Fill a pot with a few inches of water and add in your herbs, plus a lemon cut up into wedges or slices. Leave the peel on
Turn the heat up to high until the water starts to boil, then reduce it to a simmer on the lowest setting. Let the pot simmer on the stove for as many hours as you like, or until your home smells just the way you want it to
Don’t discard the simmer pot contents! When you are finished using it as an air freshener, set the pot in your fridge to freshen things up in there. You can also bring it outside to help keep bugs away, or strain out the contents and add the herb/lemon water to a spray bottle to use as a natural cleaning solution
Other ingredients to try in a simmer pot (aka non tox air freshener)
- fresh pine branches
- fresh thyme
- cloves
- star anise
- cinnamon sticks
- orange slices
- cranberries
- pine cones
- pure essential oils (not fragrance oils)
