William Sonoma Air Freshener

Here I go again, another attempt to make my home smell more like awesomeness and less like potty training mess.

 William Sonoma Air Freshener
You will need
sliced lemon
A few sprigs of rosemary
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
place all the ingredients in a pot of water and simmer on the stove. 

After going to 5 different stores I finally gave up trying to find fresh rosemary and decided that dried would have to do. 

The directions don't say how much water to put in so I did about 2 cups.  Honestly I don't think it matters.  My mom makes a Christmas air freshener every year and she just fills the whole pot with water.  She can refill it about 3 times before the ingredients get gross. 

Anyways, I put it all together then let it simmer.

The Verdict: I left it simmering for 2 hours (while adding more water when needed) and the smell never went past the steam.

In order to smell anything I had to get this close.  While it did smell really good, a face full of hot steam isn't worth it.  Although it was a good way to open up my pores. 

Gel Air Freshener

So far I'm 0 for 2 with making my own air freshener. Let's hope that I can redeem myself by trying a homemade gel air freshener.

Gel Air Freshener
You Will Need:
plain, unflavored gelatin or pectin
water for preparing gelatin
food coloring (optional, just for added flair)
essential oils
small glass jars or bowls  (I filled three with 2 cups of finished gelatin)
1 tablespoon salt (prevents mold)

Directions:
To make this, place 1-2 drops of food coloring in each of your glass jars or bowls, and then prepare the gelatin according to the package directions, adding the salt during boiling. Once the gelatin has dissolved in the water and it's ready to set, add 20-30 drops of essential oil and mix. Then pour into your individual containers and mix with the food coloring.  Check the strength of the smell at this time and add more oil if necessary.

I wanted to try three different scents so I grabbed Lavender essential oil, then I grabbed Eucalyptus and Citrus fragrance oils.  

 I followed the instructions and I put 20 drops of each oil into the glasses. The scent was pretty strong so I figured the 20 drops was plenty.  For some reason my gelatin rebelled and didn't want to set up when it was suppose to.  It took 24 hours before it finally turned into a gel.  I have no idea why.  It was just trying to annoy me I guess, it worked.

 Each glass was assigned a bathroom (each bathroom is roughly the same size) and I started the countdown to see how long the scent would last from each jar.

The Verdict: The citrus oil pooped out after 3 hours.  Even if my nose was in the glass I couldn't smell anything.  The lavender made it 9 days before it called it quits.  The eucalyptus made it a full 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, I don't know if it's the type of oil or the scent that made the eucalyptus out last the others.

By the time I took the eucalyptus out of the bathroom it was looking pretty depleted.  The gel was mostly evaporated (I didn't know gel did that) and it had left a green gooey funk around the edge of the glass.  It washed off very easily though. 

 Even though some of the scents didn't last long and if you try this you will have to experiment to find the right oil and scent to make it worth your while, I'm calling this a success, mostly because I don't want to be 0 for 3

Be Gone Diaper Pail Stink

I'm a bit of an organized freak.  I love charts and labels.  When I was expecting my first child I put together a questionnaire about baby products and sent it to everyone I knew who had a child in the last 5 years.  I then organized all the information I received into a template.

People made fun of me.... a lot.  But when it was time to start buying baby products, it was a breeze.  I knew exactly what products were must haves and what where not necessary. I knew what brands to look for and what to avoid.  Everything that I bought I have not regretted.

Plus, all those people who made fun of me absolutely loved to fill out the questionnaire.  Give a women a chance to tell you about newborns and the things needed for them and she will promptly neglect her children and tell you all she knows. 

Anyways..... when I was getting all the information about the diaper pails one of the things that several people said was "it doesn't matter what brand you get, eventually every diaper pail will have a permanent smell."

We have had our diaper pail for about 2 1/2 years and this summer it started to smell. Oh boy did it smell!  It smelled awful and was starting to consume the entire upstairs.   

One day I went upstairs and was blasted in the face by the odor.  I went to the diaper pail expecting to see it open. To my surprise it was closed but what I did see horrified me.  It was surrounded by little flies.

It was like I had just walked into some cliche cartoon. All it needed was the green stink lines coming up from it.

Each of those black dots I circled, is a fly.   

Of course I promptly jumped into my research mode to try and find the best way to get rid of the smells in a diaper pail.

Here is what I found; As time goes on the stench slowly seeps into the plastic that the pails are made of.  Trying to use any sort of cleaning product can make it worse. The chemicals react with the smell and will either not work at all or make the smell stronger.

Your only option is to mask the smell with some sort of odor fighting product and according to several people, kitty litter is the best option.

So I decided to try three different odor masking  products. I placed each one in the bottom of the diaper pail and marked the days until I could smell the diapers again. 

Baking Soda (of course)
Kitty Litter Deodorizer
Pet Air Freshener

 I started with the Baking Soda because to me that is the obvious solution.  I grabbed one of those fridge and freezer fresh boxes and tore off the sides.  I placed it in the bottom and started the countdown.

 The Verdict: A few hours later I went back upstairs and my nose did a little happy dance because the smell was gone.  It was completely gone!!!!  Oh Baking Soda, is there anything you can't do? 1 week later I went to get my daughter up from her nap and my nose crinkled. I quickly took her to the changing table and stripped her down.  Her diaper was clean.  The diaper pail stink was already back.  1 week. The smell was gone only 1 week!  Baking Soda, you have let me down, you are fired and I am now taking resumes for a replacement.

Several websites I read talked about using kitty litter to mask the smell of diaper pails.  They say you should look for a kitty litter that has carbon in it.  I went to a local pet store and when I hit the kitty litter aisle I realized that it would take me forever to read all the labels. I found an employee and told her what I was looking for and why.  She quickly handed me a bottle and told me several people buy this for the same thing. It only cost about $3

I poured the whole thing into an old nylon and placed it in the bottom of my diaper pail.  I then started another countdown.

The Verdict: This one had a very strong perfume odor that was almost worse then the poop smell.  It was pretty strong and eye watering.  When the diaper pail was opened the perfume smell would mingle with the diaper pail smell and it was enough to make me run for the hills.  Literally, I would toss the diaper in the pail then grab my daughter and run.  Fortunately, as time went on the perfume smell eased up and it continued to mask the diaper pail smell.  About once a week the diaper pail smell would creep back, but I would just give the nylon a shake and the kitty litter would continue to mask the smell.  This lasted 32 days before the diaper smell took over again.  However, each time I shook the nylon, some kitty litter dust would come out and make a lovely mess. That's exactly what I wanted to spend my time cleaning, smelly sand.

This brings us to my final attempt.  I wanted something to mask the smell for a long time but not leave a gross mess like the kitty litter did.

I saw this in the pet aisle and decided to give it a shot.  

The Verdict: This also had a perfume smell to it, but it was pretty mild. I had to be near the diaper pail to smell it.  It didn't mask the smell completely like the baking soda did, but it masked it enough that it was worth the $4.  This little disk made it 16 days before it gave up, but it put up a good fight.

The Overall Verdict: Clearly that Citrus Magic is the best choice of the three.  It didn't last as long as I hoped it would but it was easy to use and didn't have a cheap dollar store perfume smell.  So, if your diaper pail smell is taking over and you aren't planning on having it much longer, then this is a great way to help mask the smell.  But if you plan on having that diaper pail for a few more years, then it will probably be cheaper to just buy a new one.  And your nose will thank you for it.

Car Freshener

My sister sent me a DIY for a car freshener that she saw in her Doterra magazine, so a few weeks ago I gave it a try

It's very simple: Put a few drops of lavender oil into 1 cup of baking soda and mix it up.  Using a sifter, pour the mixture onto the floor and seats of your car.  Wait for an hour then vacuume it up.

I got my lavender and baking soda, put it into a container with a lid and shook it up.  Now of course when shaking a container, you have to do some sort of dance. Fortunately for us all, I don't have any documentation of my 'mixing up the oil and baking soda' dance. 

 I don't have a sifter, so I poured the mixture into my hand and tried to use my fingers as the sifter.  It looked more like my 2 year old grabbed handfuls of the stuff and tossed it all over the car.

 The cup covered two seats, the floor of the driver seat and the entire floor on the back.  I'm sure it would have gone farther if I was property sifting it. 

It said to wait an hour, but my hour turned into 90 min.  Why you ask?  Because I have two children who have this 6th sense that tells them to play nicely by themselves or with each other whenever I have free time, but the seconed I have something to do they suddently need me and demand my attention. At one point things went like this.
 My daughter saw me walking to the garage and said:
"mom, what you newing?"
"I'm going to vacuume the car"
"NOOOOOO" she crouched down and covered her face with her hands.  This is a new move for her, and it's pretty fun to watch this overly dramatic display of emotion.
me:"it's ok, I'll be back really soon"
"NOOOOO" she then raced over and latched herself onto my leg. 

At this point my son wanted in on the game and he started giving me the third degree;
"mom, I have been waiting and WAITNG for you to play school with me" *said in the most pitiful pouty voice imaginable* (apparently he forgot that we had spent 30 min playing school right before I threw the baking soda all over the car)

Thus I found myself having to use a crow bar to pry a drama queen off my leg while simultaneously arguing with a 4 year old.

So here we are at the 90 min mark.  I went out to vacuum my car, then vacuume it again.  Then got really annoyed that my car looked like this. 

The baking soda had found little patches of moisture and latched onto them with a vengeance.  Knowing that my time was limited before I found myself surrounded by the traveling duo of drama queens, I got a rag, wiped up what I could and called it good.

The Verdict: My car smelled great.  It was a very mild, fresh lavender scent.  However, it didn't last long.  I did it on a Thursday night and by Sunday morning I could no longer smell it.  I basically got 2 full days of a nice smelling car.  That's it!  Two days. All that drama and work for only 2 days?  No thank you.

So here I am 0 for 2 with air fresheners.  Maybe my home to just destined to smell like butt paste and my car like moldy food lurking between the seats.

Air Freshener

I have an old plug in air freshener that has been sitting in the closet collecting dust for way to long.  It's not that I don't want to use it, I just always forget to buy the replacements.
I came across this website http://holycrickey.tumblr.com/post/7394307755/diy-wallflowers-scented-plugin
about how to refill your air freshener using essential oils.  AWESOME!!! Now I don't have to go to the store and once again come home annoyed that I forgot the plug in refill. Now I can just come home annoyed that once again those marketing genuineness got me and I bought something I didn't need.

The instructions sounded very easy
pull the wick out
clean out the bulb
pour in the oil, filling the bulb about 1/3
fill the rest of the bulb with water
put the wick back in
Plug in and enjoy

I decided to try two different oils.  I knew I was going to spend a full day in the office so I thought the citrus twist would be a great one to help keep me awake and the office is right by the entry way so as a bonus, the entry way will smell great if anyone comes.

Once the citrus was done, my plan was to wash it out and refill it with lavender for my room to hopefully bring on a peaceful nights rest.  

 

For both oils I decided to not fill the bulb all the way up but I still did 1 part of oil to 2 parts of water. 

 I plugged in the citrus scent in the office and waited for the magic to happen....
and waited....
then waited....
more waiting....
finally after 9 hours of being plugged in, I could finally smell it while sitting at the computer.  Eventually the whole room smelled great, but for some reason the scent refused to leave the room.

It's not like it had to travel far, it's right by the door next to the entry way for heavens sake, but apparently there was some invisible air bully that kept beating up the citrus scent when it tried to make it's way out of the office.

After the citrus scent was done, it was time to move onto the Lavender.  I pulled the wick out, rinsed the bulb, filled the bulb with oil and water and......    hmmmmmm........ we have a problem here.  Apparently the wick did not like being yanked out of it's home again, and it fell apart. 

 But don't worry, after some cursing and spilling some oil I got that little sucker back in the bulb.  HA HA! Take that you little piece of fabric!

After leaving the Lavender scent in for MANY hours, I still couldn't smell anything

I had to get thiiiiiiis close in order to enjoy the soothing aromas of the lavender.  How was this going to help me sleep if I couldn't smell it from my bed?

 

Maybe I can sleep by the air freshener!?!?!

However, after about 5 minutes I remembered that the ground is hard and my bed is soft.  Hmmmmm so how can I enjoy the smell of the lavender AND enjoy the comforts of my bed....

Tie the plug in to my head?

EUREKA!!!!

 The Verdict: In my opinion it's not worth the money.  I think you would have to use a lot of oil in order to smell it in a bigger room. Even though the citrus finally filled the office my husband says he couldn't smell it at all.  Plus the wick fell apart.  Maybe other plug in air fresheners would work better, but not the kind I used. I think I'll pass and move onto another method.