By ERIN TURNER
Have you ever been somewhere and stopped in your tracks because a smell made you recall something from your past? Maybe I’m weird, but smells define space and time for me. I’m very in tune to smells and how they relate to my life.
For example, when I was in 4th grade Santa brought me a Dr. Pepper lip gloss which I immediately fell in love with! A few years back I found a “retro” version of that lip gloss at Target and “Santa” filled my socking with it again. The minute I opened it and smell the lip gloss, I was 10 years old again and sitting on the hearth of my parents’ fireplace under my stocking. It was a cool flashback!
As amazing as smells can be, there are times when smells are awful and ruin the memory or the situation. Like when your airline seat is next to the restroom for a long flight or when Aunt Ester wears the entire bottle of 40 year old perfume and you’re stuck sitting next to her at the Thanksgiving table.
Have any of these Febreeze, Glade, Airwick air fresheners in your house?
Our homes are hopefully places where good memories are created and smells play an important role in that. Isn’t it great to smell your favorite meal cooking or fresh bread baking or to come in and smell fresh clean laundry?
The commercial world has cashed in on our sense of smell by creating lots of household products to make our homes smell the way we want them. I’m a sucker for these products especially during the holidays and springtime. Fortunately, there are lots of coupons for these items and I usually hit a good sale and then stock up. But I’m still forking out over $2-3 for the plug-in oil refills. These refills usually only last about 4-6 weeks.
Lately, I’ve been hearing more and more about the toxic pollution these home scent items create. Many websites which promote clean, healthy living warn against having these plug-in chemicals in your home as they add unnecessary toxins which are harmful to all people but especially children, animals and those with sensitive respiratory systems.
Being frugal and not wanting toxins in my home, I researched a way to still have beautiful aromas which fit each season. It’s actually quite easy and one of those, “Duh, why didn’t I think of that!?” solutions!
Most of us have those plug-in scent diffusers (think: Febreeze, Glade, Airwick, etc). If you don’t, check the weekly coupon insert in the newspaper for a coupon and then match it up to any of the sales on the oil diffusers. Walgreens or CVS usually have some killer sales on them.
Pop off the cover with the wick and fill the bottle with a little bit of essential oil and then fill the rest with water!
Once you have your plug-in oil diffuser all you have to do, is pop off the cover with the wick and fill the bottle with a little bit of essential oil and then fill the rest with water! Really…it’s that easy!
I tested it last week for the first time! A few months ago, JoAnn Fabrics had essential oils in their candle and soap-making department on clearance. So, I scooped up some favorite scents thinking I’d make soaps in my spare time. I paid around $1.50 each for these bottles. I had a perfect one for this time of year…Lilac Spring!
So, I carefully poured about 20 drops (you’ll want to play around with the quantity for more intense or less scent) of essential oil into the plug-in refill then slowly added water to fill it up. Once I replaced the wick, I plugged it in and anxiously waited! It didn’t take long and pretty soon, wafts of fresh lilacs began filling the air. It was delightful! And I could breathe in the freshness and not worry about contaminants or toxins!
Look for essential oils at any natural food stores or craft stores in the candle/soap making area. I saw some great ones at Michael’s…like Vanilla Lavendar or Cucumber Melon. You could also get creative and blend some of these scents for your own concoction! Imagine a nice Pine-Berry at Christmas time! Michael’s had these for around $3-4 each but wait for a sale or use one of their weekly 40-50% off coupons.
I love this new way of creating a nice smelling home! It’s environmentally safe, family friendly and oh, so frugal! Roughly, you can save well over $50 a year by switching to this healthy method! That’s a savings that smells like roses to me!
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Erin’s got tons of tips for saving money, couponing, sticking to a budget, and living sustainably in her blog archive.
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Erin Eisenman-Turner is proud to be a native Missoulian. Along with her husband and three sons, they raise chickens, pigs, rabbits, and vegetables at Turner Family Farms in the Orchard Homes area. When the farm chores are done, the coupons clipped, and the blog written, you can find Erin exploring Montana, collecting antiques, and trying to maintain a well-run, happy, and organized home for her family.
