Cinnamon sticks and cloves-YUMMY!

Usually on Thursdays we do a beauty recipe, but this week I’d like to switch gears to do a household recipe–making our own natural air freshener.

Due to time constraints this week, I am unable to get into the facts about why air fresheners you buy in the store are extremely dangerous for us! BUT! It CAN CAUSE CANCER!! And, if there IS a nasty smell you are trying to cover up in your home, the best solution is to not do whatever it is that is causing the nasty smell or get rid of whatever is causing the pollution to begin with. If that’s not do-able, I suggest opening your windows and/or using fans, burning a natural organic essential oil candle or using spices or essential oils in some way.

Personally, I like opening my windows to exchange stale air for fresh air. It will never be perfect if you live in a city, as there is always something in the air less desirable for us to breathe, but studies have shown that home pollution is worse for us than pollution outside of our homes because we keep our windows closed (not letting the stale air out-carbon dioxide) and because we use chemicals to clean, synthetic air fresheners and so on.

Here’s an interesting article on the dangers of plug in air fresheners to start with: Click Here!

If you read Dr. Mercola’s comments towards the bottom of the article, he states that essential oils are safer to use than plug ins, and in the future, I plan on bringing you more information on what we can do to have our homes smelling good.

If you have any kind of respiratory problems I suggest you get rid of all air fresheners, scented candles from a store (unless they are made with all natural materials and essential oils–even with essential oils, you need to test yourself as to whether or not you are are allergic to them-skin test on inside of arm), and remove all chemicals, pesticides and anything that says “DANGER” on it and MOVE THEM to a place that you do not live in (perhaps the garage?-whatever is safe). Hopefully you don’t have too many of these items around to begin with and can find alternatives.

Even if you don’t have respiratory problems, if you are interested in keeping your health as your priority, I suggest you do the same. Even if you don’t care about whether you are exposed to toxins or not, think of your kids and pets as they are more sensitive to these things than adults are, as their physical bodies are still growing (kids) and they are not capable of surviving as well (pets) because they are smaller than adults, and if you’re like me and have birdies, it just takes a little dangerous toxin in the air to kill them, and that is the last thing I want for my “little kids”–especially PESTICIDES or toxic fumes from NON STICK PANS!

Ok, so here is a simple two ingredient recipe for an air freshener that you could do for your home:

Simmer a pot of spices: cinnamon and cloves in water. Turn off the water after the burner scent spreads through the rooms so as not to waste energy.

That’s it!! So simple! How could it get any better than that? In the near future, I plan on having a much more challenging recipe on how we can make our very own potpourri out of fruit and flowers. It may be a two week recipe as it’s actually two recipes in one!

I love cinnamon and cloves and I hope you do too!! Do you have any natural air freshener recipes you’d like to share? Post a recipe in the comment box below and I will try it out!