Monday, July 27, 2009

Dryer Sachets

Don't you love it when you take your clothes out of the dryer and they smell really, really good? Now you can create low-cost dryer sachets right at home with natural essential oils.

Take a cotton cloth--(you can recycle your old Bounce fabric softener sheets)and put 10 drops of an essential oil on the cloth. Place the cloth in the dryer together with the clothes to be scented.

Essential Oil Ideas: Lavender, Lime, Spearmint, Geranium, or Spearmint. Personally, a blend of lavender and lime is my favorite.

Enjoy!

Anne Keefe

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Natural Carpet Deodorizer

Have you ever tried using a Carpet Fresh product? They come in different scents, but most are so strong, the smell will make you gag. At least it does for me. The artificial fragrance is overwhelming.

We have a corner in our family room that the cats will pee on ever so often. (once was too much for me!) It doesn't seem to matter if the carpet has been cleaned and deodorized by a professional carpet cleaning company, they still head over to that corner.

With the warmer weather the carpet wasn't smelling very good and it was really bothering my husband. I decided to make my own carpet deodorizer using baking soda and essential oils. The result was amazing! The carpet and family room instantly smelled fresher and not too perfumey like it would have been with Carpet Fresh. Actually, the entire downstairs smelled amazing with the fresh and pure scent of essential oils.

Here is the recipe for you to try at home:

30 drops of lime essential oil
30 drops of lavender essential oil
20 drops of orange essential oil
1/2 cup of baking soda

Mix all the ingredients in a wide mouth jar-tighten the cap. Set aside for 24 hours for the scent to permeate the baking soda. Sprinkle over the carpet, wait 15-minutes and then vacuum.

I also took 2 cotton balls and saturated (just 1/2 of the cotton ball) with the essential oils and placed them on the carpet while I waited the 24 hours.

By the way, the cats have not gone near that corner since!

Enjoy,

Anne Keefe