No Air Freshener

This article is from Wendyl Nissen’s latest book A Natural Year.

Somewhere along the way we were told by marketers that our houses had to smell of chemicals. Please ignore the air-freshener aisle of your supermarket and don’t bring those little bottles of fragrance and other nasties home.

Please don’t plug any into your wall socket either, as this ensures you get poisoned on a regular basis. No one knows what goes into those poisonous canisters but we do know that they use fragrance.

Instead use essential oils and benefit not only from their lovely smell but also their aromatherapy properties, which help relax you or help you concentrate or anything else you might like to feel. There are some really lovely essential oil diffusers on the market these days, so if you really need your home to smell “nice” use one of those.

I throw all the doors and windows open every morning, rain or shine, summer or winter, and give my home a good old air-out for about ten minutes. And if there is something funky around like a dead rat under the house then I burn essential oils or a good-quality organic natural incense, which takes me back to the ’70s and makes me feel good.

While we’re talking fragrance, a note on scented candles. Find candles that use essential oils to make them smell nice. This can be quite hard but there are a few people making them. Have a look at the back of my new book A Natural Year for some recommendations. (The flash candles that you pay big money for are simply using chemicals and then encouraging you to burn them in your own home while suggesting through marketing that they are cool and sexy and a necessity for any relaxed gathering. There is no natural fragrance called French Pear.)

These recipes use essential oils that not only perfume your home but also carry mood-enhancing benefits and can treat symptoms of fatigue, stress and depression. When I’m making up a mixture, I sniff the bottles and use whichever one appeals to me at the time. Here are some alternatives to keep your kitchen and bathroom smelling good and let the essential oils get rid of any harmful bugs and germs at the same time.

Vanilla Essence: One of the simplest ways to make a room smell lovely is to leave some bowls with vanilla essence around the place. Great to give your house a welcoming smell if you are expecting people over.

Light Bulbs: Dab a bit of essential oil on your light bulb before turning on your lights for a great fragrance, or you can buy rings to hang on your bulb that warm up and disperse oil.

Oil Burner: An oil burner that holds water with a votive candle under it is a great way to disperse oils around a room. Just add a few drops to the water and top up as needed.

A guide to choosing essential oils

To reduce anxiety: basil, bergamot, geranium, lavender

To calm: sandalwood, sage, lavender, chamomile, neroli

To combat depression: bergamot, clary sage, neroli, chamomile, juniper, lavender

To energise: rosemary, pine, lemon, orange

To encourage intimacy: sandalwood, patchouli, jasmine

To soothe mental fatgiue: basil, peppermint, rosemary, pine

To treat mild shock: chamomile, melissa, neroli, peppermint

To reduce PMT: rose geranium, bergamot, jasmine

To relax: nerolie, lavender, vetivert

To uplift: geranium, orange

No wonder cleaning with Green Goddess all natural products is such a mood enhancer! To purchase any of our pure essential oils, click here.

Want to know more about the dangers of fragrance in products click here.