Supermarket air fresheners and candles can be cheaper than the handmade, boutique style you can buy but are they safe for your home and your family? Here are some ideas for air fresheners that are safe for your home.
Air Fresheners & Candles
How much do you spend on air fresheners and/or candles? Do you feel better that your house smells like the air freshener than if it didn’t?
This isn’t a criticism about how clean your house is or a lecture on the environment but just to raise your awareness to some facts and some alternatives.
I’m not a greenie but when I heard about how harmful the chemicals are in air fresheners for your home, I stopped buying them. If you’ve got a couple of toilets, you buy a can of air freshener for each or a scented candle for a few rooms of the house and it certainly adds up.
Air fresheners are harmful
Glen20 used to be one of my favourites, especially for killing germs. At $8.00 a can, it’s a hefty price but makes marvellous claims for killing germs in various situations in your home.
Glen 20, according to Material Safety Data Sheets is up to 60% Ethanol.
MSDS online says,
Ethanol is dangerous: The following should be worn whenever using ethanol: Respirator, Boots, Long rubber gloves, Industrial aprons, Overalls, Chemical safety goggles, Face shield. It’s really dangerous to breathe in Ethanol and Glen 20 is mostly Ethanol. The other major ingredients are at least as dangerous Propane up to 30% and Butane up to10%.
Via Reckitt Benckiser
Supermarket candles are harmful
At anywhere from $5 to $20 from the supermarket, they are always going to leave a big dent in the grocery budget. Not only that, if they are made from paraffin wax which is derived from petroleum, coal or shale oil they are very toxic.
When it’s burnt, paraffin wax releases toxic compounds into the air, including acetone, benzene, and toluene – all known carcinogens.
Paraffin candles also produce a fair bit of soot – the black stuff caused from flickering flames – and when the soot is airborne it can be inhaled.
When scented candles are burned, they give off tiny particles, so small that you could fit a thousand of them across a single human hair. The problem with particles this small is that they can get into the bloodstream, and they have been associated with both short- and long-term health problems, including asthma and cardiovascular disease.
What to do instead to make your home smell nice
I don’t know about you but I have wonderful memories of my grandmothers and mum’s houses smelling nice naturally. Freshly baked goods coming out of the oven, fresh fruit (my nanna’s house always smelled like pineapple) and a fresh, clean smell because they (or we as kids) cleaned the house.
Here are some tips:
- Dust smells. If you keep on top of the dust in your house, there’ll be less musty odours and a cleaner fresh smell. Sweep or vacuum floors regularly, wipe feet at the door on mats and wash the mats regularly, wash curtains, clean blinds and windows and dust furniture, light fittings and fans etc.
- Open your windows and let the fresh air in.
- Think of using odour neutralisers instead of artificially scenting your home. Plain bicarb soda is an excellent absorber of unwanted odours.
- Fresh scented flowers like roses, jasmine, jonquil and lavender are highly scented. Fresh or dried as pot pourri are a great natural scent.
- Essential oils mix with water (or alcohol) make an excellent room deodoriser, linen spray, air freshener, fabric furniture refresher.
- Diffusing essential oils are a natural way to not only add a fresh scent to your home but depending on the oil you diffuse, can set a calm relaxing tone in the house (lavender), or an energised tone (housework or homework) with peppermint.
- Make a stove top air freshener with citrus peel, cinnamon bark, cloves, peppercorns, rosemary, eucalyptus etc. Heat until boiling and then lower to a simmer for approx 30 mins.
- If you do use candles check very carefully that they are made from natural wax like beeswax and only essential oils added.
Keep it natural, keep on top of the dust and dirt in your home and open the windows in your home and your home will smell naturally fresh and you’ll not avoid harmful chemicals coming into your home, you’ll save a lot of money buying air fresheners and candles from the supermarket.
