Spring Cleaning Tips and Tricks: Disinfectant Air Freshener

By Louise Gruenberg
Published on March 31, 2009
article image

Makes 1/2 cup

I make a variety of convenient sprays by combining essential oils with alcohol and water. I like to keep several on hand, including orange, lavender, and spruce as well as the combination given below.

• 4 drops essential oil of white thyme
• 6 drops essential oil of tea tree
• 8 drops essential oil of clove
• 2 teaspoons 190-proof alcohol
• Filtered or distilled water

1. In a glass measuring cup, stir the oils into the alcohol. If the oils do not dissolve in the alcohol completely, add another teaspoon of alcohol. Then add water to the 1/2-cup line.

2. Pour the solution into a glass bottle with a spray nozzle.

3. To use, spray into the air, avoiding people’s faces.


Louise Gruenberg gardens as much as possible and cleans house as little as possible in her Oak Park, Illinois, home. She also writes and teaches about herbs. Due to popular demand for reprints of this article, it has been reprinted from our February/March 1997 issue with the author’s permission.

Click here for the main article, “Spring Cleaning Tips and Tricks.”

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-456-6018
Free health and natural beauty tips from Mother Earth News!