While most commercial air fresheners are a chemical soup, this simple DIY air freshener is cheap, easy to make, and you control what goes into it and how strong the scent is.
Photo by kali.ma.
Lifehacker reader bookwench shared this simple technique for making your own air freshener, free of the overpowering fake scents found in commercial air fresheners and much cheaper too:
Air freshener can cost a lot; this trick is cheaper and smells nicer.
Get a squirt bottle (preferably something glass, because plastics react badly with most essential oils.) Get some vodka or gin, the cheaper the better—something clear with a high alcohol content and little smell. Get some essential oils you think smell nice.
Fill the squirt bottle with vodka; add a couple drops of the essential oils; shake. The alcohol dissolves the essential oils and diffuses them into the air, then evaporates.
You can also infuse the vodka with stuff like vanilla or cinnamon for more scents...
The "don't be stupid" list:
Pick safe essential oils. Some of them can do bad things to pregnant women; most are completely harmless. Read about what you're buying and using.
Don't use too much of the essential oils in the mix or you'll regret it; the smell will be too intense and the spray will be irritating.
Don't drink it. Essential oils do bad things to your insides.
Don't spray near open flames or CD's. This mix is flammable, and it will cause smudging on plastic surfaces like CD's; but so will most normal air fresheners, so it's not that much of a change.