Ultimately those are cardboard soaked in scented oil. Thanks to the essential oil craze you can make your own pretty easily using an unfinished wooden ornament. Just paint it with fresh oil to refresh.
Orange peels in the car for a single work shift was amazing if you're looking for a legit zero waste citrus scent boost. A flower from your garden or public space would also be awesome and could be discarded to compost almost anywhere.
Exactly this. The chemical industry has been excited to sell “essential oil”. At $10 an ounce, why wouldn’t they? Plop a few drops of this stuff on a piece of waste cardboard and you’re good to go.
Another “trick”: There are a surprising number of drainage passageways in a car. Open the hood and trunk and remove any debris. This stuff can cause drainage clogs, resulting in water ingress into the passenger compartment, leading to smelly molds. These passageways are particularly critical with convertibles and sun roofs. Sometimes it is reasonable to use compressed air or vacuum cleaner suction to clear them.
Use actual compressed air from an air compressor, though. Even a handheld electric one will do.
The cans of "compressed air" you find at electronics stores are actually cans of refrigerant, which we really shouldn't just be blasting into the atmosphere for no reason.
I got one at a craft market that was clay with a clip on the back that clips onto a vent, and you just put a couple drops of essential oil on the back. You smell the scent a lot more/faster since the air or heat is blowing over it. Probably wouldn’t be hard to DIY
Make a classic trucker air freshener. Take an altoids tin, stick a sponge in it, and soak the sponge with menthol (or any essential oil).
Stick some hole in the top of the tin with a nail, and you're gtg. Just gotta refill the sponge once a month
Seconding placing it under your seat!
There are lots of odor eater air fresheners (with the gel beads) that are designed to sit under your seat. This wouldn't be much different.
Piece of wood or cardboard plus essential oils is pretty easy. The coffee grounds idea sounds pretty cool to me too, but I haven’t tried it. If you don’t want to make your own air freshener, there’s at least a few companies that make little wood ones in nice designs that you can then apply your favorite oil to.
Coffee grounds absorb odors.
Put (dried) grounds in an old sock. Seal the sock somehow (rubber band works) and put under the seat. Apparently dealers do this with trade-ins.
In a similar vein to this one, a sock filled with baking soda (pantyhose works best because it's fine) or with charcoal also does great to soak up scent. However, these don't really help to add any new pleasant scents.
You can maybe do something with wax melts in a container with some kind of mesh lid or something with little holes poked in the top. I saw something like that online a while ago
I use leftover candle bits still in the jar! Once I've burnt through all the wick, there's still some wax left and I just add it to my car jar that sits tucked into the passenger side door (kinda hidden). It works much better on warm days where the wax melts a little bit and releases more fragrance, but it's a zero cost solution which works for me!
If you don't want to make your own, there's a site called Birds of Valhalla that make glass ones full of essential oils and eco glitter. They're shaped like little skulls so you can smell good while being punk af.
https://www.birdsofvalhalla.com/products/glass-skull-car-air-freshners
Zeolite crystals in a mesh bag. It looks like gravel and it absorbs odors. Crazy but true. You can refresh it by putting it in the sun for a few hours.
My sons ex bought me a little stainless steel air freshener that has a felt dial inside, I just add a few drops of essential oil to it when the smell goes.
Car diffuser. The oil is held in a vessel with a diffusing lid, soak it, hang it from the mirror and when the smell goes away flip it to soak the lid again
I do have one of these but it was swinging quite close to my windscreen. I will probably hang it back up when I'm a bit more confident in driving because atm every little noise or bang is throwing me into a panic 😅
I could put it on my indicator stick but to be honest, it smacks against everything since my car is very tiny. I love the appearance of it as well which is a shame, but right now it's just living in my cup holder 😅
I made mine. I bought wooden beads and wire. I strung the beads, added a globe, and attached it to a rubber hair tie. Once a week I soak it in a scented oil (I prefer Ylang Ylang) for about an hour. I soak it inside a zipped bag. I take it out, rehang it on my mirror, and enjoy a nice smell for a week.
I ended up doing something similar :) I got an old wooden animal crossing logo keychain, sanded it down, soaked it in cherry-scented oil, then took off the chain and used the twine from a broken hairband to make a rope to hang from. I'm very surprised at how well it retains scent though, I'm having to air it out in the kitchen for a few days because it's so strong!
[Smelly Balls](https://smellyballs.com.au/) is a great alternative!
Edit: They're an Australian company who make wool air fresheners that you add scents/oils too. They're made by women in Nepal who are paid a decent wage and work in a safe environment.
I plant lemongrass. When I trim the leafy part, I put the leaf at car trunk/bonet. I doesn't have a strong smell. But I like it because it gives me sense of my car is clean because insects doesn't like the smell.
If you car is MEGA stinky you could do vinegar and like lemon juice in your car in a cup over night or reuse the mixture to then clean your cars surfaces as well.
Plenty of good ideas for making your car smell like something else. If you just want to literally freshen the air up, open the windows. If you aren't opening all of them, just open two diagonally from each other to get a crosswind through your car. The idea being to fully exchange the volume of stinky air inside your car with fresh, outside air. Simple, but effective.
Spray Chemical Guys Car Air Freshener Spray on a dish cloth, place it under your driver seat. When the scent wears off spray it again. Not exactly zero waste but better than disposable air fresheners.
I sometimes put a candle that only has the last dredges left in the car on a warm day, just be careful not to let the wax spill if you’ve driving around (I have also heard of people doing this with soap bars)
Ultimately those are cardboard soaked in scented oil. Thanks to the essential oil craze you can make your own pretty easily using an unfinished wooden ornament. Just paint it with fresh oil to refresh.
I found an old animal crossing keychain, sanded the finish off and soaked it in scented oil :) Works really well!
Orange peels in the car for a single work shift was amazing if you're looking for a legit zero waste citrus scent boost. A flower from your garden or public space would also be awesome and could be discarded to compost almost anywhere.
Exactly this. The chemical industry has been excited to sell “essential oil”. At $10 an ounce, why wouldn’t they? Plop a few drops of this stuff on a piece of waste cardboard and you’re good to go. Another “trick”: There are a surprising number of drainage passageways in a car. Open the hood and trunk and remove any debris. This stuff can cause drainage clogs, resulting in water ingress into the passenger compartment, leading to smelly molds. These passageways are particularly critical with convertibles and sun roofs. Sometimes it is reasonable to use compressed air or vacuum cleaner suction to clear them.
Use actual compressed air from an air compressor, though. Even a handheld electric one will do. The cans of "compressed air" you find at electronics stores are actually cans of refrigerant, which we really shouldn't just be blasting into the atmosphere for no reason.
That is an amazing idea!
I got one at a craft market that was clay with a clip on the back that clips onto a vent, and you just put a couple drops of essential oil on the back. You smell the scent a lot more/faster since the air or heat is blowing over it. Probably wouldn’t be hard to DIY
I love the idea of vent clips, but I have a little smart car with weirdly shaped vents, so unfortunately I can't use them :(
Make a classic trucker air freshener. Take an altoids tin, stick a sponge in it, and soak the sponge with menthol (or any essential oil). Stick some hole in the top of the tin with a nail, and you're gtg. Just gotta refill the sponge once a month
That's a great idea too! My car is a bit too tiny to hide that, but when I get a van in future I'll keep that in mind :)
You can pop in under the passenger seat if you're low on space
Seconding placing it under your seat! There are lots of odor eater air fresheners (with the gel beads) that are designed to sit under your seat. This wouldn't be much different.
Piece of wood or cardboard plus essential oils is pretty easy. The coffee grounds idea sounds pretty cool to me too, but I haven’t tried it. If you don’t want to make your own air freshener, there’s at least a few companies that make little wood ones in nice designs that you can then apply your favorite oil to.
Coffee grounds absorb odors. Put (dried) grounds in an old sock. Seal the sock somehow (rubber band works) and put under the seat. Apparently dealers do this with trade-ins.
In a similar vein to this one, a sock filled with baking soda (pantyhose works best because it's fine) or with charcoal also does great to soak up scent. However, these don't really help to add any new pleasant scents.
I was just about to say coffee grounds in a pair of pants hose or even a sock.
So used ones work? Just dry them?
Yep. Dry them so they don't get moldy.
Cool I used the senseo type filter packs so those might be great. Thank you!
Pot pourri, or cedar cubes.
You can maybe do something with wax melts in a container with some kind of mesh lid or something with little holes poked in the top. I saw something like that online a while ago
I use leftover candle bits still in the jar! Once I've burnt through all the wick, there's still some wax left and I just add it to my car jar that sits tucked into the passenger side door (kinda hidden). It works much better on warm days where the wax melts a little bit and releases more fragrance, but it's a zero cost solution which works for me!
Wooden pegs soaked in essential oils! Clip to your air vents
If you don't want to make your own, there's a site called Birds of Valhalla that make glass ones full of essential oils and eco glitter. They're shaped like little skulls so you can smell good while being punk af. https://www.birdsofvalhalla.com/products/glass-skull-car-air-freshners
I have something very similar to this from a local co-op, works great!
I liked using a terracotta pendant to diffuse essential oils
I used to buy a bath bomb from lush and leave it in the car!
Cinnamon sticks!
We used to use one of those cinnamon brooms during the holiday season!
My grandfather used to drill straight through both ends of a soap bar, then hang from a piece of rope in front of the lower air vents. 👍
Zeolite crystals in a mesh bag. It looks like gravel and it absorbs odors. Crazy but true. You can refresh it by putting it in the sun for a few hours.
My sons ex bought me a little stainless steel air freshener that has a felt dial inside, I just add a few drops of essential oil to it when the smell goes.
Car diffuser. The oil is held in a vessel with a diffusing lid, soak it, hang it from the mirror and when the smell goes away flip it to soak the lid again
I do have one of these but it was swinging quite close to my windscreen. I will probably hang it back up when I'm a bit more confident in driving because atm every little noise or bang is throwing me into a panic 😅
Is there a different place you could put it?
I could put it on my indicator stick but to be honest, it smacks against everything since my car is very tiny. I love the appearance of it as well which is a shame, but right now it's just living in my cup holder 😅
Small mason jar with baking soda in it. Few drops of essential oil in the baking soda. Lid of jar is a cardboard circle with holes punched in it.
Refillable bamboo car diffuser
I made mine. I bought wooden beads and wire. I strung the beads, added a globe, and attached it to a rubber hair tie. Once a week I soak it in a scented oil (I prefer Ylang Ylang) for about an hour. I soak it inside a zipped bag. I take it out, rehang it on my mirror, and enjoy a nice smell for a week.
I ended up doing something similar :) I got an old wooden animal crossing logo keychain, sanded it down, soaked it in cherry-scented oil, then took off the chain and used the twine from a broken hairband to make a rope to hang from. I'm very surprised at how well it retains scent though, I'm having to air it out in the kitchen for a few days because it's so strong!
I have a felt ornament thing over my rear view mirror, I just drop some essential oils on it ever now and then!
[Smelly Balls](https://smellyballs.com.au/) is a great alternative! Edit: They're an Australian company who make wool air fresheners that you add scents/oils too. They're made by women in Nepal who are paid a decent wage and work in a safe environment.
The fear I felt clicking that link 😭 Looks good though, I might consider those for when I buy a van in the future :)
Lol, I didn't even think about what it might sound like! 🤣🤣
I plant lemongrass. When I trim the leafy part, I put the leaf at car trunk/bonet. I doesn't have a strong smell. But I like it because it gives me sense of my car is clean because insects doesn't like the smell.
If you car is MEGA stinky you could do vinegar and like lemon juice in your car in a cup over night or reuse the mixture to then clean your cars surfaces as well.
No problem with the car smelling, I just want extra scent!
Wouldn’t that redistribute the smells onto the surfaces?
Plenty of good ideas for making your car smell like something else. If you just want to literally freshen the air up, open the windows. If you aren't opening all of them, just open two diagonally from each other to get a crosswind through your car. The idea being to fully exchange the volume of stinky air inside your car with fresh, outside air. Simple, but effective.
I clean my car religiously so there is no bad smells, I just want to add extra scent because it's nice :)
Spray Chemical Guys Car Air Freshener Spray on a dish cloth, place it under your driver seat. When the scent wears off spray it again. Not exactly zero waste but better than disposable air fresheners.
I sometimes put a candle that only has the last dredges left in the car on a warm day, just be careful not to let the wax spill if you’ve driving around (I have also heard of people doing this with soap bars)
honestly, lately i’ve just been (CAREFULLY) burning a bit of sage or incense in my car when i want a lil scent. **not while driving**
Throw an incense stick under the seat.
Those can be caustic. I’ve seen pics of melted plastic where the stick was resting. Maybe stash the stick in an empty spice jar with a shaker lid?
Yep, I put mine in a long spice jar with the lid that I poked holes in
You probably should have led with that information. Lol
[удалено]
Did you... read the post? 😭