Hey y’all,
I wrote a blog post awhile back about scented candles and how they’re not actually beneficial to our health. Scented candles are made from the waste product of burning fossil fuels, and then they’re chemically stripped of the burnt-petroleum smell and have fragrances added. But you can read more about that in the post.
For now, I want to tell you about how I’m making my house smell wonderful today. I recently swore off scented candles altogether. To me, after a few minutes, I can’t smell them anymore. If I’m going to do something bad for my health, I want to get something pretty good out of it. So, I decided to try making a potpourri pot. I’ve only done this once before. It didn’t really make the house smell, and all the recipes I found relied on cinnamon… and my husband and I aren’t huge fans of cinnamon (my husband even less so than me). I haven’t done a potpourri pot since then, but I decided to give it another try. Why not? It’s so easy, and sooo cheap, that there was really no reason not to.
I found a pot, filled it with about 3 cups of water (I didn’t measure anything), 1-2 Tbsp vanilla (the cheap, fake extract – I’m not going to put my good vanilla in here), and 2-3 tsp coffee grounds (I used some coffee that I don’t really like to drink). Then, I let the water come to a boil, and I turned it down to low, and I’m just letting it simmer on the stove. You can do this with any spices – just throw them in water and let them simmer; a Crock Pot would even do the job, and you can put it anywhere with a plug. Just be sure to glance in there every hour or so to make sure there’s enough water.
This is making my house smell so good! It’s already been awhile, and I can still smell the fragrances simmering away. Plus, its not bad for mine or my family’s health! I definitely recommend trying this.
Frugal Treehugger 