How to Create Your Own Homemade Liquid Potpourri

The craft sections of department stores often display rows of clear plastic bottles containing liquid potpourri in varying scents. It’s difficult to resist uncapping them to sample the aromas. These bottles of liquid luxury are easy to use. Pour out enough potpourri to fill the concave top of a ceramic simmer pot; place an inexpensive tea light candle underneath it; light the candle; and wait about twenty minutes for the scent to permeate the room. These liquid potpourri creations can add a relaxing ambiance to any small area, particularly one that can have a closed door most of the time to “trap” the scent in the immediate vicinity. They are highly effective in small bathrooms, for example.

If you already own a ceramic simmer pot and become excited about creating inexpensive luxuries at home, you can avoid the expense of buying liquid potpourri at the department store. The ingredients for a homemade version are easy to obtain, and the intoxicating fragrance will be all the more exhilarating because you helped design it!

To make your own liquid potpourri, buy four bottles of varying brands of beautifully-fragranced household cleaners. Choose coordinating scent families, such as “oceanic”, “woodsy”, or “fruity”. Obtain a half-cup measure, a small funnel, and an empty two-liter pop bottle. Put the cap aside. Insert the funnel into the mouth of the pop bottle and pour half a cup of each type of cleaner into the bottle. You will now have two cups of scented cleaner in the bottle. Slowly fill the rest of the two-liter pop bottle with water, but leave a couple of inches of air at the top. Replace the cap. Shake the bottle thoroughly. You will now have two liters of homemade liquid potpourri. Use it in the same manner that you would store-bought potpourri. The advantage is that it will take quite awhile for two liters of homemade liquid potpourri to run out. When it does, you’ll still have the original four cleaners to use in making another bottle of it!

You might want to think about making a separate bottle anyway, as there are several ways that the mixture can be used BESIDES burning it. For example, if you fill an empty spray bottle with the homemade liquid potpourri, you can spray it on the fabric in your home, such as curtains, throw pillows, and the backs of couches and chairs, to make the house smell fresh and clean. You can add a cup of the mixture to each load of laundry that you do, along with the regular detergent, to freshen the clothes. When you’re not burning it, you can spray it liberally on bathroom curtains and inside the walls of the bathtub or shower. It will make your bathroom smell fresh and clean! Homemade liquid potpourri can even be sprayed onto the fabric surfaces of your vehicle, such as seats and carpeted floors. The best time to do this would be as soon as the vehicle is parked for the night. It will need a few hours to dry. Another way to use it would be to spray it on your kitchen floor and then wipe it up with a dry mop, to make the kitchen smell good.

The initial investment of four bottles of liquid cleaner will yield several two-liter bottles of homemade liquid potpourri, because (per batch) you’d only use half a cup out of each of the bottles.

I hope that these suggestions give you months of inexpensive, aromatic enjoyment!