Nothing stifles productivity more than a messy or dirty workspace. Even more unsettling is when that home office has a distinct, funky odor. If as a result, you can’t stand to be at your desk for more than a few minutes at a time. Now is the time for a spring cleaning—no matter what the season.
There are plenty of reasons your home office could smell more like the inside of a trash bin. If you rather smell like a field carpeted with wildflowers, there are as many solutions. Whether you have that cooking odors wafting in from the kitchen, stinky pets, or find that the scent of smoke is infiltrating your office. Take action now. Start by deodorizing your home with a wide variety of air fresheners.
There are hundreds of different air fresheners on the market. These vary in terms of cost, effectiveness, and health concerns and benefits. All this variety (and let’s be honest—some of the scents, too) can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve condensed the available information on current air freshener options—so you can educate yourself and make the best choice for your home office.
#1 Essential Oil Diffusers
One natural and fairly inexpensive way to freshen the air in your workspace is by using an essential oil diffuser. These are devices that range from simple reed oil diffusers to high-tech ultrasonic varieties and work by vibrating the particles until they become small enough to be diffused into the air.
Reed diffusers are a great option for smaller rooms such as bathrooms and entryways. They consist of wooden reeds placed in a bottle or vase and are filled with essential oil mixtures. Because of their simple and elegant design, reed diffusers are a great way to stylishly make your way out of a smelly situation. You can even mix any essential oils you like to create custom scents. This is perfect for your office and the possibilities are endless!
Ultrasonic diffusers, on the other hand, work best if you also want to humidify the room. In a sense, they are the essential oils mixed with water and then diffused into the air. These air freshening diffusers work well in small or large rooms as most ultrasonic versions offer control over the amount and potency of the diffusion.
Though they are typically a bit more expensive than other air freshening options, they are well worth the cost. Ultrasonic essential oil diffusers offer the most flexibility and control for your daily scent experience out of all air freshening options. As with the reed diffusers, you can customize the fragrance by mixing your choice of essential oils.
An inexpensive alternative to the ultrasonic diffuser is the wide variety of heated oil diffusers available. These consist of a raised bowl for the essential oils with a shelf for a small candle underneath. The candle heats up the oil in the bowl. The fragrance is released into the air and deodorizes the workspace.
Heated oil diffusers are a great option if you are not worried about children or pets knocking over the candle or hot oil and if the small amount of smoke released doesn’t aggravate any existing allergies. Some love these diffusers for their cozy aesthetic. Who doesn’t love a warm candle and the scent of fall swirling through the air as you wrap up another productive workday?
#2 Air Freshener Sprays
For a long time, air freshener sprays were the gold standard of home deodorizers. There is no shortage of air freshener sprays on the market today. These can range from the familiar spray bottle air freshener to tabletop electric variety. Some of these sprays remove bacteria from the air while others simply mask the smell with fragrance.
A mixture of sprays includes all-natural ingredients while others show off their synthetic scents. Hawaiian Breeze, anyone? Whichever one you choose, you should know that the synthetic variety of these sprays often contain chemicals many of us would prefer not to inhale on a regular basis. These chemicals can include a variety of ick-inducing ingredients ranging from synthetic fragrance compounds to formaldehyde.
These air fresheners are still considered safe and are commercially available. It’s really up to you to decide if a convenient and inexpensive synthetic air freshener spray is the right option for your home office.
There are some all-natural air freshening spray alternatives available for sale online or at your local store. These range from inexpensive sprays found at your local grocery to costly designer fragrances. The ease with which you can purchase these all-natural sprays and their wide range of prices means nearly everyone can find the perfect ready-made scent.
#3 Plug-In Air Fresheners
Plug-in air fresheners are another easy and inexpensive way to freshen your workspace. Their popularity has been increasing since the 1990s. With recent high-tech additions like motion sensors, settings that allow you to adjust the level of fragrance. And bacteria-killing formulas, plug-ins are an ever-popular home deodorizing option.
These air fresheners are convenient options. Mostly because of their small size. This makes them a smart choice for rooms where you do not want the air freshener to be a central element of the décor. However, plug-in fresheners typically contain many of the same chemicals their spray counterparts release into the air.
To counteract this problem, some have opted to replace the freshener oil included in the packaged products. Doing this with their own custom mixed scents.
Be very wary of following these readily available instructions to hack your plug-ins. As mixing oil with electricity is best left to expert product designers and manufacturers.
In response to concerns about the harmful chemicals contained in many commercially available plug-in air fresheners, several companies have released all-natural plug-in varieties.
These are typically in the same price range as their synthetic cousins. If you or your family are sensitive to artificial scents, these all-natural plug-ins can work very well. They are great for those smaller home offices, releasing subtle scents throughout the workday.
#4 Incense
Incense might seem like an unusual choice for freshening a home office. However, for many, it has spiritual and meditative associations which can help aid focus and maintain high productivity levels. High-quality incense is typically made with only two ingredients. This is charcoal and essential oils.
Purchasing cheaper, lower quality incense might mean that you get other ingredients and unpronounceable chemicals mixed in. Because the method of diffusion is smoke, this option is best for those without sensitive noses or allergies.
Not everyone enjoys the smoky odor of incense. This ancient air freshener is a viable and inexpensive option. Especially for those who want to add a little mystery to their workspace.
#5 All Natural Air Freshener Options
We all have allergies and a nose sensitive to artificial scents. Or we are simply worried about the chemical cocktail found in many air fresheners. Now we have choices. There are hundreds of natural air freshening options available on the market.
Nearly every type of air freshener from sprays to plug-ins to gel solids offers a natural alternative to the synthetic variety. The innovative natural options like the bamboo charcoal air-purifying bag. These only need to be replaced every two years for example.
You can place it on top of your office bookshelf or set it a corner and forget it. That’s right, this is set it and forget it for your home office air freshening problem.
Users rave that the charcoal air-purifying bag works wonders at removing unpleasant odors from homes and keeping the air free from gross indoor pollutants. And at the end of the day, it super effective at just that—removing scents and neutralizing odors.
This unscented option might not be the ideal choice if you enjoy experimenting with aromatherapy. Also, if you simply like having a particular scent around to add some fun to your workday. The true advantage of using all-natural options, besides all the health benefits, is the ability to create a near limitless variety of scents.
For those of you who like to spray a fine mist of a beautiful scent in the air, you can create an all-natural air freshener spray. Just add water, rubbing alcohol, and a few essential oils of your choosing.
Prefer the look of those gel solid air fresheners? No problem. Just take your nearest mason jar and mix up your favorite essential oils. Just use a couple envelopes of unflavored gelatin and voilà! If that seems too difficult to DIY, simply mix about a half cup of baking soda with a few drops of any essential oil and you have the world’s fastest, all-natural air freshener.
The best part: if you get sick of your custom scent, you can make a new one in seconds.
Conclusion
With all the air freshener options available on the market and their DIY counterparts, it can be difficult to choose which home deodorizer to use in your own home office or workspace. Try out a few options and mix and match scents. Deodorizing and purifying the air in your home office will have fantastic benefits for your health and productivity.
Finally, whether it’s removing bacteria and allergens from the air, or simply providing you with a stimulating scent throughout your workday, air fresheners are a great tool for making your home office more cozy and habitable. With minimal effort and investment, you will choose the perfect air freshening option for your home office workspace.