Homemade Febreze for under 20p a bottle….

I’ve been making my own homemade Febreze for years now and it still makes regular appearances in my weekly “Five Little Things That Saved Me Money This Week” posts.

I realised recently though that the original post I wrote about it is well overdue an update, so I thought I’d dust it off, give it a refresh and share it again.

Partly because I’ve treated myself to a new spray bottle and was looking for an excuse to show it off!

The old one had seen better days and was looking more than a little grubby after years of being topped up and dragged from room to room. The new one is a lovely white bottle with rose gold lettering which looked absolutely gorgeous in real life but, as it turns out, doesn’t photograph quite as well as I’d hoped. 😂

The other reason is that the last couple of batches I’ve made have smelt absolutely amazing thanks to a new fabric softener I’ve been using. Honestly, every time I spray it around the house it smells like summer in a bottle and that alone felt like a good enough reason to bring this post back.

So if you’ve never tried making your own homemade Febreze before, here’s how I do it for less than 15p a bottle!

Why I Started Making Homemade Febreze

Hands up if you like your house smelling fresh and clean. 🙋‍♀️

Years ago, I used to buy bottles of Febreze all the time. I loved being able to spray the curtains, sofas, cushions and carpets to freshen everything up. I even used to keep a bottle tucked behind the curtain in the living room and give everything a quick spray before I left for work so I could come home to a lovely fresh-smelling house.

When I first started looking properly at our budget, I began questioning all the little things I bought regularly that weren’t essential. Not because I wanted to stop buying everything I enjoyed, but because I wanted to make sure we were spending our money where it mattered most.

Homemade Febreze was one of the first swaps I ever made.

I still remember how amazed I was when I realised that for less than the cost of one bottle of shop-bought Febreze, I could make enough homemade spray to last for months.

Looking back now, it probably sounds ridiculous that I was so excited about a bottle of homemade fabric spray, but at the time it genuinely felt like a revelation. It was one of the first times I’d realised that there were everyday products I could make myself for a fraction of the cost and it completely changed the way I thought about household spending.

Homemade Febreze was the first of many little money-saving swaps that became part of everyday life.

Is Homemade Febreze As Good As The Real Thing?

I’ll be honest and say no.

It’s not exactly the same as the shop-bought version.

I could tell you that it’s every bit as good, but it isn’t. The real thing has had teams of people developing the formula and testing ingredients. My version contains two ingredients and takes less than a minute to make.

But honestly?

It’s good enough for me.

It freshens fabrics, makes the house smell lovely and costs a fraction of the price.

That’s all I really need it to do.

I’ve just had a look online and a standard 375ml bottle of Febreze currently costs around £3. That’s quite a lot for something that I can make myself in less than a minute.

How To Make Homemade Febreze

You only need two ingredients:

• 1 capful of fabric softener
• Warm water

Simply add the fabric softener to your spray bottle and then top it up with warm water.

Give it a gentle shake and it’s ready to use.

That’s it.

I use mine on curtains, sofas, cushions, rugs and carpets whenever I want to freshen things up a bit.

How Much Does Homemade Febreze Cost?

This is the bit that convinced me all those years ago.

I usually make mine using Fairy Non Bio fabric softener because I love the smell and I find the fragrance lasts much longer than some of the cheaper alternatives.

Based on a current price of around £2.26 for 1000ml of Fairy Non Bio, a 375ml bottle of homemade Febreze works out at roughly 15p per bottle.

If you’re happy to use a supermarket value fabric softener then you can make it even cheaper. Tesco’s own fabric softener is often around 90p for 2 litres which brings the cost down to less than 5p a bottle.

Personally though, I’d rather spend the extra few pennies and have a spray that smells amazing.

When you’re still paying around 15p instead of £3 for a bottle, it feels like a pretty good compromise to me.

Which Fabric Softener Works Best?

I’ve tried quite a few over the years and they all work.

The only real difference is how strong the fragrance is and how long it lasts.

The cheaper ones are fantastic if your main goal is saving as much money as possible. Branded versions tend to have a stronger scent that lingers for longer.

At the moment I’m using Fairy Non Bio and I absolutely love it, but this is one of those recipes where you can experiment and find your own favourite.

Will I Ever Buy Febreze Again?

Probably not.

This is one of those simple swaps that became a habit years ago and I’ve never really felt the need to go back to buying the original version.

It takes less than a minute to make, costs pennies and does exactly what I need it to do.

Not every homemade version of a shop-bought product is worth the effort, but this one definitely is.

And if it gives me an excuse to buy pretty new spray bottles every now and again, then that’s just an added bonus. 😁

I’d love you to follow me on Twitter and it would be amazing to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram. If you’re interested, you can find out more about me here and while I’ve got your attention, if you’re wondering why some of my posts lately are a little bit less frugal then have a read of this post. 😉

Do your future self a favour – Pin my homemade Febreze recipe for later: