estacey
Thursday, June 12, 2008
  Product love
I hate air fresheners. Really bad. When Patty lived here part-time, she would plug in Glade things here and there around the house. I felt bad doing it, but the smell made me feel icky and sometimes would give me a headache, so I would end up unplugging them.

Well, a couple of months ago, our cleaning lady plugged a Glade air freshener in that room that was empty at the time. I walked in and reeled, then unplugged it, opened the windows, and went outside for air as I let the smell dissapate.

Discussing it later with Chris, he said that she probably did it because the house had a smell to it. Maybe the combination of animals... and the three litterboxes can't help. This, of course, bothered me greatly. I didn't want a smelly house! So I got some stuff for the litterbox (this great Arm & Hammer stuff) and set on a quest to find some air fresheners that didn't feel toxic to my system.

When I saw Method air fresheners at Target, I was hopeful. Unlike some other all natural cleaning stuff, the scented Method products were never overwhelming. There is that really popular product nowadays.. Mrs. Something-or-Other. I used lavendar-scented handsoap once at work and literally had to track down something to wash the smell off my hands, because the smell made me feel sick. And I usually like lavendar.

But Method seems better, so I bought two "aroma pills" and plugged 'em in. They're based on essential oils, rather than nasty-ass chemicals. Although the smell was so much better - they smelled NICE, rather than overly perfumey - they still seemed too strong. So we put them on timers - smart!



Lavendar and Sweet Water are great scents.

Now I've gotten used to them and actually wanted some more smell, so took the timers off. And I tried out their other products in a couple of other rooms. And I love 'em! Hopefully the house smells a bit better, too...

The aroma rings are in the kitchen and dining room:


The citrus cilantro is great for the kitchen.

And I had a cut-grass scent in the bedroom, in the form of aroma sticks, but this product I would have to advise against. The source of the scent is oil which you put in this little vase. Simple, electricity-free, and it looks nice. Only the oil will evaporate and the store doesn't sell refills. Grr.



So this was replaced with another plug-in.

Also got their wood polish, which has this wonderful almond scent. And I usually hate almond!

So anyway, check out Method products. They're great!
 
Comments:
I've been contemplating the switch to natural cleaners. Have you used other products? Anything else you'd recommend? I feel like I have WAY too many chemicals. And perfumes really trigger my migraines. I can't take the air fresheners at all.
Oh - One thing that helped my cat box was switching to Swheat Scoop (http://www.swheatscoop.com/). My cat had been declawed before I adopted her and this is the only litter she'll walk on. Turns out, it's better than anything else I've tried at hiding the smell. So much better, in fact, that I rarely notice the box until Kimber makes a big deposit. :) I have made myself get into the habit of scooping every 2-3 days so that she's more comfortable. I'm no longer motivated by the stench coming from the laundry room!
 
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I'm Stacey. I'm a 31(!)-year-old Wisconsin girl living in sunny South Florida. The highlights in my life are my lovely boyfriend, my aloof cats, my adorable/adoring stepdogs, my two lumbering tortoises, select family members, being outside, being underwater, taking pictures, yadda yadda. Stay tuned for lots of babbling!

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Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States

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Making a difference

A small boy lived by the ocean. He loved the creatures of the sea, especially the starfish, and he spent much of his time exploring the seashore.

One day the boy learned there would be a minus tide that would leave the starfish stranded on the sand.

When the tide went out, he went down to the beach, began picking up the stranded starfish, and tossing them back into the ocean.

An elderly man who lived next door came down to the beach to see what the boy was doing. Seeing the man's quizzical expression, the boy paused as he approached. "I'm saving the starfish!" the boy proudly declared.

When the neighbor saw all of the stranded starfish he shook his head and said: "I'm sorry to disappoint you, young man, but if you look down the beach, there are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. And if you look up the beach the other way, it's the same. One little boy like you isn't going to make much of a difference."

The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he reached his small hand down to the sand, picked up another starfish, tossed it out into the ocean, and said: "Well, I sure made a difference for that one!"


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