Married to the Empire

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Cleaning Scents

I'm super sensitive to smells. The littlest things can be migraine-inducing for me. Because of that, I prefer unscented cleaning supplies, but sometimes it's nice to have a fresh scent accompany a cleaning job.

Here's my little secret:



I love essential oils because they're pure scents, rather than chemical ones, and I can choose the ones I like and can tolerate. I use them in the cleaners that I make myself. My personal favorites for cleaning are lime, peppermint, and lavender.

When I mop, I use 1 tablespoon of borax in a gallon of hot water. Easy and unscented. Add a few drops of essential oil to the mop water, and mopping because a more pleasant task.



The scent even lingers for a while afterwards, making the house smell clean, in addition to looking clean.

6 comments:

Thirsty said...

We're gonna have to talk cleaners! Although I have no migraines, I've been sensitive to smells for years. I've just chalked it up to the heightened senses that sometimes accompanies AD/HD, but maybe there's more to it. Hmmm.

Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

My dad says my acute sense of smell comes from him, so I don't know if we share a connection with that or not. But the migraines partially come from my mom. Actually, I'm hit from both sides of the family with them. Hoping that Cindy's girls aren't hit with them, but the oldest already experiences some bad headaches, so I fear puberty may be bad for her. *sigh*

I had no idea you're ADHD.

Thirsty said...

Oh, and then some! So does my 14yo. It was called Minimal Brain Disorder back when I was diagnosed in the late 70s. My parents apparently didn't talk about it b/c your mom didn't know, either.

I am quite hyper-sensitive to a number of things: smells are the worst, but I am highly distracted by sounds and tactile stimuli, as well. My senses are a bit sharper than the average person, and I often smell and hear things that others either don't sense or are successfully able to ignore.

I gave up on cologne and scented styling products back in high school & switched to many unscented products (laundry detergents, baby wipes, etc) since then. I never use air fresheners of any kind.

Cassie said...

I know someone that is super sensitive to smells also and whenever they come over to our home, we have to make sure not to have any candles lit, air freshener sprayed or wall plugins.

I always buy unscented cleaning products, as I do not like the smells of most of them. They are usually really strong and overwhelming and almost always give me a headache!

Jen said...

Great idea! I had to get rid of all scented stuff this last pregnancy, I couldn't stand it, but some natural scents were ok. Even now that the baby is here, I'm still not quite the way I was before with scents. I will have to try this.

*carrie* said...

Anne Marie,

I bought some lemon essential oil over a year ago to make some homemade cleaners, and I STILL haven't done so. I just mopped yesterday, but I think I'll try your floor cleaner next time.