buffie Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Right I am loving the non chemical house but it needs a smell, other than last nights dinner. I am growing lots of lavender to make bags and sprays but any ideas to make the house smell nice now and not of garlic and cooking! Am going to order an oil burner to help. BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 The burners are lovely Buffie but you can make an effective air freshener from bicarbonate of soda. Mix say half a teaspoon of your favourite essential oil into a tub of bicarb and either put it in a bowl or a pretty box and it will freshen the air in the room. It might not look as pretty as a bowl of pot pourri but it does work. I've even got a bowl of bicarb in the cloakroom with a layer of pot pourri on the top so it doesn't look like a bowl of powder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Brilliant Kate thanks BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 You can refresh the smell when the bicarb has been out for a while just by adding another half spoonful of essential oil. Bicarb is brilliant in the fridge for removing odours. I've always got an opened pot in there to take away any niffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 of course, sodium bicarbonate is a chemical.. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Oh shut up Phil ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Blue Sky Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Pedant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cate in NZ Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I like the idea of the pot pourri on top of the bicarbonate of soda, and am busy thinking "why didn't I think of that" even as I type We have a motley assortment of shoes in our porch, stored in a recycled works pigeon hole thing, which keeps them very hany and tidy. Sadly though the assortment of trainers can get a bit smelly (teenage boys feet ), and there's no lid on this thing to keep them shut away. So, conscious of smells at the entry point of the house I installed a pretty ceramic dish filled with bicard & lavender oil..... and it does the trick Getting very tired now of the wits who come to visit, and comment on the welcoming effect of a dish of white powder at the front door Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 of course, sodium bicarbonate is a chemical.. Phil Tell you what Phil, I'd rather use a chemical like sodium bicarbonate, which I can also put in a cake and eat, to clean my bath and toilets than something which I have to put on rubber gloves to use and something which carries a big orange and black warning sticker on the bottle . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 We have a shoe problem too Kate. Drives you mad, doesn't it. Ours are in an enormous wicker basket in the dining room and the mud that comes out when you move it is horrendous!! Boys!! It's coats which get me maddest though as they'd rather hang them on the door handles than on the hooks on the back of the door - aaaargh ! Glad you found the bicarb in a pot worked. Good stuff, isn't it and so much cheaper than those awful air freshener sprays which just line the inside of your nose with the artificial fragrance so you think the pong has gone when it hasn't really!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cate in NZ Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 It's coats which get me maddest though as they'd rather hang them on the door handles than on the hooks on the back of the door - aaaargh ! Door handles! Sounds positively house-trained to me. Whenever the children come in from school I can tell exactly where they've been by the trail of debris. School bag at the front door, shoes, singly in the hall, coat draped next to the fridge,(possibly on the towel rail there, or on a nearby chair... even on the floor, school sweatshirt on the computer chair... and the list goes on I blow my top regularly, daily in fact, but no-one ever listens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken on a mission Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Try putting a pair of your stinkiest shoes in the freezer overnight - preferably when they aren't needed the next day I promise you that the freezer will kill off the bacteria that cause the smell. No chemicals involved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Wow! That's worth knowing. Thanks Thalia . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellcat Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 How about baking bread? Or vases of freesia? coffee pot on the go with vanilla coffee in it? (YUM) Probably not what you're after. Try Justrich products - loads of essential oils that are pure, can be sprinkled on pot pourri, burned in oil burners etc. Just ('' accent on the u) do lovely things. If you want to pm me I'll give your details to a friend who sells it and she can send you a brochure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Managing Director Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Whenever the children come in from school I can tell exactly where they've been by the trail of debris. If only it was just the children Murdo is by far the worst offender in our house think he likes me to know when he's around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted May 5, 2006 Author Share Posted May 5, 2006 Well burning oils now and it smells much better. I don't want to use toxic chemicals (PHIL ) but I want some smell of some sort. Thanks for ideas and anyone else has some love to hear them. BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 OK - I'll lknock it off.. but chemicals get a bad name!! toxic chemicals also get a bad name - some essential oils are toxic - which makes them toxic chemicals... http:// http://www.essentialoils.co.za/toxic-oils.htm Phil pedant-meister-general Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken on a mission Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 OK - I'll lknock it off.. ..He says and carries on anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin B Posted May 6, 2006 Share Posted May 6, 2006 Why don't you make your own scent bags with lavender in or something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted May 11, 2006 Author Share Posted May 11, 2006 Yes Martin I will waiting for them to grow! The effect of burning natural ols is nothing compared to the cocktail in a spray Phil The oils are working well and I have a nice house again! BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kazaddress Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 have you heard of eco mist? its an organic room fragrance we use insence sticks and organic beeswax lavendar candles which we burn in the evening in the winder we chuck rosemary and lavindar on the fire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
