Okay! Shopping! I am SO HIGH on this morning’s shopping successes, I hardly know where to start!
Let’s start with the smell of my house, which is DELICIOUS. Farrell promised me that I would love Glade Plug-Ins, but I hesitated: I think of plug-in air fresheners as smelling basically like public restrooms. But she SWORE her house smelled AWESOME. So today I went to Target just to get a feel for the investment involved, and the scented oil plug-in units (which come with one fill) were on sale for $2.50 (down from $4-something), and so were the refills.
In fact, now that I think of it, I should have bought nothing but units: the choice is $2.50 for a unit-plus-fill or $2.50 for just the fill, so I am a big duh for buying two units and two refills instead of four units for the same price. Well anyway! I have three scents to try: the Lavender & Vanilla that came with the units (oh, that’s why I got refills: the only units left were the L & V ones), one called Clean Linen, and one called Lemon & Chamomile. The lemon one smells like Lemon Pledge. I think if I use the Clean Linen one and the lemon one together, it will trick people into thinking my house MUST be clean.
I came home and plugged in the Lavender & Vanilla one and it was a little too vanilla-y for me, so I put it downstairs near the cat box. I plugged the Clean Linen one into the bathroom outlet, and I LOVE that one: it smells like fabric softener. It’s too early for a full report on long-term satisfaction–but if you want to try it, too, ON SALE AT TARGET GO GO GO. They had a bunch of other scents: tropical, fruity, flowery, vanilla. The packages have a little scratch-and-sniff sticker on the fronts so you can see if it’s yummy or sickening or restroomy.
Shoot, I wanted to tell you about the other things I bought, and to give you an update on the mother-in-law dish situation, but I hear the twins waking up from their naps. I’ve had less time to post recently, too, because I have been CLEANING LIKE A MADWOMAN for the mother-in-law arriving MONDAY. You should see my gorgeous, gorgeous kitchen–and smell my bleachy, bleachy hands.
Have you tried the reed diffusers? I like those. I do agree that the plug-ins are good for places like bathrooms and near cat boxes though.
AHHHHHHHHHHH! MIL coming Monday! Is it evil to say I’m looking forward to the blogging hilarity that will likely ensue? B/c I don’t want her visit to go badly or anything, but I KNOW there will be some level of blogging-comedic- pleasure for us, your faithful readers.
Happy cleaning!
So this is the part where I tell you that I saw that link to the tupperware site and contacted Jen and am now getting hooked up with (because you know you want to know):
The salt and pepper shakers (a childhood thing)
The Wondelier 3 pc bowl set
The Simply Perfect pastry sheet and the prep essentials Mix and Store pitcher
Measuring spoons
And the classic sheer midgets (because I have a set already and they are awesome for storing all kinds of bits and pieces in)
AND…this is the best of All:
A hamburger press!!! I have been wanting one for years, but never see them in the catalogs and she can get me one…only I hope I am not putting her in a bind to get one, and it’s just great! The pastry sheet looks so awesome and I can’t wait to play with it all. Thank you Swistle for your blog, and for having commenters.
I love the plug-ins too. I use them in my classroom so it doesn’t smell like fifth grade boys. Surprisingly, they can be quite smelly. Especially after gym.
Take care of yourself this weekend! Come Monday, you’ll need to remind yourself of all the good pampering you did over the weekend just to keep a little sanity.
Good luck on Monday. I am sure the house looks awesome. I can’t believe how much you accomplish!
BTW, Is she staying in a hotel??? Gosh, I hope so.
What! She’s arriving Monday and it’s only Friday and yet you already KNOW she’s arriving Monday? This is some kind of miracle.
Also, I knew as soon as I heard the name that the “Clean Linen” one would smell great. Fresh, mild scents like that are almost always the best.
Mmmm… clean linen is also my Lysol fragrance. Good choice.
Seriously, are you getting any kickbacks from your endorsements? I can bet that Avon, Tupperware, Old Navy, The Childrens Place, Glade, Quaker Oats, [the place where you bought the bear suit that now escapes me] are all wondering “why the extra traffic today? Ohhhh… Swistle did a post”. :-)
You are such a freakin’ ROCK STAR, Swistle!
Keep up the good work. Lordy, I am one lazy (#*%$&@.
MrsGrumpy- Indeed, you are correct: I DID want to know! Yay for shopping success!
Misty- So far, the hotel is still the plan. But can it possibly be true? I don’t dare to believe.
LoriD- No, no commission. Or rather: my commission is the warm feeling in my heart from passing on Things I Love. How’s THAT?
oooohh, dish on the MIL! I can’t wait. You MUST do it before Monday, because then she’ll be here!! Good Luck btw.
You know what I like? Those Febreeze air fresheners. They seems like that actually remove the odor from the air, instead of just making it purfumey and stinky all at once. I like the apple cinnamon one the best.
I really like those air fresheners. We have one that is called something to do with “morning” (I think…) and it is really nice.
Good luck on the cleaning and preparing for Monday.
I use the Linen one all of the time, it’s my favorite!
I’am obsessed with smell goods for the house.
Oh, I love wall unit air fresheners, but my husband doesn’t like to use them. He’s afraid that they’ll start a fire being plugged in. Grr.
if I thought that I could actually fool people into believing that my house was clean with plug-ins I would go and buy out the stock of every target in the city. unfortunately, to know it’s not clean all people would have to do is open their eyes (or just trip repeatedly). someone in our neighborhood has really good dryer sheets that make our whole block smell wonderful so I’m hoping to figure out what that smell is.
also, just in case, I know you’ve mentioned some trepidation over the hotel working out and I just wanted to know if you have a tent ready just in case?
Is anyone else concerned about any potential harm to the air quality as a result of scented things?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/20/MNTLS9GTF.DTL
the above article describes the issue a little…
I caved and got the air fresheners/night lights from Bath & Body Works
Oh. My. God.
My house smells like a clean B&BW store …. as long as you don’t look anywhere – it’s completely presentable!!
Good Luck Monday … I’ll chant for time to pass quickly for you!
Houseguests are nice, if only for the House Being Clean Time. Right? Riiight?
Monday! Geez. What has happened to the last few weeks, anyway? It’s so confusing, that they are gone. Ugh. I’m sending you tons of happy-MIL-visiting-vibes right now.
Without causing a big uproar….dont you worry about what exactly is IN those air fresheners? I mean, its all chemicals…dont you worry about the potential effects it could have on your kids’ health?
Essential oils or natural candles might be a healthier, albeit not as powerful, alternative.
Oooooh, another excuse for a Target trip. Thanks, Swistle!
Also, we always keeps a box of latex (or latex-free… whatever, same thing) disposable gloves at home. When I clean with bleach, I put on a pair. Then when I’m done, toss in trash. Hands smell like rubber instead of bleach! But the rubber smell washes off; the bleach, not so much.
Pann & Lisa- I worry NOW, yes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something real to worry about. You can make a mother worry about ANYTHING!
Oh, the Tupperware. I’ve been obsessed with organizing our pantry and decided that I NEED Tupperware before I can possibly get started (anything to procrastinate – kind of like I need the wrap-around the ear headphones before I can possibly drag my ass around the block for some exercise). Went on a garage sale quest and these folks are giving the stuff away for 25 cents a piece. Haven’t hit the mother load so I may hit up Mrs. Grumpy. Thanks for being the conduit. (or enabler, as the case may be).
Have been sending good thoughts your way this weekend, as I know the impending doom to darken your doorstep looms on Monday. Big hugs, Swistle.
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I am against air fresheners, to tell you the truth. Totally unsupportive of your shopping victories, sorry. It’s just…they are chemicals…bad ones…Anyway. If I had to buy air fresheners, I think I would buy totally weird ones like ‘toothpaste’ or ‘carnival.’
Or maybe they make ones to get someone OUT of your house, like ‘sweaty man’ or ‘ode de fish.’
I bet there’s a market for that.
I agree – I love the plug ins! My favorite scents are clean linen and rain shower – any everyone always says how nice my house smells!
Did you get the ones with the little dials to adjust the fragrance that is dispersed? On mine you can pick a level from 1-5, so that it isn’t too harsh for your taste.
Penny- I am lazy, and I am far too cranky about the upcoming MIL visit to research it. *wave of hand* Go find me something to read about the chemicals. Because Pann’s link basically says that the chemicals MIGHT irritate the lungs of people with asthma, and COULD mask the smells of dangerous molds–but none of us have asthma, and our smells are more along the lines of Eau de Diaper Pail.
There’s also something about something called “phthalates,” but I see they’re apparently also in my shower curtain, cosmetics, and probably most of the plastic items in my house. Besides, the article says that SOME phthalates are harmful, and that SOME air fresheners contain pthalates–but doesn’t say if the air fresheners contain the bad ones, or whether the lab animals who reacted badly to the pthalates had to, you know, INGEST them, or if they breathed them the way we’d breath air fresheners. I’m not saying I’m not worried about breathing them if the animals ate them, but it’s the kind of knowledge I like to have before I go around acting like I know what I’m talking about.
I mean, are these chemicals worse than the chemicals I already embrace, such as the ones in Tilex and Pledge and Pert Plus and Jergens and Hostess Cupcakes? I have nothing against chemicals PER SE, only insofar as they–for example–leave my hands smelling like cleaning supplies.
The article also suggests than instead of using air fresheners, I should CLEAN MY HOUSE. So clearly SOMEONE’s crazy here.
Swistle –
The primary ingredient that caught my eye is something called 1,2-dichloroethene, or 1,2-DCE. It’s a common chemical used in a variety of extraction processes, so it’s totally not limited to air fresheners, tho it may not be in your cupcakes. The glade folks would be quick to say that the amount is so trace that it is insignificant, to which i would agree except that insignificant trace in your air freshener, combined with the traces in your curtains/cleaning products/etc might not, in the end, be so insignificant, no what I mean?
It’s just that I’m of the mindset that if you can decrease your total chemical exposure without living in a mud hut for the rest of your life, it’s good to do so. You can read up on DCE here.
I’m in the environmental consulting biz, the kind that cleans chemical crap up for industrial companies, and DCE is common and cleaning it up is a pain in the ass. Cleanup levels tend to be low, and it is somewhat soluble in water so it often is associated with drinking water issues. So I have that bias as well, the whole “DCE, what a pain in my ass” kind of thing.
I don’t think we should all be running for our lives regarding air fresheners of course, But you asked what kinds of chemicals are in there. Besides the perfumes, which are no carcinogen but which are a lung irritant, there are a host trace chemicals which, if you have the option, may want to NOT introduce into your home.
BUT, if y’all are about to keel over from a dirty diaper pail and the whole funk of the house is about to cause you mental strife, perhaps that is a good reason to sniff some Glade Linen once in a while.
Hi. I’m from Canada and we have a Glade Plug-In scent called Crisp Breeze that is the BEST EVAH. The whole house smells like clean, fresh outdoors. Everyone asks what it is when they visit. I much prefer a clean crisp smell to fruit or overly strong vanilla/lavender.
Thanks for the plug swistle! And I just updated mine with the “clean linen.” I left to run errands, came back, and thought to myself, “Hey, did a little helper come in here and do all my laundry?” I was quite confused for a few seconds until I remembered what I had done all of two hours earlier. (My laundry, I’m sad to say, was still dirty and piled in front of the washer. ever so helpful).
I know some people don’t like the “look” of the glade plug ins but you can hide them behind couches, benches, etc. and considering the dog ate up half my couch when she was a puppy and that NONE of my living room furniture matches, I doubt the plug-in will be the first thing people notice as evidence of my steller decorating skills (mainly due to lack of sufficient funds. I would LIKe stuff to match, but..)
this has gone on too long so i will leave you with
OHMYGODSHE’SHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!