Adventures with Michelle, Frugal Fragrance

Here’s a sweet smelling post for my frugal friends. This is an easy one, so I’ll make this short. I love it when my house smells nice…not like oatmeal cookie-nice (that’s just makes me hungry!). No, I mean, like clothes out of the dryer ’nice’,…like my ’non-existent-cleaning-lady’s-been-here’ nice. Newsflash – I am not the worlds best housekeeper! My place is always in a varying state of the lived-in look. Sometimes it’s lived thru a quiet weekend of the guys out fishing,…sometimes it’s lived (or survived) a weekend of the kids in da ‘hood. The carpets always need a steam cleaning, but that means I’d have to vacuum first – ugh. Well, sometimes, I have to just take the place a section at a time and what doesn’t get done will just have to wait. In the meantime, I can at least make sure the clothes are folded, there’s no discernible ‘floor-food’ (you know what I mean), and just make the place smell c-l-e-a-n.

Making the house smell clean usually means lighting a candle (room sprays are for the bathrooms only here). I love my candles. I buy them, I even make them. They smell so nice. Although, there are some that are just too much…too much money and too strong smelling. I mean, I love dryer sheets, but not hung around my neck like a flea collar!

That said, I’ve discovered something that I need to share. One of my dear Pinners posted this little trick, and after the ‘water marble’ hoax, I now test everything. Today, I tested this little gem. OK, who buys those ’scent additives’ for the laundry? Yes, I do too…not that the smell of Gain doesn’t already make your eyes water, but I like some of the new scents to mix. I also confess to loving Mrs. Myers Lemon Verbena (but not in a dish soap – cause there’s nothing foodie smelling about it). Alright, moving on – I know I said I’d be short. So, clean out that oil warmer you’ve got (yes, you may use the engine degreaser from the garage – I do)…no, well go get one – they’re cheap. Warning: Make sure the candle area is very open, not the glass jar type. Why? Well, I had one from that fancy soap store and it had the cutest little glass saucer on top. One day, I put a tea light candle in the bottom of the glass and not long after I lit it the little frosted glass jar was ENGULFED IN FLAMES! Oh, yeah. Turns out that there’s a candle residue that builds up in the glass jar and eventually it’s a enough to be it’s own mini fire pit. Somehow the oil in the saucer never caught. Be careful my friends.

Since this is an experiment, and I’m a lazy housekeeper that doesn’t live to chisel a new chemical concoction from her little metal dish, I opted to reuse the old tea light case and fill it with my favorite laundry smelly bead goodies, Downy Unstoppables. Mmmmm, I can smell it from here. A little, but not too much – I know, I thought there’d be a smell-o-vision app by now.

Did I mention soooo cheap! When it’s done, and cooled, I’ll toss the little tea light case and not have to look for the engine degreaser again – or have to explain my reasons for needing it. Because I’m sure there’s a lot of guessing going on when 1. The house smells nice. 2. The engine degreaser has been moved 3. The vacuum hose hasn’t been moved.

Michelle Beal