How 'clean' does your house smell?

Hi all,
The very sad death of John Travolta and Kelly Preston's son seems to have got people talking about cleaning products and Kawasaki Syndrome.

I remember seeing an interview with Kelly Preston on Oprah years ago, where she said as a first time mum she wanted her house to feel and smell 'clean'- a smell she associated with bleaches, air fresheners and disinfectant.

She was on the show to encourage people to use more white vinegar, bi-carb, lemon, eucalypt and fresh air as cleaning products.

I'll admit, I used to be a cleaning product junkie. But since I fell pregnant with ds, I try and use the above products as much as possible. I do have some Domestos hanging around for the really dirty jobs, but swishing and swiping a la FLyLady means I hardly use it at all.

My main bugbear is those plug in air frsheners that constantly release a scent. I don't see the point in them- opening the windows and airing out your house would have the same effect. In fact, there is no air freshener at all in my house- we keep a box of matches locked away in the bathroom cupboard for the toilet smells (all of which dh is responsible for, of course ;) )

So... are you a closet cleaning product junkie? What chemicals or alternatives do you use? Does your house feel cleaner when it smells like cleaning products, or do you believe in good old fashioned fresh air?

I only buy one cleaner and it is a general disinfectant.. I love the smell of it and use it on the floors and toilet.. benches and other surfaces get cleaned with water and dishwashing liquid..

The very first thing I do when I wake up is open all the blinds and windows to let fresh air in. I only clean with vinegar and water, and if I feel the house needs a 'clean' smell to it, then I dab some Eucalyptus Oil around. If someone is sick in the house, the Eucalyptus Oil comes out more often.
I hate the smell of bleaches and other harsh cleaning solutions.

I love the clean fresh air smell. Especially as we have 2 indoor dogs! For winter I have a minty breeze odour eater spray from dusk to remove the dog smell that can build up. But we have windows open as often as possible. I love sheets and towels that are dried outside... the smell is lovely.
We have been using bleach for our tiles... Kitchen has white dirty looking tiles, and DH likes to have it super clean. But otherwise natural works brilliantly.

Lemon Oil is lovely and fresh too AND keeps away spiders!

I am a Speed Cleaning and Spotless fan, and I LOVE both books, they have an answer for every stain and smell, and usually using the simplest ingredient.

The other thing to keep chemicals out of your house is to GAS OFF any new furniture you may bring in. These things are full of chemicals used in their production, or have been stored in plastic etc or have factory dust all through them.
You must either leave the item outside for a few days uncovered, or at the very least shut it in a room with all the windows open for a week or so.

I use only vinegar and bi carb on everything..... I have no other cleaners at all....

Opening up the house while I clean has it smelling nice, and i usually burn a candle for a halfa when I'm done too....;)

I cant find a need for any chemicals in my house....Well I haven't come across one yet... ;)

we have windows open all day every day all year. i have to have fresh air in the house. i open the front door when i get up in the morning - and if the dogs/cat hadn't broken in through the fly wire at the back, that would be open too! i hate heating, hate air con (though it's a necessity at the moment with the pg) - i don't use many cleaning products - vanilla essence and water after we wipe things down in the kitchen cos i love the smell, lemon juice in a lot of rooms (constant supply of lemon here - and smells good) - and there are always candles on display that give off a little scent (not a lot unless being burnt). if things are closed up lots, then the candles get burnt to freshen the house (i like fruity smells)

DH is a spray freak, but i've convinced him (kinda) since pg that one it's bad for the environment and that two, i get hayfever from everything at the moment - and i'm sick of headaches cos of his stinky fetishes!

I think I mentioned this in another thread, but I've recently started using Enjo. I'm still trying to make myself believe that just because I can't smell bleach doesn't mean my house is dirty! Enjo reccommend the Method cleaning products as they're all nontoxic chemicals, so I've got a cucumber scented all purpose spray, and I wipe things down with that and my Enjo cloth - smells great!

I get migraines and sneezes from cleaning products at the best of times but being pregnant has just made everything worse. Fresh air and natural cleaning products do it for us at our place. I actually don't think our house smells of anything - it's neutral.

I'm also a big advocate for building kids immune systems through exposure so I don't see the need for all of the chemical disinfectants etc that are pushed - I tend to think that many of them do more harm than good.

slowely converting to chemicla free but its tought becuase DH is obsessed that nautral products are "unhygenic". I dont know where he gets this from, his monthers house is virtually chemical free.

I have a question though - what do you wash your dishes with if you dont use detergent? Or Are you all just talking about house cleaning as in benches, floors etc.

Shel is a bleach junkie, and can't see how anything can be clean without it, but i prefer hot water, eucalyptus and lemon oil. I let her do bath and toilet with beach to satifsy her hygiene anxiety, but everything else is all natural. I also have windows and doors open to air the house (HATE those air 'fresheners' with a passion... who wats to breathe in chemicals every 9, 15 or 28 minutes :lol:), and candles (mostly vanilla LOL) to air out any stubborn smell.

rayray, we use dishwashing detergent because I have a clean dish fetish... BOILING hot water and lots of bubbles.

bi carb and vinegar here too!! and enjo for the shower and bath

Another fresh air, natural cleaner here. Like Jodi, I open up the doors and windows as soon as I get up in the mornings. Usually the bedroom window is open overnight anyway since it's so hot. I clean my floors with water, vinegar and some lavendar for scent. Toilet, bathroom is with bicarb and vinegar. For the dishes, I use an enviro friendly dishwashing detergent.

Lulu - I LOVE the Speed Cleaning and Spotless books too!

I also hate the airfresheners. I think they smell rank. I keep a spray bottle filled with water and a little bit of lavender oil and use the fine mist to spray around the house for a little freshening up.

For dishes I use Earth's Choice dishwashing and we just use bi-carb & vinegar in the dishwasher.

RayRay I also go Earth's Choice for the sink, but I replace dishwasher powder with bi-carb- it actually does work just as well- and white vinegar for the rinse aid.

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I replace dishwasher powder with bi-carb- it actually does work just as well- and white vinegar for the rinse aid.

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Wow! Really? Even for pots and pans? Dishwashing powder is sooo expensive, I'm going to try this one.

I have tried the vinegar and bicarb thing before but I gave it up because I found it more time consuming. I found I had to do a rinse wipe down afterwards (sometimes twice) so it effectively meant I was doubling my work. I was so inspired by Spotless and Speed Cleaning and bought all the natural ingredients she recommended but I wasn't happy with the extra work so I'm back to bleach and Spray and Wipe I'm afraid.

I use all earths choice products (laundry, toilet, dishwashing) as we are on bio septic and have no choice but to use biodegradable products. For my floors (108 sq m of slate tiles :rolleyes:) I just use my H2O steam mop and BOY are the socks on that dirty by the time I'm finished!! (came with 4 microfibre socks and ALL of them get used!)

Cleaning benches, I use vanilla/water, windows and mirrors, I use white vinegar/water. And H2O Vac for our upstairs carpets. Any stains come out with a bicarb soda paste and some elbow grease! ;)

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Wow! Really? Even for pots and pans? Dishwashing powder is sooo expensive, I'm going to try this one..

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Curly, I generally wash my pots and pans in the sink, but it works brilliantly for dishes/glasses/cutlery. Very sparkly shiny :D

We dont have a dishwasher so we do use washing up liquid. I do change brands quite often to see which one I like best.

I only buy one general cleaner spray (at the moment it is spray & wipe lavender & citrus).

And I also have a bottle of spray & wipe that usually lasts me a year!

I noticed that my house smelt like a big dog after being shut up for 2 weeks. A good dose of airing and lighting some scented candles got rid of that. (well either that or I just got used to it!!!!)

Yeah not a big chemical fan here either. Windows & doors open when possible. If house smells after being shut up for a while I burn a partylite candle for an hour and that fixes it up. Floors I have are just lino throughout, so I just run over with a damp sabco mop. For real sticky spots and places like the kitchen, bathroom, toilet. I boil the kettle and pour hot water down first. Floors are done at night so I know the kids wont walk around the corner.

I'd like to be able to use natural cleaners but I always start out that way and end up using chemicals. Nasty habit which I'm trying to break. Though I did successfully clean baked on grime on my stove top using just vinegar & bicarb.

I've heard a few times that vinegar and bicarb is really environmentally unfriendly because when it mixes together and does the fizz thing it's actually releasing a bucketload of CO2?

We have three cats, a dog, a toddler and a teenage brother (in my case, -in-law) so my house usually does have a bit of a musty smell to it. I blame DH for not changing the cat litter as often as he should (I'm pregnant so I won't touch it) and brother-in-law for leaving damp clothes all over the house and generally not tidying up after himself.

But we do leave the windows open almost every day of the year, even at night (the only time they're shut is when it's hot and humid outside and there's no breeze, we use the air-con), so that helps air things out a fair bit. Sunshine and fresh air go a long way towards helping a house feel clean.
We have wooden floors in the lounge/kitchen and hallway, and tiles in the laundry, bathroom and toilet, so I mop them regularly (about three or four times a week, that's how messy it gets around here) with scalding hot water and a little bit of lavender disinfectant to help combat grease and kill the germs from puppy's little accidents. I use a pretty strong toilet cleaner that really knocks the smells and stains out, but I always have a pedestal fan nearby to help dispel any fumes, same for the bathroom because I use some pretty harsh cleansers in there, too.
For the kitchen benches, just a citrus-scented Spray n Wipe, I tried using a Homebrand version once because it was cheap and it reeked so bad I would have preferred to rub rancid chicken meat all over the benches and smell that instead. It didn't smell clean at all, just awful, so I got rid of it quick-smart.

Luckily we have a vacuum that has a wet-vac function or something like that on it so DH gets in every now and then and does the rug in the lounge room and the bedroom carpets because puppy sometimes has an accident on the carpets. It also lifts all that extra dirt out but most of the time we get away with a quick normal vac (whoever invented cream carpets should have been shot!).

I'm not terribly concerned about harsh chemicals etc, I use them only when I feel it's necessary and I think the chances of anything awful happening to any of us are pretty slim (eg I'd never once heard of this 'Kawasaki Syndrome' until Jett Travolta died). I have some friends with kids who are absolute nazis about disinfecting everything in sight six times a day but I feel I'm doing DD a favour by letting her immune system get a workout - 17 months old and only one runny nose in her whole life so far, obviously the germs haven't killed her yet! That's not to say I'm going to let her lick a dirty toilet bowl or eat scraps out of the bin, but she does put some grubby stuff (shoes etc) in her mouth at times and it hasn't done her any harm...

Well, while DH has been away I've had the windows and doors open everytime I've been home to air the house out. (DD's room really needed it as she threw a tantrum which involved vomit because she didn't want to go to bed the other night). I've also noticed that I've not had to turn the a/c on as often because the windows have been open, especially in the evening.