This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Febreze NOTICEables
*Update! And the winner is — Betty N.! Congratulations Betty!*
Right before I found out about this review opportunity, I had the following discussion with my son:
Son: Mom? Does our house have a smell?
Me: Errrmmmm, yeah. But…. lemme light a candle…. What?
*This is not me. Really.*
Son: Well, Josh’s house has a smell, Sam’s house has a smell… does OUR house have a smell?
Me: Ya know, it DOES, but I know what you mean. I don’t know that our house REALLY has “A smell”.
You see, my son has a very sensitive olfactory system.
He is always commenting on my perfume or lotion. He LOVES when I wear pretty smelling stuff, and it is rare he does not comment when I pop open the lotion in the car. I know when I am 80 and reminiscing about his childhood, in my quivering voice I will say, “Ooooh honey… remember how you used to tell me I smell good… Comehere and give your mama a hug…Sonnyboy… do I still smell good, do I still smell pretty?” He will be 56, and I will smell of old age, and pretty lotion. I will also be sporting gray pigtails, cuz that’s how I roll.
I am not exaggerating about my boy. There have been times kids have left clothes at our house and I will ask, “Who does this belong to?” And Joel will say, “Here! Let me smell it.”
Not. Kidding. No wonder the boy has wanted a dog so bad. He may be part canine.
I tell you ALL OF THAT to say, the sense of smell and what our smellers sniff is important in this here home.
So. Imagine the day we got our box of Febreze NOTICEables. We might as well have had “Jingle Bells” playing and pine needles scattered about the floor, for all the Christmas-like excitement. Listen in:
- Ooooh – what kind is that mom?
- *sniiiiiiiffff* Yum… Oh can I have that in MY room?
- Hey! Oh! I REALLY like that one mom.
- *scuttlescuttleplug* I get this one!*sniiiiifffff*
I felt like I was at BBQ picnic in a dog park for all the wildly sniffin’ my kids were doing.
Finally, I was all, “AWAY!” This is for ME! I am the mom! I am the blogger! ME! ME! ME!
We received 3 plug in units and 4 refills. We have one unit in our living/dining/kitchen area (BIG open space) and one plugged into an upstairs outlet. So, if my math is correct *shudder… math*… we have 7 scents from these people. And since these are the dual scented oils – it’s more like 14!
We were received: auntumn spice/harvest festivities, morning walk/cleansing rain, warm celebration/pumpkin harvest, pure refreshment/summer storm, clothesline breeze/meadow songs, lavender comfort/gentle vanilla, AND hibiscus/rainforest.
My evaluation in pro/con format:
Pros:
- I have a pretty big house. One plug-in is enough for my 2 main floors.
- We all really like most of the scents, though our family isn’t wild about the fru-fruier, flowerish smells. Our fave is the morning walk/cleansing rain and clothesline/breeze/meadow songs. I stash dryer sheets about the house because I SO love the clean laundry smell. Ya know, to offset the smell that the laundry is actually NOT clean, I suppose *hangs head*
- There is a high and low setting option! While we like a nice smelling residence, we like it to be subtle, not “in your face”.
- Easy to use.
Cons:
- The main “con” is I wish there was one lower setting. I found that I’d plug in one for a day or two, then take it out for several hours. It goes back to our “subtle” preference.
- We won’t be using the flowery-ish smelling ones. That’s just our noses’ personal preference
But to be completely honest, I agreed to do this review because I have been looking at plug-ins lately… because my son wants a “smell”. A week before the opportunity for this came up, I perused the grocery aisle for an option, and found my 4 year old nagging at me… so I was too stressed to make a decision which brand and which scent. So I left.
But I need to search no more. I just wish the interwebz was “scratch-n-sniff cmpatible. Go ahead, check – this is the morning walk/cleansing rain scent:
Did you try? See. The interwebz is not yet “scratch-n-sniff” compatible. Somebody is working on it, I’m sure. HOWEVER, Febreeze has made their box scratch and sniff, so when you find yourself at the store, browsing though your options… just pick up a box and scratch-n-sniff away!
HEY! You wanna win something? Like, say, a $100 Visa gift card AND a Febreeze gift basket? You do? Well, the wonderful people at Febreeze are giving you that chance!
To enter, leave me a comment below *and tell me what is the most important thing you do to maintain a clean, fresh home* – or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin Monday, September 28, 2009 and will end Tuesday, October 27, 2009 (that’s my birthday, BTW – it’s kinda a big deal… to me)… Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct!
Rules… yes rules - you crazies!
- No duplicate comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
- You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
- This giveaway is open to US Residents, aged 18 and older
- Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
- You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
You can check out the rest of the BlogHer Reviews – you have 9 chances to win!
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Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…
What an excellent blog, I’ve added your feed to my RSS reader.
For me it is essential that the bathroom is clean and well maintained. If the bathroom is nasty, then I can’t handle the rest of the house.
i think the best thing would be to get rid of the dog (!) but we can’t do THAT! so mainly it’s window opening and laundry of everything washable….
Vacuum often. A stinky rug smells up the entire house.
Your post is hilarious, as always.
We leave our sliding glass door open, and sometime our condo’s front door open to create a crossbreeze. I also love to bake cookies — the store-bought dough — for a delicious smell.
To keep my house smelling good, I usualy use plugins as well. I haven’t tried the Febreeze Noticeables yet though!
I try to always keep up with the laundry…nothing like sweaty gym clothes and a slightly damp bath towel to really stink up the place!
How funny, my kids come home for a visit and always say, “it smells like home”. I hope that is a good thing. I like to open all of the windows and let the fresh air in. I also use Febreeze on the soft furnishings. Vacuuming and dusting and all of the rest of the routine chores are also done of course.
Tweeted:
Another chance to win $100 bucks… http://tiny.cc/L0FpT. Last contest tweet for the day, I promise.
Baking bread…mmm! Windows open. Don’t let dishes sit in the kitchen. Vacuuming. Spraying perfume on lightbulbs (when they’re not on. Scented candles. Febreeze furniture. When the house is “clean” (dusted, vacuumed, etc.) the house always smells better.
1) Search out smelly culprits… typically the garbage cans. Empty often. 2) Keep kitchen cleaned up (dirty dishes sitting overnight = smelliness. Don’t do it!). 3) Bake something awesome, any kind of bread, cookies, or a dinner with lots of spices, etc. 4) Oh yeah, clean. Forgot that one.
Baking cookies makes the house smell great; the only downside is then, well, I’d be stuck in the house because my butt would be too big to get through the doorway if I did this often.
On warmish days, I throw open the windows and doors and let the fresh air blow in – and hopefully blow the stale air out.
I shy away from candles because, well, two rambuncious preschoolers and open flames just has disaster written all over it.
Sheila’s trick is used a lot in our house too, baking soda sprinkled on the carpet and then vacuumed up after a few minutes. I also clean with vinegar and it always leaves the house smelling good (the vinegary smell goes away quickly).
I tweeted
http://twitter.com/jblanton41/status/5177235306
I like to spray my kitchen sink & toilets with clorox daily so they don’t have that funky smell. I also try to make sure the trash doesnt have any yucky smells and if they do then out they go.
Happy Birthday !
I tweeted:
http://twitter.com/lunaj1456/status/5173812954
The most important thing I do is keep up on chores. If I remember to take out the kitchen garbage every night, remember to clean the cat box, and keep up on the vacuuming, everything smells good. If I slack off I start having problems.
I vacuum the living room often (almost daily) to keep the stale smell out of the house. We have a split level, and I have a scented candle in the kitchen, and the scent always travels upstairs into the bedroom areas – so I get a 2-for-1 effect when I burn it.
[...] somethin’ about a local corn maze! And there is still one day left before I close up my $100 Visa gift card giveway (thanks to Febreze NOTICEables) and a week left for the $100 Visa gift card giveaway from Wonderbread! Hop on over for your chance [...]
febreze me.
I run the kitchen fan to keep the cooking smells out…. but febreeze room spray is my friend…. a little spray here, a little spray there…. its in every bathroom, in every bedroom (because we all know what stinky boys and hubbies smell like- and what their dirty clothes are like too)… but the spray stuff gets used a lot in our house.
Jen? I like the way you roll GF. And Linda, I’m sure you’re a lovely person IRL but wow I don’t think I can have you over anytime soon, lol.
I used to use candles, now with young kids I use rain fresh clearers.
I use the battery-operated air fresheners U hang on the wall that sprays every 30 min., they R awesome. I also use citrus scented cleaners, and air fresheners, the citrus scent seems 2 last longer. Around the holidays I seem 2 use the apple cinnamon scents.
pkbailey@charter.net
I try to vacuum regularly to have a “clean” home.
I clean on a regular basis. By clean I mean more than just a pickup. I deep clean. I also keep the trash emptied. With a baby and toddler in the house it’s imperative that the trash get taken out daily. I also refuse to allow laundry to build up. I do, on average 2 loads every day. I also keep plug ins in the higher outlets so the boys can’t reach and/or I burn nice light smelling candles.
I definitely vacuum the couch and spray Febreeze Allergen reducer to help keep the cat hair at bay!
By virtue of answering this question does it necessitate that I maintain a clean, fresh home? I have three kids, two cats and no servants. Is this really possible? As soon as I clean one space a child or cat uncleans another. Once I fill my dishwasher – another meal is in progress and dishes pile in the sink. I guess the best thing I do if I want maintenance is to clean and flee. Get out of the house with the kids. Then the house stays clean until we come back. Do I win?
For that fresh clean feeling, I make a giant batch of Nestle cookies – the kind from a tube. Just like that, the smell of my house suddenly appeals to everyone.
[...] reminder… there is still time to enter 2 different giveaways… Less than a week for Febreeze ($100 Visa gift card and a Febreeeze gift basket) and almost 2 weeks left to enter for a chance to [...]
I really want to try these febreeze things out!
I declutter and purge often, and try my hardest to keep the junk out of the house. We also try our hardest to not wear shoes in the house.
xoxo steph
Trying to keep a house clean with three boys AND a husband can be hard so I try to take out the trash daily, keep the floor swept and the dirty, stinky dishes clean!
I tweeted about this giveaway with a link to it at
http://twitter.com/ShawnaMichelle2/status/4979036162
ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com
The most important thing that I do to maintain a clean, fresh home is that To open my windows in the morning and air out my house and then spray air freshner throughout.
ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com
Funny pictures!
I use a hepa pet hair specific vacuum cleaner combined with febreeze spray to deal with pet odor, it doesn’t help with the litter smell but everything else in my house smells great!
I wash the sheets and bedding every week. I also vacuum and mop often. With two big dogs and an active family the floors need to be clean.
I scoop the litter box every day and attempt to keep the bathrooms clean at all times as well. Sometimes feels like a losing battle with 3 kids, a cat, and a dog. I would LOVE to win this gift basket and gift card!!!
Swiffering my hardwood floors every day is a must! Especially with 2 dogs…
Opening the windows regularly to let in fresh air, as well as making sure trash and laundry are regularly taken care of, are the main things I do.
Seriously, my house doesn’t always smell so fresh…that’s why I’m hoping to win that basket full of fabulous Febreeze goodies! We have a really small house which usually smells like whatever I’m cooking (sometimes that’s good, sometimes not so much!). Besides burning candles around the house, my favorite way to keep it smelling fresh and clean is to open all the windows for some fresh air.
Thank you for the entertaining review… The main thing I do to keep my house fresh is keep the floors spotless by vacumming & mopping regularly…After mopping the windows are opened to speed the dry time & I love the smell of Mr.Clean w/Fabreze.
I blogged here: http://amoores.com/2009/10/12/8-ways-to-win-a-febreeze-gift-basket-100-gift-card/