I know a lot of people think owning pets means never having a clean home, but I realized it has become quite the opposite: because we have dogs we are more aware of keeping our place clean.
My home was actually much dirtier before I had pups.
During the colder weather, when we can't just open the windows, we're always a bit more conscious about having stagnant air. With the pooches, I'm always worried about having candles with open flames, and artificial air-fresheners start smelling too strong, so we started coming up with some other ideas to keep our home smelling clean:
Scented Cleaners:
We started using our cleaning products as home scents. Both Mrs. Meyers and Method use aromatherapeutic scents; we like Mrs. Meyers Basil and Geranium all-purpose sprays and Method's almond floor cleaner. The scent stays for several hours, but the best part is that these actually encourage me to clean; I'm always wiping down our our counters and tables just so everything smells good. I don't know if they actually clean any better than other cleaners, but I like that they are non-toxic.
Simmering Scents:
Back when I was dogless, it was so easy to burn scented candles. Though with pets in the house, I don't really like having an open flame. I
discovered this simmering recipe (from
Our Waldo Bungie's Pinterest!) that makes your home smell like a Williams Sonoma store. It's pretty easy and it really works! The only thing I didn't like was that I felt I would forget to turn it off when I left the home.
Consistent Trash Removal:
Our pooches eat
this canned diet, which is amazing for them, but it doesn't smell so great for us. Kind of like the lingering scent of your cubicle neighbor's tuna sandwich. To make the smell go away, we try to remove the cans, and any other trash, immediately. We bought this
Tubtrug, which is easy to carry and clean, where we store our recycling and just bring it down each time we leave our home. Removing the trash and cans does help our home smell better, plus I just read
this on Facebook about how often pups can get into dangerous food that they find in the trash.
Is this something you think about too? What are some other things you've found to work?
Also:
Less fur!
Our secret cleaning weapon
Dog-friendly rugs
16 comments:
In addition to scented cleaners, we also use Glade Automatic Spray that releases fragrance into the air every 36 minutes. We also use the Glade Sense & Spray. It detects movement with a burst of fragrance into the air.
I LOVE Mrs. Meyers. :)
I also try to keep the pooches fresh between baths using waterless foam shampoo. And washing their beds and blankets every other week or so (especially Alfred's blanket!)
For a quick fix I chop off a chunk of lemon and toss it in a pan of boiling water, freshens up the house instantly if you're in a rush. It works well for cooking odors too.
Great post! Thanks for the recommended cleaning products, I always admire Method & Mrs. Meyers at the store, but I didn't know they were non-toxic!
We've noticed that Athena's crate bed can often get a bit stinky when she eats a Kong, cow's knee cap, or bully stick, which causes an icky lingering smell throughout the house. So, we always lay a large clean towel over her bed when we give her these kinds of treats. This way we don't have to go through the pain of washing her bed every day, but instead just have to throw the towel in the wash.
Thanks for all the tips! We used to have those artificial scent things, but they always smelled weird and made us constantly ask "What's that smell?"
We make sure to launder the dogs' beds once a week, and wash our floors once every two weeks. The sofa, well that's a write-off. :)
For your simmer recipe: crockpot!
I'm not allergic to dogs, but I am allergic to lots of perfumed stuff. (Anything aerosoled into the air is pure torture)
I like the lemon in boiling water idea. And the towel 'bib'.
You can simmer cinnamon sticks at the holidays.
Thanks for this discussion!
Oh my gosh I just happened upon your blog when I was searching for coats that would fit my pit, I love it I spent hours reading a gigling about your pups. Thanks for all the info and where to get size approperiate clothing for pitbulls :)
lol, my home is definitely not messy because I have dogs... they are just an easy scapegoat ;P I really like having slipcovers for anything possible. Since we let the dogs on the furniture, slipcovers make it so much easier to get the "dog smell" out of the sofa, comforter, chairs, etc. They are total life savers!
Every once in a while mom still freezes us out so she could get fresh air in
Benny & Lily
I read that too, and it was scary!
We do what we can.....Fresh flowers can fix anything, right?
Wyatt
Those are some great ideas. Thanks for sharing. We do not like the idea of open flames either so my Mom has tried a candle warmer. They work pretty good. The only downside is if you have a large candle it takes awhile for it to melt. We've found the best candles so far to use like this is the Bath and Body Works large candles.
Emma
We use Mrs. Meyers too!
I haven't tried that simmering recipe yet (even though I pinned it forever ago) but I think I am going to try it tomorrow!
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