So… as I was saying.

You know those air-freshener plug in’s that we all have used at some point or another, right? Some come from grocery stores, some from fancier stores with fancier smells. It doesn’t matter, though – because they’re all bad for our air. Those ‘plug-ins’ that use the pre-made vial of smelly oil (which is also usually a pretty color) are putting chemicals into the air you and your family breathe every day.

If you need somewhere to start, or motivation to do it, this is it. Get rid of them. Yes, even the one in the guest bathroom that smells so nice for visitors and neighbors!

Let me tell you why (in my own terms, no fancy scientific explanations – although you can google that, if you’d like).

I have asthma. I also have severe allergies. For YEARS – around 10, I’ve lived in my own home and have been obsessed with it smelling nice (or seasonal). I never put two and two together; I was making myself sicker by keeping these things around. My lungs and immune system were constantly fighting some sort of allergen around me, and on top of that, trying to filter the chemicals out of the very air I was breathing in.

Once I got rid of the plug ins, I had my diffuser up and going. My entire house smelled HEALTHY. I didn’t even know that was possible! I rotated through the oils that came in my starter kit, playing around with mixing different scents to see what I liked. I could breathe better, my allergies were easing up, and my house smelled fragrant and clean with NO chemicals.

A couple of weeks later, I lit a candle. Don’t we all love the way a candle looks at night? My favorite was a sugar-cookie scented candle. The warm white glow and sugary smell was absolutely intoxicating. It also was releasing more chemicals in the air that I had just  de-chemicaled (I don’t know, is there another word?). So, out went the candles, too. My doctor told my mom back when I was a teenager that candles in our home would exacerbate my asthma symptoms – apparently I had forgotten this once I had my own home.

So that’s it, pretty simple, right? Step one: clean out all the faux-scents. Plug ins, candles*, candle warmers, wax warmers*, it’s all bad for your lungs.

*I have found some candles and waxes on Etsy that are made from pure soy and scented with essential oils. I have some of these, and love them, but still use sparingly. The consensus I’ve found says that soy waxes are OK to use, but i’m not entirely sure about the air effects from them on a molecular level. Again, I’m just a mommy who likes fragrance and is trying to keep it organic!