Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not understand why people spend money to pollute their homes with pointless chemicals?

563 replies

tomorrowisanotherdate · 30/03/2024 19:26

scent boosters, to go in laundry, air fresheners that squirt puffs of pollutants at you - the tv is full of adverts for these things, so presumably someone is buying them. I just don't get it though. Loading your family's home atmosphere with a load of unnecessary and unpleasant air pollutants, and paying for the privilege? Why?

OP posts:
WhatsTheUseOfWorrying · 30/03/2024 20:58

tomorrowisanotherdate · 30/03/2024 20:55

speak for yourself, I am not

Show quote history

Oh, right. I was just trying to establish what makes some compounds chemicals and other compounds not chemicals.

Original poster
tomorrowisanotherdate · 30/03/2024 20:58

WhatsTheUseOfWorrying · 30/03/2024 20:47

Hardly. They’re not pumping out Chernobyl reactor gases.

And plenty of people like the smell. You know, like some people prefer one sort of food to another. That sort of thing. But with smells.

Show quote history

somebody liking the smell of something does not stop it being a pollutant

OP posts:
KeinLiebeslied54321 · 30/03/2024 20:57

ImAlwaysknackered · 30/03/2024 20:54

Don’t know how you’re still alive with all these poisonous chemicals!

Show quote history

I suspect she's not eating most of them, though might be 'nose blind' to the smell overload.

Original poster
tomorrowisanotherdate · 30/03/2024 20:57

Astartn · 30/03/2024 20:47

I do open my windows but I find that it’s a bit polluted outside anyway so I don’t feel the air is as fresh as could be in my town and I live near a busy road. It’s different when I go up north- I can smell the fresh air if I open the window.

Not so much here, so it’s better for me to close the windows and then I do feel I need some kind of scent booster for a few hours now and again! It does give me a sore head if I leave my plug in on too long but then, so do essential oils.

Edited

Pollution inside is quite often worse than outside, because of all these chemicals we are talking about

OP posts:
Jellybean85 · 30/03/2024 20:56

TinySaltLick · 30/03/2024 19:30

Perfume is the same

Tbh I feel the same with music and art - life is about sensing as little as possible

GrinGrinGrin

Original poster
tomorrowisanotherdate · 30/03/2024 20:56

WhatsTheUseOfWorrying · 30/03/2024 20:40

Ok, so if I’m not allergic to, say, a Glade Plug-In, it’s not a pollutant.

But if I am allergic to peanuts or eggs or milk, they are pollutants.

Got it!

Show quote history

No Glade plug in is still a pollutant. It doesn't stop being harmful and toxic just because you personally like it

OP posts:
Ambergrease · 30/03/2024 20:55

My house is a haven from allergens - no pets, the plainest unscented non bio, no fabric conditioners, no air fresheners.

I love coming back to it, the rest of the world is so itchy and wheezy.

But I don’t have a problem with people who like strong smells or who have pets, I just can’t spend long in their houses.

KeinLiebeslied54321 · 30/03/2024 20:55

@tomorrowisanotherdate are you an Enjo rep perchance? They talk a lot about pollutant and/or chemical loads and also tell us how 'clean has no smell'. They forget that some of us hate laundry and/or cleaning and a subtle pleasant smell makes it less tedious to do.

Original poster
tomorrowisanotherdate · 30/03/2024 20:55

WhatsTheUseOfWorrying · 30/03/2024 20:43

I think we’re heading into natural v ‘artificial’ chemicals here.

speak for yourself, I am not

OP posts:
ImAlwaysknackered · 30/03/2024 20:54

Oreosareawful · 30/03/2024 19:34

I love fairy scent boosters! My laundry smells amazing.
I also love Zoflora, wax melts, plug ins, reed diffusers….
it smells nice and it smells clean

Show quote history

Don’t know how you’re still alive with all these poisonous chemicals!

WhatsTheUseOfWorrying · 30/03/2024 20:54

User56785 · 30/03/2024 20:49

*Ok, so if I’m not allergic to, say, a Glade Plug-In, it’s not a pollutant.

But if I am allergic to peanuts or eggs or milk, they are pollutants.

Got it!*

Surely you can understand that people other than you can be allergic to things that you are putting out there.

I thought only Kim Jong Un thought that the world revolves around him.

Well yes, that’s my point. People react differently to different things. That doesn’t make the things pollutants.

I suspect Kim Jong Un is strongly opposed to air fresheners.

DuploTrain · 30/03/2024 20:53

It is quite concerning how permanent the scent boosters are. I buy things off Vinted and even after I’ve washed them you can still smell the scent boosters. Something that potent doesn’t seem like it would be great to breathe in too much.

Original poster
tomorrowisanotherdate · 30/03/2024 20:51

Watchkeys · 30/03/2024 20:18

water and human beings are not really air pollutants

Are they other sorts of pollutants, though? Is is just air pollutants you have a problem with? In other people's houses?

Why are you making these distinctions? Humans pollute. Water is a chemical made of chemicals and full of chemicals. What you're doing is judging people because they like things that you don't like, @tomorrowisanotherdate

We are talking about the pollutant load in our homes. Neither of these do that. Outside of homes, water is a greenhouse gas. That is not what this thread is about. I am specifically talking about the pointless and unnecessary toxins we are exposing ourselves to inside out home by polluting the air with all these chemicals , and paying for them!

OP posts:
PoorHammyHamster · 30/03/2024 20:51

I love them. My house is aired daily, im obsessed with windows open but i still love nice smells.
Plug ins in every room except youngest.
Love a nice candle and wax melt.
And the airwick timed squirty thing.

Also love nice fabric conditioner. One of my dcs nursery once said they love opening dcs changing bag as it always smells amazing from the clothes.

concernedchild · 30/03/2024 20:50

@iwafs maybe we're just not miserable and enjoy nice smells!

I'm assuming you don't use perfume or deodorant either

User56785 · 30/03/2024 20:49

*Ok, so if I’m not allergic to, say, a Glade Plug-In, it’s not a pollutant.

But if I am allergic to peanuts or eggs or milk, they are pollutants.

Got it!*

Surely you can understand that people other than you can be allergic to things that you are putting out there.

I thought only Kim Jong Un thought that the world revolves around him.

Desecratedcoconut · 30/03/2024 20:49

All that shit makes me wheeze so we have the bare minimum of these home pollutants as you can get away with to keep the place sanitary. But it's far more labour intensive to keep on top of a home with steamers, damp dusters and gentler homemade cleaning products,I could be done in half the time with a few chlorine, bleach and polish sprays.

I'll never understand those bloody laundry booster things though - they make your eyes water for no benefit.

iwafs · 30/03/2024 20:49

Watchkeys · 30/03/2024 20:32

people might just as well flush money down the bog

Because they're buying something you don't like @iwafs ? What if it makes them happy? Is it still flushing money away? Or are you saying that you know what should make people happy, and this isn't it?

I just don’t see how something like laundry scent boosters can make people happy. If it really does, it makes me think people are brainwashed.

YourNimblePeachTraybake · 30/03/2024 20:48

I stopped using fabric conditioner when I discovered that many well-know ones contain pork or beef fat!
I hate perfume but I have asthma. Both natural (animal fur, dust, pollen) and artificial (air freshener) chemicals trigger my allergies. Sucks.

iwafs · 30/03/2024 20:47

EmpressOfTheThread · 30/03/2024 20:33

@iwafs - you can't clean the shower by opening the window, surely?

I open the window if I feel that I have no alternative to using a spray. To let the smell of the spray straight out as they all make me feel sick.

concernedchild · 30/03/2024 20:47

My bed smells amazing, it's lenor golden orchid

My room is clean, I just like it to smell nice as opposed to clean

WhatsTheUseOfWorrying · 30/03/2024 20:47

tomorrowisanotherdate · 30/03/2024 20:42

But it is just adding to the pollutant load, not reducing it or neutralising it in any way - just making it worse

Show quote history

Hardly. They’re not pumping out Chernobyl reactor gases.

And plenty of people like the smell. You know, like some people prefer one sort of food to another. That sort of thing. But with smells.

Astartn · 30/03/2024 20:47

I do open my windows but I find that it’s a bit polluted outside anyway so I don’t feel the air is as fresh as could be in my town and I live near a busy road. It’s different when I go up north- I can smell the fresh air if I open the window.

Not so much here, so it’s better for me to close the windows and then I do feel I need some kind of scent booster for a few hours now and again! It does give me a sore head if I leave my plug in on too long but then, so do essential oils.

bows101 · 30/03/2024 20:45

Most people see something, smell it, like it so buy it. And don't give it much more thought about the chemicals and pollution.

fancyfrogs · 30/03/2024 20:44

I buy them because I like them. I have a plug in in my hall, diffuser in my bathroom, often have a wax melt or candle on and I use fabric softener.

Oh and lavender is absolutely rotten