To find this smell offensive?

[GreenMonkies]

We live in a maisonette which shares a communal garden with about 5 other households, mainly elderly folks. We are an "Ecover" household, we don't use "mainstream" cleaning products or air-fresheners.

I am sitting in the garden whilst the DD's play on thier bikes etc, and two of my neighbours have hung washing out, and the stench of Lenor/Comfort/whatever is all but making me gag, I am seriously thinking of going inside the smell is so strong. Bleurgh!!!!!

noonki- or, since it's mostly methane, striking a match for a few seconds, or lighting a candle, to burn the methane off, works a lot better than air freshener.

Get your own garden if it peeves you so!

what a fantastic thread!

OP - of course yabu but you knew that anyway didn't you?

I just dunk everything in bleach or formaldehyde.

I'm allergic to perfume so I have a lot of sympathy for the OP. When we get hand-me-downs I have to wash them twice as the smell makes me feel ill. I sometimes find the smell of my friends' clothes or perfume over-powering. But sadly it's an absolute unsayable to say it. I did once say something as a perfume was making me vomit but somehow I was the bad guy.

So I use all eco-products because of my allergy (and sensitive skin) and everyone thinks I am super green cos that's all we have in the house. I'm not, but I'm always happy to take unfairly gained smug points. I have to say I can't bear the smell of ecover though .

I do think the OP sounded more than the teensiest bit smug, though, in the way she worded her post. Ecover is pretty mainstream when you can buy it in Tesco's and Sainsbury's. And is owned by a giant multinational.

oh for gawds sake get a grip woman!
go sit ina tub of grass or something!

Ecover is still a manufactured bunch of cleaning gak.

I DARE you to get real with nature and use things like bicarb and white vinegar to clean.

I live near a fish processing plant. When the wind is blowing the wrong way , my house smells of rotten fish.
We went for a walk with the kids this afternoon. Since the fish places are all closed today , the smell is worse than usual. Instead of a bracing walk , I walk around heaving.
I love the smell of comfort tropical. I'm sure my neighbours are grateful when they catch a whiff of it. Makes a change from fish guts and sewerage (that's right , we also have a sewerage place near us. Happy days)
YABU. It can't smell that bad

yes, psycho, i really separate laundry like that. i also use washing soda crystals on heavily soiled loads. i never use fabric softener, either.

if i'm pegging out towels or jeans, i put them in the dryer for about 15 minutes before, with dryer balls. that way they stay all soft.

Oh please!

Why don't you go and live somewhere halfway up a glacial mountain in some eco-home and recycle your head!

Or at the very least, move somewhere extremely far away from normal people.

expat, I am seriously impressed.

I am lazy.....I bung it all in together (well, obviously colour co-ordinted first tho)

duchesse - a top tip!

One I remember from my nannas house but had totally forgotten.

gunnerbean - hahaha. I expect the op washes her clothes on racks whilst singing uplifting washerwoman ditties from a jolly musical.

'Why don't you go and live somewhere halfway up a glacial mountain in some eco-home and recycle your head! '

Sorry, but that just made me PMSL.

I work, part-time, for the NHS, DP works for a waste water company, between us we earn enough to live at a reasonable standard. However, the housing market has not yet fallen far enough for us to even come close to being able to afford a mortgage. So we live where the council puts us. Right now, it's a maisonette on the first and second floor of a building in the centre of town. My neighbours are predominantly eldery/retired people, who are lovely and we get on really well with, but we only have a communal garden which is 75% concrete, and down a flight of metal fire escape stairs.

So; MadameCastafiore 18 Apr 09, 6:38:26 PM Get your own garden if it peeves you so!

I FUCKING WISH.

the more Lenor smelling the better! YABU, go inside then if it bothers you..

god they do smell don't they
op you are breastfeeding are you not? i have found my sense of smell / difficulty with strong perfumes etc is much greater when bfing, not just when pg - makes sense if you think about it - as a protective thing

what i hate is when you buy something from ebay and it really reeks of washing stuff
no no wait
the worst is when it reeks of cigarette smoke which someone has then tried to cover up with strong washing stuff
bleeuuuuuurgh

I sympathise with the OP about the artificial smells. And Lush brings me out in an itchy rash from 500 metres away. I guess some of us just aren't as sensitive as others. And as for Febreze - I thought that was just to cover up the smell of farts in the homes of people who never open their windows?

Fabreeze is apparently terrible for the respiratory system, too.

I don't like artificial smells like that, I agree, but if we're talking about outside on a nice day then I can pretty much deal.

I don't like to use that stuff because it's bad for the environment and two of my three kids have sensitive skin, and I can compost soap nuts.

But all that fake Lenor and Bold stuff I prefer smelling that to stuff like sewage and fish guts or that.

DD1 brought home her nursery's teddy bear and man, he reeked of fake-y washing powder.

soapnuts,whats that then?

Fabric conditioners make me boak.

My mate regularly passes on hand me downs that she's washed in Stale Pot-pourri or possibly Old Lady's Knicker Drawer Lenor. They get a wash (cheapo supermarket powder, half recommended dose) & pegged outside in the fresh air for 24 hours.

I love Lush stuff, though.

i use unfragranced sensitive skin fabric softener makes towels soft

scottish if you have a dryer just bung the stuff in there for about 15 mins. before pegging them out and they'll stay all soft and nae need for fabric softener.

soap nuts are just these shell things that don't later up much.

your clothes smell like nothing but if you want them to smell of something you can get this stuff off Spirit of Nature called Laundry Fresh and they'll smell faintly of citrus and lemongrass.

Me, I prefer the klaze to smell of Eau d'Argyll myself .

Even DD1 will hold the clothes to her nose and say, 'Ah, smells like outside!'

no dryer(too stingy) can i use soapnut in wmch?air dried clothes smell lovely

I use Ecover too, and hate the smell of other laundry cleaning products - it is really strong. However, when DH complained that he could smell our neighbour's laundry in the garden I told him he was nuts. Clearly he's not the only one with such a sensitive nose!

It's a bit like becoming an ex-smoker, I think - when you stop using mainstream products all of a sudden you discover how strongly they smell. I think YAB a bit U to complain about it here, but not BU to find it unpleasant.