Being accident-prone worked to my advantage. When a guest recently walked into my home, he paused in the living room and said, “It smells amazing in here.” I could’ve easily just let him believe that it always smells like that, but the truth was a bottle of essential oils fell out of my hand a few minutes before he knocked on my window. The bottle hit the floor, splashed all over my laminate wood flooring and all I could do was wipe it up with a paper towel. I noticed a few flakes of dust, so I grabbed my dustpan and swept that up, too.
Two weeks later, that same dustpan still smells like essential oils. So every time I sweep my floors, here comes the smell of those oils again. Who needs candles when I can count on being a klutz?
This is one of many tips I’ve found by accident for eco-friendly cleaning. I’m the owner of a dog who loves to hunt for crumbs, licks floors and has a nose sensitive enough to explore up to 300 million olfactory receptors (compared to approximately 6 million in human beings). Minus self-cleaning ovens, strong cleaners are simply unrealistic in a home like mine.