A Well Loved Home: Olfactory Addictions

If you have been following my blog, you might remember that one of my 2010 New Year's resolutions was to quit buying candles. I am a self confessed candle junkie, who was given an ultimatum by a very patient husband to either quit buying candles or join a 12 step program. 20 days into the new year, I'm proud to say that not one dollar has passed through my fingers to a candle check-out clerk. The bad news is I've moved on to other olfactory obsessions. I never knew that candles were a gateway drug. My newest smell cravings have been directed toward laundry and bath products. The problem all started when my massage therapist made the fatal mistake of describing her somewhat OCD issues with making sure her clothes smell very clean and fresh. She goes through more bottles of Downy Fabric softener than a drunk goes through vodka on a hot Las Vegas night. She rinses and then re-rinses and does some more hocus-pocus and she has the best smelling family in town. (Which is important since her husband owns the largest portable toilet business in West Alabama!) This conversation set off a whole new obsession in me and I was off to transfer my need for wonderful candle fixations to my laundry. I discovered the most wonderful fabric softener called "Tulip" made by Art Home. Of course it was expensive and had to be ordered, but the fresh and clean smell was well worth the price and effort.It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. When my packages arrived bi-monthly, Dave would eye them suspiciously and ask "Are there candles in there?" I assured him that I was only buying a necessary household laundry cleaner. He seemed a bit confused why the UPS man brought mine and other women could simply buy theirs at the grocery store. Sadly, the website I purchased it from informed me that they would no longer would be carrying my drug of choice. I hunted like a mad women on every website on the web to find it somewhere else, but the company had decided to discontinue the scent. (I did find it on a UK site, but even I, felt that importing my fabric softener from the UK would be grounds for commitment.) So I have spent the last month searching in vain for that "special smell"....trying every softener in every store and coming up disappointed. I've joined web support groups who do nothing but discuss how to get your clothes smelling really,really clean. This search has led me to hopefully a successful end to my searching. I've begun making my own fabric softener! I want to share my favorite recipe with you. It saves money and you can literally customize your scent. I poured the softener into my old empty bottle and set it next to my very last bottle of the real stuff. I'm still tweaking the scent, but I think I'm on to something!

Recipe for Homemade fabric Softener: 6 cups of distilled water, 3 cups of white vinegar, 2 cups of hair conditioner. Stir well. The fun part comes when you get to pick out your scent - the hair conditioner. I used Clariol Herbal Essence - fruit and passion. (warning, only go to the drugs store to get the hair conditioner ingredient when you have a minimumof one hour to spend walking up and down the aisle smelling bottles). If you need pretty bottles to put your lotions and potions and laundry softener in like these, here are some cheap tricks to avoid paying for fancy bottles.