Home Improve-mint

Quick! Name something minty!

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What did you come up with?

Toothpaste?

Candy?

Gum?

Mouthwash?

Breath mints (of course!)?

The above are all things that everyone considers minty, but have you ever wondered why? Why is it that so many personal hygiene products smell minty—especially ones we’re supposed to put in our mouths?

It’s because mint is clean. Mint is fresh. Mint lifts the spirits. Oh, and did I mention mind is clean? :)

It is for this reason that if someone asked me to name something minty, I would probably answer “my house.”

I discovered a few years ago, that although unconventional, the scent of mint is a wonderful addition to any home. As I described above, it just makes everything seem cleaner. Think of it as giving a breath mint to your house!

When using mint, I tend to rely most heavily on regular old McCormick mint flavoring, found right next to the vanilla in the spice section of the grocery store. I also like to use spearmint essential oil that I buy from www.sweetcakes.com. Because mint is a fairly easy oil to extract, you can buy a huge bottle of it inexpensively. I’m sure places like Whole Foods and Wild Oats also carry it, but I’m not sure about their pricing. When buying the oil, I like to get spearmint rather than peppermint, but that’s purely a personal preference. Try both—you might find you like peppermint more.

Anyway, below are some of my favorite ways to incorporate a minty freshness into my house:

--Pour about a tablespoon of flavoring into my bottle of homemade vinegar cleaner.

--Place a couple of drops of oil on my vacuum filter before vacuuming the house.

--Make my own scented scouring powder by adding a little oil to equal parts of kosher salt and baking soda (your tub has never been so fresh!).

--Buy a Yankee “Fresh Mint” candle. The way they have scented this is uncanny. It smells exactly like a mint patch growing out in the yard. They have perfectly captured not only the mint, but also the subtle earthiness and bitter-sweetness of real, fresh mint. Have a look at www.yankeecandle.com. It is well worth the $23—I promise!

--If you’ll be leaving home for a few days, pour a few drops of the flavoring down each drain and in the bowl of your commode. It will eliminate that stale smell that develops when stagnant water has been in the pipes for too long.

--Dab a few drops of oil on the cardboard tube inside your rolls of toilet paper and paper towels. You’ll have freshness with each spin!

--And don’t forget about using mint for personal care products as well: a lid-full of essential oil poured into a full bottle of vanilla body wash is incredibly delicious (my favorite is St. Ives Swiss Vanilla—about $3 at the drugstore or Wal-Mart).

Once your house—and you—are sweet and minty, you’ll wonder why you never thought to use it before!