My house smells like fresh spring air...and last night's dinner...and the litter box...

...and the undone laundry...and my daughter's softball cleats...you get the picture.  Spring has definitely come to my little town in Massachusetts and it's beautiful here.  The air is fragrant with the scent of the lilac bushes growing wildly in my neighbor's yard.  The trees have all blossomed.  My lavender bushes are gorgeous.  And my windows are wide open to air out the smells of, well, of life I suppose.  Cooking, people, pets, laundry, and fresh paint (of course) have all combined to create the special potpourri that is our home's unique smell.   All of these thoughts about fresh air got me to thinking about my home's indoor air quality.  After all we burned wood fires in the fireplace all winter, I never use the vent when boiling water for pasta, I do have a cat, and for 6 long months the windows weren't open very often.  Perhaps most importantly I have a lot of furniture with stain, paint, veneers, particle board, stain protection, and glue.  All of those things are the real culprits of indoor air pollution.

Spider plants significantly reduce formaldehyde in the air

Luckily all we need to reduce/remove toxins from the air inside our homes is a few common household plants.  Formaldehyde is a toxin commonly found in homes because it is released by wood veneers, plywood, foam insulation, natural gas, wood, and gasoline.  Oh and it's also present in grocery bags, waxed paper, and most fabric protectors.  It's kind of hard to not have a formaldehyde problem if you have any furniture, carpet, or fabrics in your home.  In a study conducted by NASA it was discovered that placing a spider plant in an area likely to be high in formaldeyhde is an excellent way to clean the air and it has the added bonus of sucking up carbon monoxide as well.

These daisies look beautiful while they scrub the air of benzene

Benzene is a solvent used in plastics, paints, inks, and rubber that is an irritant to our mucous membranes when inhaled.  The NASA study also found that benzene can be easily mitigated by having a few chrysanthemums or gerbera daisies around the house.

Now I have what you may call a black thumb.  Keeping my kid alive just about taps me out, so keeping plants alive has never worked out that well.  I over-water, under-water, let them get root bound or shock them with too large of a pot.  I never seem to have the "right spot" for the sunlight required so I either burn them or let them wither in darkness.  If you have this problem as well then I am here to tell you that there is hope: it turns out that having a variety of flowering and/or evergreen plants outside of your home is helpful too because everytime you open a door or window you get the benefit of the clean air flowing in which is why regularly "airing" out the house is so important.

I think I can manage to occasionally buy a gerbera daisy or two.  I wouldn't mind having a few chysanthemums in a vase.  But I can defnitely get into having lavender bushes, pear trees, flowering dogwood trees, azaleas, hostas, and all other kinds of plants outside my home.  Beautiful curb appeal and cleaner air, what a deal!

Oh and scooping the litter box daily will help both me and the cat.  Another win win.