Like most of us, I like my car to smell pleasant. Getting into a vehicle that smells good is a simple little joy in my life. A couple of weeks ago at the checkout line, I saw one of the air fresheners pictured above. The Febreze Car air freshener in "linen and sky" scent.

I didn't listen to the little voice in my head that said, "Michael, are you sure you like fresh linen scent?" I mean, who doesn't, right? Laundry smells pretty good. So, I ignored that little voice, and instead of buying the Black Ice Little Tree air freshener (the kind I usually buy), I spent the extra $2 on the fancy Febreze clip-on unit.

Arriving back in my car, I ripped open the package and clipped that little bad boy on my A/C vent. Holy buckets. The overwhelming smell of laundry soap immediately filled my car. It was actually making my eyes water. "Give it a couple of days," I said to myself. Surely the aroma will die down a little bit. It did not. In fact, it seemed to get stronger.

A week later I was giving my wife a ride to an appointment and she said something like, "Wow, that's a powerful air freshener you have going there." Later, she informed me that it was almost making her ill.

My car reeked like the laundry detergent aisle at the grocery store. My least favorite aisle. Overpowering, eye-watering, like someone had shoved scented dryer sheets in my nostrils. I finally gave up on the damn thing. I yanked it from the vent and shoved it under the backseat where it's unnatural strength seems to be slowly diminishing.

I'll stick to the Little Trees from now on.

 

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