It’s been a long while since my last Top Five/Bottom Five post — so long, in fact, we were still talking about winter (praise be, ice is finally behind us). Tobia recently mentioned that these are some of her favourite posts, and that was the final nudge I needed to come up with another post for the series.
Today let’s discuss…smells. (This fits in nicely with yesterday’s post, as many of you chimed in about how you make life more beautiful using scented products!)
There’s plenty of research confirming that scent is one of our most powerful memory triggers. One whiff can send you straight back to childhood (my grandmother’s entryway = oil furnace; freshly cut grass = coming home from summer vacation), a vacation, a person — or an unfortunate microwave incident (I once microwaved a chocolate chip cookie in a bag secured with a metal twist-tie; the cookie ended up tasting like blueberries after the sparks died down).
In case you’ve missed any of the related posts (which are especially fun because of the comment section), here’s a quick walk down Top Five/Bottom Five memory lane:
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Fall
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Halloween Treats
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Christmas Food Edition
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Christmas Movie Edition
- Top Five/Bottom Five Christmas Songs
- Top Five/Bottom Five: The (Canadian) Winter Edition
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Makeup
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Fictional Books
- Top Five Non-Fiction Books
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Disney Movies
- Top Five/Bottom Five: The Condiment Edition
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Ice Cream Flavours
- Top Five/Bottom Five: The Cookie Edition
- Top Five/Bottom Five: The Emoji Edition
- Top Five/Bottom Five: The Clothing Edition
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Basic Hygiene and Self-Care Routines
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Things I Do/Don’t Miss From My Past
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Kitchen Appliances (Mostly To Gauge Your Stance on Microwaves)
- Top Ten/Bottom Ten: The House Edition (Including a Renovation History)
- Top Five/Bottom Five: Household Chores Edition
Okay. Time to sniff out today’s picks.
TOP FIVE
- Freshly baked treats. Ginger cookies. Cinnamon coffee cake. Bread. Yum. If happiness had a scent, it would be this.
- Lemon-scented cleaners. I rarely dust (shocking, I know), but when I do and think to use actual furniture polish…that crisp lemon smell whisks me straight back to my childhood, watching my mom dust on Thursday* evenings. Scent + nostalgia = magic. (*For some reason Thursday has always been my mom’s “cleaning” day.)
- Fresh air indoors. Not just “outside air,” but that lovely, breezy scent that drifts through open windows on a mild day. There’s something deliciously clean about it, especially when it circulates through the whole house.
- My people. Okay, hear me out — not armpits. But I love the smell of my family. John always smells amazing (I love cuddling up and catching whiffs of his deodorant). Indy’s hair and beloved blankie carry a scent I wish I could bottle. Belle’s face serums (so. many. serums) and shampoo make me want to hug her for ten extra seconds. These are comforting, familiar smells that make our house feel like home.
- Hand soap. Yes, hand soap. I have my favourites and they make a big difference in how pleasant a routine feels. Public washroom soap? At best, forgettable. At worst, offensively weird. Give me a gently scented, non-drying, delightful hand soap any day.
BOTTOM FIVE
- Bathroom anything. Do I need to elaborate? I do not.
- Stinky food. I enjoy eating broccoli and fish, I really do. But the lingering smells? Absolutely not. Why must they haunt the house for so long after supper is over?
- Mustiness. Leave the house closed up for a few days in summer and boom — the stale, humid funk is waiting to greet me at the door. No thanks.
- My family’s less pleasant aromas. Some individuals (who shall remain nameless) produce shoes and socks that smell like… *shudder*. It’s impressive in the worst way.
- Harsh cleaning products. Mint-scented anything in the cleaning aisle? Not for me. And don’t even get me started on bleach. Blergh.
Your turn.
- What are your top five/bottom five household smells?
- Are there any scents you irrationally hate?
- How do you feel about lemon cleaner — yay or nay?
- Give me some ideas for Top Five/Bottom Five posts you’d like to discuss.
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Suzanne
Haha – I am giggling at your reference to armpits.
And ohhhhhhh boy, the shoe stink!!!! Awful.
I love the smell of bleach! So clean! And I agree that the scent of fresh air coming through the windows is wonderful.
Elisabeth
I think I remember you mentioning you like the smell of bleach! I think it makes me think of someone being sick (or a public pool). Ick either way. Isn’t it funny how the same smell can elicit two very different reactions!
mbmom11
Top 5:
*chocolate chip cookies baking
*applesauce cooking
*lilac scent drifting in the window from the neighbors
*weigela blooming in front of the porch
*the scent of rain moving in on a hot day and the clean smell after a cooling rain
Bottom:
* most lotions ( unscented all the way for me)
*most soaps ( ditto)
*air fresheners ( all types)
* green Palmolive dishhwashing liquid ( makes me sneeze)
*rotten potatoes ( the absolute worst)
*certain children’s stinky sneakers ( however, they get that from me….)
I can’t stand the smell of ketchup.
Lemon cleaners are usually fine – the smell dissipates quickly enough.
Top5/Bottom5. School subjects? Actors? Fingernail polish? Lipstick? Current pop songs? Teenager Elisabeth pop songs? ( or any songs) Church songs? Vegetable?
Elisabeth
Lilacs! We had lilac bushes when we moved into this house but we had to remove them to deal with some foundation issues. 🙁 They were so pretty and smell incredible.
I have issues with strongly scented lotion, have to use unscented laundry detergent, and perfume sets off my head and nose.
I love eating ketchup, but I can’t actually say I’ve spent much time thinking about how it smells.
Thanks for the ideas! I can easily answer a few of these now.
– I don’t use lipstick, so that’s a no-go.
– I listen to songs on repeat for a month and then get sick of them and literally never want to hear them again in my life, so top songs are hard to put my finger on!
I can do school subjects, fingernail polish, and vegetables, though!
Grateful Kae
Hmm, my top household smell would be your #3- outdoor air inside. I LOVE the smell of having of the windows open. However, it’s really tough for us to keep the windows open much of the year. Obviously not in winter, but even in spring and fall our big sunroom makes our house heat up so fast (despite being diligent about keeping the shades drawn!) It can be a very comfortable temperature outside, where it seems like we should NOT need the air conditioning on, but our house will still heat up so quickly! I hate it because I love having the windows open!! (This happened this week where I was trying and trying to resist turning the air on but my family revolted when the thermostat said it was almost 80 degrees inside our house (and we have ceiling fans in all the rooms!). Hahaha.
My bottom household smell is vinegar. We have hard water and I have been using vinegar for cleaning to help prevent hard water stains in our new bathroom sink + shower door. It’s effective, but yuck. I really dislike the smell of vinegar! Oh, and another one- we eat a good amount of pinto beans at our house. The WORST is if a container gets left in the back of the fridge for a little too long and goes bad…. When I go to clean it out or dump the remains down the garbage disposal, ewwwwwwwww it smells like a big bottled fart. Hahaha. 🤣And it lingers!!
Elisabeth
We have the same problem with our side sliding door. It’s like a greenhouse on sunny days. I can keep the windows in my bedroom open without it raising the temp too much, but it can be hard to find the right balance of when to draw the shades and when I can open them/the windows without needing to compensate with AC. I haven’t had it on yet this year, but I know the day is coming.
I don’t like the smell of vinegar, either!
Grateful Kae
I also wanted to comment, on smells in general, that as a nurse, I became VERY good at essentially just closing my nose. It’s really not difficult.. you just basically don’t breathe at all through your nose and breathe through your mouth instead, while carefully keeping your nose just “closed”. No one can tell you’re doing it but no scents get through! Emptying poopy bed pans (or changing pee or poop filled sheets…), emptying or changing ostomies, changing gangrenous wound dressings, holding a pan while someone vomits, inserting a rectal tube, a urinary catheter, cleaning sweaty stinky skin folds with a yeast infection on a more obese patient… just a few times I used to employ the “close the nose” technique. 😅 Honestly, if you do that, you smell nothing at all. And you just try and not think about the fact that you are breathing that same air in through your mouth. hehehe.
Elisabeth
UGH! I don’t think I would have made a good nurse.
My mom was an RN for decades and was incredible and did not bat an eye at blood or poop or anything. Bless her heart. Maybe she can’t smell very well. Or maybe she figured out the nose trick, too 🙂
Nicole MacPherson
The worst smell for me is when the P-trap isn’t full and the house smells like sewage. It’s awful! We have discussed this before but ew. I lived my whole life in Calgary not knowing this was a problem that people could have and here we are. Fortunately it’s easily fixed but still.
Best smell – baking, for sure! I also really like the smell of garlic when it’s cooking, but not so much AFTER when it’s kind of lingering.
Elisabeth
Yes! Ours was soooo bad last weekend because of a rain storm. Ugh.
My dad loves the smell of onions and garlic cooking but it can get STRONG. And you’re so right that it really lingers.
Jenny
I LOVE fall scents- anything labeled “pumpkin spice”- soaps, candles, BAKED GOODS, yum. I also love other scented candles- right now we have a tropical one and some pineapple hand soap that I’m loving. I also agree that I love the smell of fresh outside air inside. We go for so many months with our windows closed and the AC on, so that first cool day in the fall when we can open the windows is my favorite.
BAD smells definitely include cooked broccoli (WHY? It tastes so good and smells terrible!) The cat litter boxes, of course. I’m reading Kae’s comment above and I agree, I don’t like the smell of vinegar.
One more thing to add to my favorite smells- a Christmas tree!
Elisabeth
YES, YES, YES! Give my pumpkin/cinnamon/warm fall spices or give me citrus (lemon and grapefruit are my fave).
Oh, CHRISTMAS TREES! Don’t remind Belle. She still hasn’t forgiven me for skipping a real tree last year. I will admit I missed the scent (but not much else – it’s 100x easier to care for without dropped needles and no watering AND cheaper…but it doesn’t smell nearly as incredible).
I am glad I don’t deal with pet odours. When we had Meatball. Ugh. The pee smell would linger, even after regularly changing out the mulch.
Jan Coates
Top smell – babies’ and toddlers’ faces/cheeks; Bottom smell – babies’ poopy bottoms:) And I wash my hands sometimes just for the lingering vanilla soapy smell.
Elisabeth
Yes! A baby’s head smells DELICIOUS!!!!! And their cheeks and little necks (unless they have stinky milk stuck in the creases and then it smells terrible – ask my how I know!).
Birchie
Oof, I know all about Eau de Teenage Boy. I don’t think their bedrooms will ever smell normal again.
My favorite is “clean house smell”, which is just the absence of scent. #2 is the smell of baking, and #3 is the smell of my people, including the dog.
Elisabeth
I love that your favourite scent is the absence of scent!
Baking is such a wonderful smell, especially if you walk inside to fresh baking and didn’t have to lift a finger. (Or maybe that’s just me??!)
Bijoux
My favorite scent is coffee. As a child, my mom would make coffee using a percolator when we had company. I associate that with happiness. I love when I pick up my daughter from a coffee shop because the coffee smell permeates the car. I also love fresh flowers, whether it’s from a bouquet from a store or just trees outdoors. BUT, I don’t like floral products, which seems irrational. Like, I hate any floral candle or perfume. The only fake floral scent I can tolerate is lavender, but please don’t put it in teas, etc.
My worst scent is cabbage. I also dislike pet smells which is why I’ve never had a pet. I can’t even walk into a pet store or one that sells pet products. Even the dog food aisle at the grocer makes me ill.
mbmom11
Oh, fresh perked coffee in the morning! That smell makes me so happy. ( My mon would always start a pot for breakfast, and that’s what we would come down to.) I don’t even drink coffee ! That’s a very happy scent.
Elisabeth
It’s funny you mention this because my own mother LOVES the smell of coffee and my dad loves to drink coffee, but she hates, hates, hates the taste of coffee.
I agree that I don’t enjoy floral candles. Give me citrus all the way (or occasionally vanilla, but it can be too cloy).
Cabbage IS smelly. And I 100% agree with you on pet smells.
Jacquie
Top smells – the ocean, the air when the seasons change to spring and fall, baking with cinnamon, cedar (have been spending time in the sauna at our local pool and it’s so calming), and snuggling with a freshly bathed baby.
Top dislikes – the store Lush and similar places (too strong), stinky foods reheated in a microwave that make the whole house reek, large garbage bins in the summer heat, manure in the garden during spring, and the nasty baby body fluids.
Suggestions for top/bottom five – places you’d like to visit/not visit, hobbies you like or want to try/those you don’t like and have no interest in.
Elisabeth
Yes! The salt-air of the ocean is lovely.
Cedar and in fact all evergreens are some of my favourite scents. And a freshly bathed baby. YES!!!
I was just putting compost in my bin today and lamenting the fact it is now going to smell so bad! Ugh. When it gets really hot we get maggots. I know it’s a GOOD thing because it breaks down all the organic material and this gets used for gardens and such. But the smell.
Love these Top 5/Bottom 5 ideas. Stay tuned!
Alexandra
Ha! No one really likes body odour and or what goes on in the bathroom. But, there are worse smells, let me tell you.
I’ve written up my own Top & Bottom 5 smells, here: https://alexwolfe.ca/top-five-bottom-five-smells/
Elisabeth
Yay! I’m so glad it inspired you to write your own post on the topic.
I plan to write a second more general smell post soon (I had too many things I love the scent of to leave it at a single post!!)
Alexandra
This one was a fun one to follow up on, and I look forward to seeing what else you come up with. I love how so many other then go on to write their own posts too, so we all get more to read.
Blue Gate farmgirl
Home baked sour dough bread. In the oven right now.yum
The smell of my border collie after she runs the pastures.
My homemade ACVinegar/chamomile/lavender cleaner
Scented geraniums blooming on the back door patio.
Chocolate mint lining the walkway to the orchard.
Rotten cabbage. Found one behind water jugs in the barn fridge. Ugh
Anything having to do with work. ICU trauma nurse, industrial bleach wipes.
Barn owl pellets.
Vitamin b solution for my garden seedling transplants.
This time of year everything smells so green and fresh, I can’t think of a 5th bottom thing.
Elisabeth
I had some sourdough for breakfast today and it was so good. Alas, I didn’t make it myself so I didn’t get to enjoy the delicious aroma of fresh-baked bread. There is nothing like it.
I can imagine (as per Kae), you have a lot of scent memory from nursing. Most of it unpleasant!
Michelle G.
I love this, Elisabeth!
My top & bottom 5 are pretty much the same as yours.
My #1 most despised smell is SKUNK. We have skunks roaming around all summer. They’re nocturnal creatures that tend to wander out onto the highway by our ranch and get run over. I can’t leave the windows open at night because our house will be filled with skunk smell.
One year, a mother skunk had her little skunklings UNDER OUR HOUSE. Oh, it was awful. It took forever to get them all trapped and taken away. The smell. I nearly lost my mind.
Elisabeth
Let’s talk skunks. I NEVER see or smell skunk anymore. Growing up I feel like it was a regular occurrence and I literally cannot remember how many years it has been since I smelled skunk. What is going on? I’m not complaining but, also, it feels ominous that a once ubiquitous form of wildlife seems to be missing where I live.
SKUNKLINGS. Now that is something that would only be cute in a children’s book. Definitely not under one’s house. Ugh. I would have been losing my mind, too.
Rebecca Jo
This is such a fun blog topic – I’ve got to join in& do a post on this one next week 🙂
I love me some broccoli to eat – but man, that smell is something else!
Elisabeth
Isn’t it odd how something can taste so good and yet smell positively horrid?!
Maria
Outdoor air inside is the best. I’ll sometimes even open the windows for a little bit when it gets close to freezing in the winter to air things out. Being able to open the windows daily makes my heart and nose so happy!
Elisabeth
I like being able to hear the birds and such, too. It’s free white noise. I suppose that doesn’t work as well if you live in an urban area, but my sliding door is open this very second and the birds are singing like crazy!
Ali B
Top 5:
Honeysuckle, fresh cut grass, Dreft baby laundry detergent, the wild honey nectar scent candle from DW Home, natural pine, that smell right before it rains (ok, that’s more than 5)
Bottom 5:
sweet and sour sauce, musky perfume, mildew, our great pyrenees when she’s rolled in something disgusting, spoiled milk
Elisabeth
Spoiled milk. How did I forget this. THE WORST.
I don’t know what honeysuckle smells like, but I did order some Mrs. Myers honeysuckle dishsoap after Lisa mentioned it the other day!
I love, love, love the smell of pine and just about any other evergreen. Walking through the woods and the associated smell is one of my all-time favourite scents.
NGS
Okay, I read this in the morning and then thought about it all day. Here are my answers about scents in and around my home.
Top 5:
My husband fresh out of the shower, lilac floating in open windows from the bush outside, chocolate chip cookies baking, my almond shower oil, and the sea salt spray I use in my hair
Bottom 5:
The litter box, the dog most of the time (she’s really the stinkiest dog I’ve ever met), bleach, the musty smell in the basement/attic, the closet with the laundry basket in it (our workout clothes make it unpleasant)
Top 5/Bottom 5 ideas: Books, tv shows, stores, websites, party/celebration events (I LOVE a grad party, despise a baptism), rooms in your house (although that is a lot of rooms…)
Elisabeth
Can I admit I ADORE that you mull over my posts all day.
Freshly showered people (that you know/love) is a truly divine scent.
I need to know more about this almond shower oil. Wait. What is shower oil? Does it make your bathtub slippery?
What is the sea salt spray you use. ENGIE. I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
I am so glad I don’t have a litter box, but trust me that the diaper pail was no doubt equally awful. Hooray. Someone else joins me in disliking bleach. It makes me think of hospitals and cleanliness to get rid of something really icky (like vomit or mildew).
Great ideas! I have done books. I can do TV shows, websites…(?), events (basically nothing, I had parties), rooms in my house is a great one (though…do I even have 10 rooms in my house…I will make this work!)
NGS
I am a lady with super dry skin and soap and body wash are a problem. So I use L’occitane Almond Shower Oil. It lathers up just like soap, but isn’t as drying. It does not make shower slippery (anymore than soap does) as long as I’m not dumping it all over the shower and I’m not doing that. I would be concerned if I had small children who DID dump, but that’s not a concern in my house.
Bumble And Bumble Surf Spray is the sea salt spray I use in my hair to give my hair some texture. I LOVE the way it smells.
Bleach smells gross. Also, it makes Zelda crazy. She has absolutely no reaction to things like cat nip, but she gets high off of bleach. *sigh* I’m sending her back to the factory for a less troublesome cat. (JK, people who don’t know me. I’m obsessed with my cat.)
Elisabeth
Ha! We all know Zelda is QUEEN of the house. I agree with her about bleach, too!
NGS
I forgot. Another idea: Top/Bottom 5 paid jobs you’ve had. All those people out there with fewer than ten jobs under their belts can be excused from the assignment.
Elisabeth
Engie, I have not had 10 paid jobs. I feel like such a loser!
I had a slew of different research contracts but they were mostly the same job.
I will get creative with this!!! (And will inject some mothering responsibilities in here – they are unpaid but let me assure you they are VERY MUCH A JOB).
I have so much to write about. I feel like I have Top5/Bottom5 topics to last me for a year. Or do a whole week. Like Shark Week on the Discovery Channel…except not.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Yeahhhhh for another Top5Bottom5 post.
So fun. I agree with a lot of the smells. But I have a few additions.
Top: The husbands hair product – he hasn’t used it lately but than one day. Ahhhh love it. || lemony or cinnamon baked goods are even better than just baked goods || fresh brewed coffee
Bottom: The smell of the kitchen sink when pouring in hot water. like old, cellar rags with humidity and mold. arghhh || old wooden cutting boards. gagging awful.
Ohhh this is sparking another post idea for me. I have so many drafts I need to get them published.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Oh and for post ideas: veggies, cities, countries, colors, artists, habits…. I guess I can come up with more if need be. Ha.
Elisabeth
I have so many ideas! I have a LOT of writing to do 😉
Stephany
Okay, I’m the weirdo who loves the musty way my apartment smells when I’ve been gone for a while. I don’t know why! But there’s just something about it that doesn’t irritate me. And I also loooove the smell of bleach. Is something wrong with my nose? Perhaps.
Other favorite scents: candles, hand soap, freshly washed clothes/sheets, and most of my cleaners.
Bottom scents: litter box, the cats’ wet food, gross food smells coming from the trash or garbage disposal, and anytime I burn ANYTHING (because the smell lingers for way too long!)
Elisabeth
Suzanne loves bleach, too. It just always makes me feel like someone is sick – it has hospital vibes to me!
Suz
Your family members have armpits? WHAT in the world?
I love the smell of something sweet baking, but I rarely bake. I do enjoy a nice candle, but the Coach doesn’t enjoy ‘fake scents’ as it gives him a headache. (Guess what I burn when he’s away? Lotsa candles!)
I have such an issue with food smells (Other than something sweet) in the house. I will go to any lengths to use my crockpot outside, or just grill our entire dinner. Meat smells, broccoli, etc…they do tend to linger and if that smell gets into our bedroom, I’ll smell it (and be bothered) all night.
I sound like a lot of fun, right?
Elisabeth
Yup, count me in with Coach; I get headaches from candles and lots of other scents, too. I wish I didn’t because I love the smell, but it doesn’t love me back.
Food smells really linger. My favourite cafe is absolutely delightful, but I hate how I smell when I come home. It’s like stale coffee (even though it smells great when I’m there).