WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Smelly Homes 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:06.840 Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. This is Josh, 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.559 there's Chuck, Jerry's here, Dave's here. His heart is at 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:12.440 least we carved it out of him like it was 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:16.320 the temple of doom. And this is short stuff about 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:23.040 one of my deepest fears. Your house smelling. Yeah, I'm worried. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.279 It's a general concern of mine that my house smells. 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:28.560 And I don't know it, but everyone who comes over 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.160 knows it. Well. Can I start this off with a 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.760 very quick little story. Sure, When I lived in l 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.239 A many years ago, my friends Breton Stacy lived in 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:42.440 a house in Pasadena that had a very distinct smell. 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:44.640 It was a good smell. It wasn't like a bad smell, 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.640 but you know all houses have an odor. Uh. Many 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.000 years later, I went to the house of our mutual 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:54.000 friend and e Crra, writer of the hit movie Palm Springs, 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.200 and his wonderful wife Amanda and their two kids, and 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:01.040 their house they lived in near past it Na smelled 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:05.360 the same way. And then last year I went to 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:07.319 l A and I went and dropped by our mutual 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.520 friend Ben Harrison's house. Ben and his lovely wife Rachel 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.759 been of the greatest Generation podcast and their house smelled 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:17.480 the same way, and they live in Highland Park, not 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:19.679 too far from Pasadena. I don't know if it's a 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.360 Pasadena thing or that part of the valley, but all 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.080 of these houses smelled exactly the same, and it was 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.479 so evocative. When I walked in, I was like, Ben, 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.000 your house smells like my other two friends houses. It 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:32.640 may be an l a thing and maybe part of 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.320 the products out there. I have no idea what it was, 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:39.720 but it was identical and very very strange to witness 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.640 with my notes. Can you describe the smell? No, not 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.720 at all. It's a house smell. How do you It's 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.360 not like it smells like cigarettes or or dog poop 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.840 or anything. It's it's just it's a it's a house smell. 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.200 It smells like right on, Yeah, I mean it's a 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.560 it's a good smell. Like their houses all smelled fine, 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:00.000 but it was the same fine smell. So chuck um. 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.520 I'm little disappointed that story because of two things. One, 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.920 I thought it was going to be apropos of my fear. 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.520 Two I thought that it ultimately is going to squash 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.160 my fear. It didn't do either of those things. Everyone's 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.280 house has a smell, you just don't know it if 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.760 you live there. This is just getting worse and worse 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:21.519 for me. All Right, let's talk about how smells, because 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:27.000 if someone's house smells, it is really possible, and more 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.679 than that, entirely likely that that person really genuinely has 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.640 no idea that it smells. Even in some of the 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:37.320 worst cases where like it stinks and reeks of like 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.920 set impet odor, like years and years of pet odor 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.080 that has just not been cleaned up and is in 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.480 the ductwork and is on the baseboards and is everywhere, 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.480 that person genuinely probably doesn't know that their house smells 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.280 like that. And the reason why is because we become 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.720 a sensory adapted two things like smells. We've talked a 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.400 lot about this, remember latent inhibition when we first rain 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.360 into that one. Sure, I think that was in our 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:07.919 schizophreny episode. Maybe, Yeah, It's basically that it's there is 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.560 a point where your your senses no longer need to 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.400 tell your brain what they're encountering. Your brains like, okay, 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.240 got it, I've already determined the house smells like cap 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.280 heat doesn't matter. Let's be on the lookout for threats 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:26.160 or enticing things, and we become desensitizing. Apparently we become desensitized. 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.120 It smells particularly quick. Yeah. I think out of all 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.520 the senses, smell is the first one that you get 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.560 used to. Uh. There are experts that say just a 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.600 few and I think this came from our our old 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.440 colleagues how stuff works, uh, and they, to their credit, 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:44.320 like with do interviews and stuff with experts, and one 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.240 of the experts said, it just takes a few breaths 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.880 sometimes even to get used to a smell. Um And 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.400 you know it takes They say about if you're gone 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.080 for about a week, you can become desensitized and then 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.560 when you come back to your house you could re 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.560 smell that smell. And this horrifies me because when we 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.080 used to go on long trips, I would come back 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:10.680 and be and think it was our house sitter would 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.440 have this sort of funky musky smell. And now I 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.760 think it's just our house smell, which it has to be. Man, 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.479 We've always had at least four pets, always two dogs, 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.720 and at least two cats, sometimes three dogs, and our 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.200 house has to smell. It's it just it has to. 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.039 There's no way around it. Okay, I am going to 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.560 demonstrate what a friend does. Okay, Chuck, I've been to 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:37.919 your house multi times with your dogs there, and I 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.400 can tell you that your house is not smell in 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:44.000 any kind of offensive way or any way that people 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.480 are talking about how your house smells behind your back. 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:48.880 Your house smells fine. Well, I will say this to you, 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.080 my friend. I know you, and I know you me, 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.400 and I know that you guys are very clean, like uh, 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.839 I wouldn't say clean freaks, but or obsessive, but you 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.040 really are into like having things clean and tidy. I 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.240 guarantee you your house does not smell in some uh 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:09.320 some funky terrible way, I hope. So. I appreciate that 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.800 it feels like I had to pull your teeth out 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.440 to get it, but I appreciate it. But I guarantee 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.760 you it does have a smell. Yeah, I just hope 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.159 it's it's a good smell, because it's true. Some people's 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.800 houses just smell good. They smell like a mumu or something. Yeah. 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.240 I mean we we are pretty good about cleaning, but 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:29.440 there's just only so much you can do. Like the 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.520 front couch in our sunroom is the dog couch and 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:36.280 that thing stinks. Yeah, I'm telling you about it. Your 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.360 house is not it's not your house doesn't smell. You 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:42.120 don't have a smelly house. Okay, all right, so so 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.240 but yes, I I know that fear because I've come 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.280 home and after like a week and been like, does 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.760 is this where house smells? Like? This is weird? I 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.560 don't I don't like this. What can we do about this? 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.000 You know, well, just stay and stay around for about 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:55.760 an hour and then it's like, oh, it doesn't smell. 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.599 Thank goodness, because I forget. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And other 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:01.920 than up two is don't make any friends, don't have 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.160 anyone over. Then you don't have to worry about it. 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.480 So the reason you become so desensitized to your house 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.920 smells because you're not only being like exposed like, um, 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.920 you know pretty quickly after just a few breaths, you're 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.920 constantly being exposed to your house smells. So it's impossible 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:23.240 for you to smell your own house. But if you 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:25.920 are like, Okay, um, there's some things that I want 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:28.120 to do. I want to make sure that my house 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.720 doesn't smell. There's steps you can take, and I think 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.320 we should take a break and then we'll come back 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:43.200 and talk about them after this. If you want to know, 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:55.920 then you're in luck. Just so if you're like, guys, 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.479 I'm not convinced, I'm worried that my house still smells. 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:00.960 We're here, actually are in the house. To forks are 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:03.479 here to suggest some things you can do. And the 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.359 first thing is is just look for low hanging fruit, 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:08.800 Like do you have towels bunched up in the corner 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.440 that have mildrew growing on them? If the answers yes, 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:13.560 you might want to get rid of those because they 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:17.000 might be making your house smell. Yeah. Keep your ducks clean, 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:22.200 keep your litter box emptied. Uh. You know if you 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:24.400 have mold and mildew, that's gonna make your house smell. 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.760 So get your sort of filtration system checked. Uh. That 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:30.560 kind of thing like that is the lowest of the 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:35.760 low hanging fruit. Is clean your litter box more regularly, definitely. UM. 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.760 And then some people step it up and say, okay, 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:39.920 I've done all those things. Not only do I want 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:41.360 to get rid of bad smells, I want to make 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.400 my house smell good. Well, there's an entire industry that's 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:49.880 dedicated to that. UM. I would recommend something natural like 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.320 a nice bouquet of dried lavender or a bouquet of 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.720 dried eucalyptus. Those are two of the greatest smells in nature. 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.840 Those will certainly help. You can even go step further 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.240 and put them in your return air duct, which is 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.160 pretty great because then it gets that sent throughout your house. Yeah, 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.200 it's a nice I don't want to say hack. Don't 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:13.960 say hack. I didn't certainly don't say life hack, but that, 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.000 but that also demonstrates smells get around your house through 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:18.880 your h v A C system just f y I 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.720 good or bad your house is h VAC system doesn't care. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.000 It's going to send them around your house. Yeah. I 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.080 like a citrus smell. So sometimes I'll do a little 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:31.240 lemon squeeze on a on a filter or something, and 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.000 you know, that's it's a pretty short lived experience. It's 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.319 not like that filter just smells like lemon for months 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.520 and months or anything like that. But it's a nice, 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.400 like citrusy blast throughout the house. Do you when you 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:46.160 squeeze the lemon, do you say simple fimple? I do, actually, 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:51.880 simple fimple lemon squeezy. That's right, So you can also 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.640 use one of the most one of the best selling 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:59.120 products of the like beginning of the twentieth century, something 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.680 called Fabrize. And we don't normally do buzz marketing, and 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.040 we don't mean to do it here, but Fabreeze actually 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.880 has one of the most interesting stories of all times. 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.880 It's actually taught in marketing classes in business school, because 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:16.800 when Fabreeze first came out, it was a total fullop. Yeah, 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.400 I think and I remember this. When Fabrize first came out, 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.360 it was marketed as, Hey, if you've been to a 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:27.120 smokey bar or something, um, or if your you have 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.439 a couch like Chuck Bryant does, uh, you can get 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.440 rid of these these foul odors uh and make your 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.240 your corduroy coat that was in that bar not smell 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.120 like cigarettes anymore. And those were sort of the basis 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.760 of the early commercials, and they didn't work out very 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.720 well at all. So they they shifted very successfully to 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.240 a campaign that was more like, Hey, after you've cleaned 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.520 your house and you're done, just let this product be 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.480 sort of the final cherry on top, right um. And 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.800 the reason why it didn't work at first is be 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.240 because they realized that people become desensitized to their houses smell, 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.880 and so the people who needed fabreeze to get the 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.560 smelly noss out of their house were the ones who 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.959 weren't aware that they actually needed it, which means you're 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:16.600 not gonna sell a lot of fabrieze. So they changed 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:18.400 it like you said to saying, no, this is the 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.040 this is the punctuation mark on your cleaning. It's the 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.120 last part you do. It lets you know the job's done. 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:26.240 It's a little kiss of cleanliness. And fabreeze just took 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:30.560 off like a rocket from there, that's right, and they have, uh, 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:34.440 it's a very big piece of the market because they 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:39.160 realized they could expand to all kinds of quote unquote 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.480 air freshening products that I was looking into it. I 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.640 found a little thought co Um article on how fabreze works, 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:50.160 and basically it's a it's a carbohydrate called beta cyclodextrin, 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.040 and it's like a donut shape and it actually it 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.960 attracts odor molecules into the donut and basically wraps around them, 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.880 which means those the molecules can't come in contact or 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.120 when they do come in contact with their noses, they 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:09.160 can't bind to our our odor receptors. So they're still there, 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.439 but they literally can't we can't smell them. It's impossible 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.520 for us to smell them, that's right. Uh. And if 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.840 you look up stuff like our products like this toxic online, 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.960 you're gonna find a lot of opinions. UM. One thing 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.679 we should say is that the US law allows companies 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:34.000 to um basically hide things under the label fragrance. Uh. 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.640 There's like four thousand different chemicals that can be included 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.240 as in a product as fragrance. Uh. Some are safe, 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.480 some are are great. Uh, some are very much carcinogenic. Uh. 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.240 The Environmental Working Group, which we talked about before, did 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:52.000 a very famous study uh and I think two thousand 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:57.400 nine where they found that Fabriz had eighty seven more 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:01.160 chemicals in their product than they listed, some of which 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:04.640 were highly toxic. I think they have changed things since then, 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.520 but this was a big shocking report. Uh in the 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:14.439 in the mid I guess, yeah, mid Odds, is that right? Yeah? Yeah, 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.400 I think I think things have changed since then. But 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:19.480 in order to not get served divorce papers, you know 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.720 what I have to talk about for a second. Yes, 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.080 my wife's company, Uh, Mama Bath and Body because Emily 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.760 makes room spray and she makes soy candles and I 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:33.200 told her about this and I was like, well, what's 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.559 in your room spray? Name all the ingredients. She said, water, alcohol, 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:38.920 and essential oils. That's it. That's when her gets in 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.840 her room spray and in her soil. Candles are soy wax, 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:48.640 essential oils. And then here's the key, um, well two keys. 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:50.920 Soy wax is a key because most candles that you 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.480 get in the store paraffin wax, which is a petroleum 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:57.920 byproduct gross gross gross uh and cotton wicks, so the 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:00.959 wicks are made out of cotton and most of the 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.040 wicks and paraffin candles are not, so they're actually the 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:06.439 smoke that is coming up, that black smoke from a 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.880 candle is no good to be in your house. So 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:12.720 you know, if you're interested in you go to love 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.000 your Mama dot com to check out her room sprace. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.000 See I told you guys, we don't do buzz marketing. 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:20.880 I have to, man, this is her passion and like 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.920 stuff like when I mentioned mass marketed uh smell good 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.120 products in your home, she just, uh, that's a big 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.480 as you know, trigger for our house and our family 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:33.360 these fragrances that people think, oh, it just makes your 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.079 house smell great, and uh, to us, it makes a 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:40.280 sneeze and allergies and stuff like that. Yeah, or like 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.240 the clip on air fresheners that like give you a 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.440 migraine even though you've never had a migraine before in 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.000 your life. That kind of you put on a cars 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.280 air event. Yeah. Part of the study from the Environmental 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.560 Working Group studied a bunch of stuff like that. Uh, 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.000 And they did tackle for breeze a little bit, but 0:13:56.040 --> 0:14:00.760 the real offenders were some of those nasty like gelatin 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.440 toilet you know, things you'll drop in a toilet or 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:07.160 plug into a wall. Yeah. I don't know if they've 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.480 cleaned up their act or not, honestly, but we don't 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:11.719 use that stuff either. I mean you could spell them. 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.520 They smell like chemicals. It doesn't smell like an actual smell. 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.800 Like they have to make up new names for these things. 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:22.160 They're not, like we're not legally allowed to call the citrus. Yeah, 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:24.480 I know it's a problem. I really think that when 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.400 historians look back, or even average people look back at 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.280 hundred hundred and fifty years, this is going to be 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.040 one of those periods where like, Wow, the federal government 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:36.080 really did not protect uh the American people and in 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.120 fact sold them out pretty hard every which way. It's 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.960 a shameful time to be alive. Agreed, and I get 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.720 to be married another day. Good job Chuck uh, and 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:51.920 good job Emily. With love your Mama dot com. Since 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.120 I said that, everybody that means short stuff is out. 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:59.800 Stuff you Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:02.840 For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.840 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:06.600 favorite shows.