This may be a silly question, but what exactly constitutes a fragrance free home?

Wow, I suppose it would mean a home where no scent-y things are used. Wouldn't be my house, that's for sure! I don't wear perfume or cologne but I do make my own handmade soaps and it always smells like something in here! LOL

I gotta wonder if that's all it says just *how* particular the person would be. Does it mean one where there's no scented candles, room fresheners aren't used, no perfume, cologne...or would it go so far as to mean you would have to use only unscented deodorant and laundry soap too?? What about cooking fragrance? I would decline it, in any case unless the person was very specific.

Cheryl

I've no idea, but it's not my home either!  I always wear fragrance, but I don't spray the books (or even near them)!

Whoa.  That wouldn't be my home, either.  I do wear perfume, we do burn candles and DH likes his incense now and then.  I think it brings back his youth :).

We use carpet fresheners and carpet cleaner because we have cats (skid marks, dontcha know?), other householdy cleaners and we cook.  Our house always smells like something... though apple pie or a chocolate cake smell much better than cabbage or fish, LOL.  How can a home not smell like something on any given day?

I have a fragrance-free home, though I don't ask that my books come from the same.  FF generaly means no artificial fragrances, or strong ones of any type.  In my case, I have asthma, being around many types of fragrances will make my throat close up.

If some one put it in their RCs, I'd guess they have a very severe variety of environmental illness, where even a hint, something you or I might not even notice, could put them in the hospital. 

I think only three or four times have I gotten books that reeked so badly I had to put them out in the garage for a few days.  Maybe books don't retain fragrance smells the way they do with smoke?

I hate when people put dryer sheets in shipments. I've never had one in a book, but I used to get them in eBay clothing packages a lot. Sometimes it was so strong I had to open the box out of doors and let it air out before I even threw the stuff in the washer. If I need to neutralize smells in my home, I use baking soda. I stopped subscribing to women's magazines long ago because of the perfume inserts.

Lisa - when you subscribe to magazines you can request they do not include the perfume inserts.  My mother does that, and it works very well.

Thanks, everyone, for weighing in.  I wear perfume, but don't spray anything around the house (and it''s not like I'm wasting perfume on my paperbacks). i think the person was just too vague. 

I've actually been thinking about adding a "No dryer sheets, please!" RC to my account.  I don't have a huge problem with books that have been in a home with cats or smoking, but wrapping a book in a dryer sheet is a little like wrapping a book in your cat and sending it out.   It never occured to me that anyone would send a book out with one until I saw it mentioned on a thread here.  Is this done often enough that I should bother?

To me a "Fragrance Free" house would be one that did not use air fresheners, scented candles, incense, poutpourri, etc. 

Not my house, I love essential oils!

The last book I received smells pretty nasty. I left it outside for a while hoping it'd air out in the breeze, but it's still got a little something to it. It doesn't smell like smoke, pets, or perfumes/cleaners. Just smells like a nasty, trashy house. Oh well.

Fragrance Free?

I had no idea you could request to get a magazine without the fragrance inserts.  That's so cool!

I just assume fragrance free means that the books don't smell like smoke or anything too much.  If I get an RC that says this I do like to alert them I have two cats in the house.  Since no one smells and I rarely light candles in the room where I store my books I don't stress this too much. :)

I buy a lot of second hand books and I never know if they smell like smoke or something. I can't tell. I don't smoke but I grew up in a smoking home so I just don't even notice it. I hope I don't get in trouble for sending one out that smells like smoke or something. >.<

Brenda, please don't worry about it.  If peeps don't want books that come from a smoking environment, or smell like they've been in one, they should have Requestor Conditions stating that.  You can't miss a Requestor's Condition when someone who has them orders a book from you.  The condition will pop up and you'll have to click that you can either meet it and send the book, or that you can't meet it and you'll be able to decline the request.  (Your book will then go back to where it was in the FIFO line).

I smoke and I just decline any Requestor Conditions that pertain to that. It's all good... Welcome to PBS!

My house is fragrance free.  No scented cleaners.  I get major headaches from reading scented books.  Fabric sheets and scented oily hand lotions are the usual problems with books for me.  I'll put scented books in baking soda in the sun.  Which is slow to work.  And some books I'll never be able to read.  Once a fabric sheet is in a book, it is never readable by me, no matter how I treat it.

But I don't have an RC about perfume.  I have one about smoking and incense.  Face it, this is a used book swap.  Used books smell like people.  I try and look for buddies who also have unscented houses and order their books.  I started a list under Health and Fitness titled Smelly Books for folks to promote unscented bookshelves.  And I try to get unscented buddies.