When I first moved into this century-old cottage, which I am renting in a woodsy area in the middle of the city, I agreed to accept the house “as is,” including the formerly mouse-infested basement.

I agreed because I love this little house a lot.

This was the most disgusting job I’ve ever had to do and I wasn’t sure that I had the gumption to tackle it myself. I thought about hiring someone to do the job for me, but I was only procrastinating… I had to clean this shit (literally) up myself.

With the help of a borrowed shop vac, gifted steam cleaner, shop towels, bleach, and lots of elbow grease, I thoroughly cleaned that basement so that I finally felt safe enough to start moving my basement stuff down there.

The wooden shelf above the utility sink was the first shelf that got scrubbed and then covered with contact paper. Perfectly clean and easy to wipe down.

The nice contact paper shelf at eye level also made it easy to spot mouse droppings one day, when the temperature dropped down into the 50s. A mouse! I must get rid of it!

I knew there must be a natural way to repel this mouse so I did my research and learned that mice hate the smell of peppermint. I happened to have peppermint oil in stock and so I put some peppermint oil drops on some cotton balls and shoved these into crevices and corners near the site of the mouse-dropping.

It worked for a couple of days… then on the third day–rats! He was back. Not as many mouse droppings as before, but still… I want him entirely gone.

I pondered to myself… “How can I keep a perpetually consistent smell of peppermint going in this corner?

AHA!

The SpaRoom Aromafier that my friend gave me to try!

The diffuser is about the size of a computer mouse (how ironic!) and it comes with a USB adapter. I happened to have an AC adapter on hand (it also runs on batteries), so I plugged it into the wall near the dryer vent (where I think the critter sneaks in), and I aimed the diffuser fan at the suspected entry point. I put about 8 drops of peppermint oil on the pad, and it’s quiet as a whisper so I’ve been running the Aromafier 24/7 and great news…. no more mouse droppings! It’s been over a week now, so this method works.

I found that I have to replenish the peppermint oil about every other day (every 48 hours). It smells nice and no more mousies!

For more information on essential oils or the Aromafier, contact me.

No mice allowed!