diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 09c7b14..bf1c6bf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@
 [![Dependency Status](https://gemnasium.com/badges/github.com/eheydrick/aws-cleaner.svg)](https://gemnasium.com/github.com/eheydrick/aws-cleaner)
 
 AWS Cleaner listens for EC2 termination events produced by AWS [CloudWatch Events](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/DeveloperGuide/WhatIsCloudWatchEvents.html)
-and removes the instances from Chef and Sensu monitoring. Optionally
-sends messages to Hipchat or Slack when actions occur.
+and removes the instances from Chef. It can optionally remove the node from Sensu Monitoring (defaults true), fire off webhooks, and send notifications via Hipchat & Slack when actions occur.
 
 ![aws-cleaner](https://raw.github.com/eheydrick/aws-cleaner/master/aws-cleaner.png)
 
@@ -88,6 +87,23 @@ To enable webhooks, add a `:webhooks:` section to the config:
 Chat notifications can be sent when the webhook successfully executes. See
 config.yml.sample for an example of the config.
 
+### Sensu
+
+By default aws-cleaner assumes that removing from sensu is desired as this was one of its core intentions. To allow people to leverage this without sensu you can disable it via config:
+```
+:sensu:
+  :enable: false
+```
+
+When wanting to use sensu you will want the following config:
+```
+:sensu:
+  :url: 'http://sensu.example.com:4567'
+  :enable: true
+```
+
+While we currently assume sensu removal being desired is considered the default it may not always be so you should set `enable` to true to avoid a breaking change later.
+
 ### Limitations
 
 - Currently only supports a single AWS region.
diff --git a/bin/aws_cleaner.rb b/bin/aws_cleaner.rb
index 23d7466..a29290e 100755
--- a/bin/aws_cleaner.rb
+++ b/bin/aws_cleaner.rb
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ def chef(id, instance_id, chef_node)
 end
 
 def sensu(id, instance_id, chef_node)
+  return unless @config[:sensu][:enable]
   if AwsCleaner::Sensu.in_sensu?(chef_node, @config)
     if AwsCleaner::Sensu.remove_from_sensu(chef_node, @config)
       @logger.info("Removed #{chef_node} from Sensu")
@@ -114,6 +115,13 @@ def closelog(message)
 @sqs_client = AwsCleaner::SQS.client(@config)
 @chef_client = AwsCleaner::Chef.client(@config)
 
+# to provide backwards compatibility as this key did not exist previously
+@config[:sensu][:enable] = if @config[:sensu][:enable].nil?
+                             true
+                           else
+                             @config[:sensu][:enable]
+                           end
+
 # main loop
 loop do
   begin
diff --git a/config.yml.sample b/config.yml.sample
index 7fe25c2..9b42a01 100644
--- a/config.yml.sample
+++ b/config.yml.sample
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   :queue: 'https://sqs.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1234/cloudwatch-events'
 :sensu:
   :url: 'http://sensu.example.com:4567'
+  :enable: true
 :chef:
   :url: 'https://chef.example.com/organizations/example'
   :client: 'somebody'