Green Cleaning Tips
We made some quick eco upgrades here at the Tire House that we just had to share with all of you. Goodness knows this house gets dirty. I know: what house doesn’t, right? The problem with the conventional cleaning products that we’re using in our houses is their major toxicity. Ever have to run out of the bathroom because your shower scrub is just killing your senses? The EPA ranks poor indoor air quality among the top five risks to public health.
So here ya go: a golden ticket to a green clean.
1. Ditch products that say “Poison,” “Warning,” or “Danger.” Cleaners like these shouldn’t be in your house. If you have a septic system and a well like we do, chances are toxic chemicals that wash down your drain are going to leach into your drinking water. Plus you’re slowly contaminating your own soil. So by “ditch”, we don’t mean toss them down the drain. Take them to a place that would still be interested in using them or find out how to dispose of chemicals safely in your community.
2. Read the label. Anything that has ingredients containing the phrase “chlor”, “glycol”, “phenol”, or ends with “-ene” is doing more harm to your body than adding shine to that floor. Even scarier are the products that don’t even list their ingredients. It’s almost like they have something to hide. With our learn something new every day challenge, I’ve already been looking up unfamiliar ingredients and not liking what I’m seeing… and those are from products that reveal what they’re made of!
3. Consider making your own cleaning products. Glass cleaner is the easiest. Here’s our recipe inspired by the book, Green Up Your Cleanup:
Piece of cake, no? It’s a great comfort to know that the vinegar mist might land on my toothbrush instead of traditional window cleaner when I’m washing the bathroom. Green Up Your Cleanup offers a slew of other recipes with simple ingredients, and it’s less than 7 beans. I absolutely recommend it. Baking soda and vinegar are my best friends now.
4. Scoop up some eco-friendly cleaners. They’re getting easier and easier to find these days, which is a good thing. Ever notice how much your nose starts to sting in the cleaning aisles at grocery stores? Here are our favorite cleaners. They’re all we need to clean this ol’ tire. Seventh Generation’s dish soap has been a staple at our house forever (I’m so tempted to say “for generations”, but that doesn’t make a lick of sense since we have no other generations at our house). We’re new to Method’s all purpose spray (love it). And of course our forever favorites are baking soda, white vinegar, and a whole lot of elbow grease with a scrub brush, rags, and Scotch Brite pads.
So there you have it: the green clean at our house. With all the toxins in our homes and environment, it’s nice to know there’s one less thing we have to worry about.
Don’t suppose you have some green cleaning tips to share, do you? We’re all ears on everything eco!
June 5th, 2009 at 5:05 am
But Katie I bet you do have generations – OF MICE! hahaha!
I’ve heard so many great things from strangers about cleaning with vinegar, but never given it much thought. Since you recommend it though, I think I’ll give it a try.
So funny that you’re blogging about this today – as I am actually giving away some green cleaning products today by a company who claims that their products contain no hazardous toxins. I’d love to hear what you think about them.
Hope you all have a great weekend – it’s rainy and cold here today, but supposed to shoot up like 20 degrees and get sunny for the weekend. Perfect flying weather – if you’re flying – hope you have great weather too!
June 5th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I like baking soda, vinegar and Borax. Those are my go-to cleaning items, and they work great. I’ve found that as I’ve switched I am less able to stomach heavily-scented traditional cleaners. When I was used to them they didn’t bother me, but now that I’m no longer acclimated I can’t stand their smell. It just irritates.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Alright…confession here. I use the wipes because they’re just so darn EFFICIENT. I’ve considered the green stuff, but question whether they really get things clean. Having read your post, I’ve decided to give them a try, even though I’m still skeptical. ; )
June 5th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Glad to find many more people making the life switch to healthier and ‘greener’cleaning products. I have been collecting tips on how to create your own cleaning products. Its nice to know what really goes into these products and making your own does seem safer. I put this great list of cleaning tips into an online binder so I can get to it easily from my computer in the kitchen.
http://livebinders.com/play/play?id=1834
June 5th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Amber, I have found the same problem. When I go back to conventional products (shampoo in the shower is the worst!), my senses can’t stand it. It’s the weirdest feeling to suddenly find the things you used to use every day to be completely unbearable.
Blah blah blahger, I think you’ll love it once you make the leap.
Katie
June 5th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Katie, have you tried the “Earth Friendly” products? I LOVE the smell of their almond dish soap. It’s the only kind I buy (except when the store is out of it and then I buy their pear smell). If I’m going to do dishes by hand I at least want it to smell good… and since we also have a septic/well we have to be careful of the products we use.
I also use the orange glo mop heads… but without the orange glo. I just wet them down with water and use them like a wet mop and it does a great job of keeping our floor clean, with no chemicals whatsoever.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I am in the process of getting rid of all my cleaning products and going natural too. It will be nice to have a refreshed house rather than one that has an unbearable chemical smell after cleaning. My advise for blah blah blahger is to cut a roll of paper towels in half and soak it in the natural cleaning product to create the little wipes (this is also good for baby wipes).
June 5th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I thought of you last night when an ad came on the TV. Johnson products is powering their plant with stuff from the garbage dump.
They may make stuff that you consider toxic, but at least they are using up the refuse from the dump.
maybe it is all a bunch of hype, I am sure most of it is, but that impressed me. I think more power plants and other manufacturing places could take a lesson from that. I HATE it when I go to the dump and see stuff that is still usable thrown into the dump and heading out to a land fill to sit there forever. We found a wheelbarrow in there, the only thing wrong with it was a flat tire!
We rescued it and fixed the tire. Next time one of the kids mentions they need a wheelbarrow, we will produce this almost-like-new one.
Also lemon juice is a good cleaner.
~a
June 5th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Thanks for the link, Tina! You’ve all offered some awesome tips. Love the wipes suggest, Michelle.
I absolutely love almond natural lotions, so Jenna, the dish soap from Earth Friendly sounds so dreamy! Thanks for the heads up on it. I haven’t ever tried that brand.
Annie, you don’t even want to get me started on the things I see people toss… ;)
Katie
June 5th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I have been green cleaning for a few years now. It makes me feel so much better and I will never turn back. It is good for the environment as well as my own health and loved ones health.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Method has great wipes for cleaning. I love Method products and are all biodegradable and natural.
I think method wipes are made from Bamboo. Not 100% sure on that though, but they are great.
June 6th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Hi! I’ve been green cleaning for almost 2 years now and I’ll never ever go back. It’s healthy for my son, it’s the right thing to do for poor earth and is dead cheap! I only use vinegar, baking soda, borax, olive oil soap flakes, lemon and essential oils. My house smells nothing less than freshness and so do our clothes. I strongly recommend finding receipes for natural cleaning products and stick to them. After a while you won’t be able to stand supermarket detergents…and that says a lot about their ingredients and un-natural cleaning agents.
Did u know that laundry detergent uses agents that make clothes “appear” cleaner, brighter, whiter??
That’s right! They don’t actually clean, they make clothes seem clean!! Wow…scary, isn’t it? Imagine all the buildup from foam, softener (another fake little bugger!), chemicals onto our skin or even worst on our baby’s delicate and valnurable soft skin!
June 6th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Love a green clean, madly love a scotch brite pad!
June 6th, 2009 at 7:09 am
To clean the oven and some other things, you can cut a lemon in half and dip it in salt. Also, I use vinegar to clean almost everything. The things I can’t use vinegar on, I use some soap and water. Vinegar is also good if you use it as a fabric softener, plus it cleans the lime out of your washer. I think it’s cool I can cook with the same stuff I clean with.
June 6th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap is superb as cleaner.
June 6th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I love Dr Bronner’s-so many uses out of one bottle…and so many scents to choose from.
I’m also a method junkie. Have you checked out Nathan’s blog http://www.methodlust.com ? Fabulous!
Both Bronner’s and Method make a body care line too.
* your friend Christy sent me over;) *
June 7th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Oh and Christy, I am still laughing (squirming!) at your mention of generations of mice. Good point. Creepy point. Gives me the shivers!
Katie
June 9th, 2009 at 3:06 am
Good tips, and very sensible. I have always found it worrying how much our new obsession for glistening cleanliness if potentially doing us more harm than good. In the same way that killing 99.9% of germs is breeding allergies and illness, so essentially drinking our bleach probably isn’t a good idea!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:41 am
I have 1 tip and 1 idea.
Tip: cut your favorite boutique cleanser (mine is Meyers Geranium scrub powder) 1:3 with borax. Same cleaning power, same smell, lasts 3x as long : )
Idea: cleanliness isn’t life or death like we’ve been told (sold). It isn’t worth voluntarily introducing poison into your home environment just to kill a few more microbes. Dryness is the key to keeping bacterial growth under control, as well as exfoliation (scrubbing!) to remove build up that bateria thrives on.
Great post, Katie, thanks!
September 30th, 2009 at 7:56 am
I don’t know if you’ll see this or not since I chose an older post to comment on, lol, but I’ve been going “greener” in cleaning and just recently discovered the power and joy of a microfiber cloth. You can use them wet or dry and they’re just amazing. I only have one right now but I’m planning to get a few more so I can have one dry and one wet as I clean.