January 27, 2009 @ 12:00 am
Our New Contest!
In today's Reader Mail:
Dear BS:
I'm just wondering: Do you use any "green" household products, and if so, which ones? I'm sort of at sea with the whole thing.
Love, K.
Interesting! We do, but only because our lovely, lovely sublettor was nice enough to buy them when our toxic stuff ran out. We have Seventh Generation lavender dishwashing liquid, Seventh Generation paper towels, and perhaps the world's thinnest toilet paper. We plan on expanding to some Mrs. Meyers all-purpose cleaner as soon as we use up the rest of what we have. (It's a recession! Can't just be throwing stuff away willy-nilly these days. Or, er, any day.)
Now: again, because we believe that the group is nearly almost smarter than the individual (er, except when it comes to, say, making movies and stuff like that), we ask anyone who's invested in these or similar products to share your thoughts. There's a prize! Above: these gorgeous "Jungle" postcards from Prismera, made from 100% recycled paper. (We're thematic like that.) The winner of a set of six will be announced tonight-ish. (Tomorrow.) They are otherwise available here, at $15 for six.
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Posted by ina
January 27, 2009 @ 12:04 am
I used Whole Foods brand TP and paper towers and 7th generation all-purpose cleaner. I also love Method products!
Posted by Gina
January 27, 2009 @ 1:02 am
My last roommate moved in with a whole battery of “green” cleaning products- from dish soap to window/glass cleaners, all of which worked just as well as their non-green counterparts and were not that much more expensive. One mini-green thing I like to do for cleaning is to use baking soda and hot water to clean drains. If it’s a huge clog it doesn’t work, but for upkeep and smaller jobs it’s great and a lot less scary than Draino.
Posted by Nessje
January 27, 2009 @ 7:45 am
My favourites for “green” cleaning and disinfecting:
lemons: deodorise too
white vinegar
baking soda
(and plenty of hot water)
Vinegar is brilliant for general cleaning, but can smell a bit icky, which is where lemon juice comes in.
A paste of baking soda and vinegar can be used for kitchen cleaning, just watch out for the fizz.
A squeezed-out half lemon can be rubbed with some common salt across a chopping board to really clean it well, especially those plastic boards you use for fish and meat. If you’ve a waste disposal unit, the same used half lemon will make it smell much nicer.
For furniture polish I combine lemon essential oil (a few drops), olive oil (say 2 teaspoons) and a half litre of hot water. Use washing up gloves, dunk a soft cloth in the water, squeeze out the excess and rub it over oiled, varnished and plain wooden surfaces to clean, polish and make them smell good. The oil floats of course, and by dunking the cloth right in the water you get just a bit on the cloth each time. OOps, this doesn’t work on waxed surfaces of course, it’ll take some of the wax off!
Posted by Cait
January 27, 2009 @ 7:49 am
I use microfiber cloths instead of papertowels. They are reusable and they are way more absorbant.
Posted by leigh ann
January 27, 2009 @ 9:03 am
old cotton t-shirts that are too
stained or worn out to giveaway make the best cleaning rags.
Posted by shelly
January 27, 2009 @ 9:55 am
I use the 7th generation dishwashing fluid, and tend to use dish clothes instead of paper towels. I don’t know if its a cleaning tip, really, but I do double duty with all my newspaper and plastic grocery bags by using them to scoop when I walk the dogs. (They still get thrown away, but at a slower rate, and at least I keep my neighborhood clean as well!)
Also, if you put cheap vodka in a spray bottle, you can spray smokey clothes (like coats or otherwise clean jeans you’ve worn to a bar) and it takes the smell out. I learned that on mythbusters! But that way you can cut down on how frequently you have to take your coat to the dry cleaners or wash your jeans. (Okay that sounds kind of gross, but seriously, if I’ve only worn them for a couple hours out and about, they’re totally fine to wear to the store the next day if I de-smokify them, right?)
Posted by emily
January 27, 2009 @ 10:28 am
I love Mrs. Meyers in the basil scent and have heard that a coca-cola (classic I believe) will unclog a drain as well as draino. Haven’t had the chance to try it yet.
Posted by julia
January 27, 2009 @ 11:04 am
I think being green is a way of life. I reduce my light, electricity, water, and heat consumption whenever possible. I try to walk, bike, or carpool. I’m going greener with my skin care products like using EVOO, honey, sugar, and salt. And of course I’m slowly converting to greener household products. I just wish the green movement had more power because sometimes availability, where I live, is a big obstacle in being green.
Posted by mona
January 27, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
Method, Method and Method. The wood floor cleaner smells like almonds- the entire house smells great.
Method shower spray-( they also sell refills)- if you spray the shower everyday it cleans without even touching it.
Mrs Meyers rose germanium dishsoap- mmmm smells so great.
and my last secret- white vinegar cleans stainless steel better than anything.
Here in Sf they sell method at target and it is cheap and good.
love it!
Posted by rachel
January 27, 2009 @ 1:42 pm
I love the Mrs. Meyers’ geranium. I was never into cleaning (and my husband thinks that products have to be crazy toxic to do anything) but the counter spray, all purpose cleaner, and shower cleaner from Mrs. Meyers all work like a charm. And they make your house smell like a flower shop.
Posted by Ms. Fab
January 27, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
I like Mrs. Meyers’ counter spray and Seventh Generation dishwashing detergent. Unfortunately, w/ the Seventh Generation you still have to use the awful, toxic Jet Dry, but hey, it’s a start!
Posted by M
January 27, 2009 @ 4:17 pm
The “natural” cleaners available at my local Walmart as well as baking soda for around the house. It works just as well and keeps smells away!
Posted by Anne (in Reno)
January 27, 2009 @ 5:20 pm
I have started volunteering at my local food co-op. They are like a tiny grocery store but the focus is on produce from local farmers and organic produce. They have to clean out all of the stuff that has spots or is past its sell-by date, but most of it is still perfectly good. So I have started taking home the produce that isn’t pretty enough to sell – I cut the spots out and it is still fine for cooking with.
I also use Mrs. Meyers for cleaning most things. Recycled paper products are slightly more expensive, but I think it is really worth it as I don’t need fresh trees for my TP. Also the Green Forest brand is really good if you’re burned out on super thin eco-TP, it is nice and fluffy. And I clean with rags or old t-shirts instead of paper towels (I use dishtowels in the kitchen), this has cut my paper towel consumption WAY down.
And shelly, I totally re-wear clothes, I just hang them out to air so they don’t have any lingering odors (I’m talking coats here, not under-layers). I made my own “Febreze” with cheap vodka and some essential oils and I use that on really smoky stuff.
Posted by EmilyWynne
January 27, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
The best way to be “green” around the house is not just using purportedly eco-friendly products, but also being proactive curbing your waste output (not like i’m being preachy or anything)
here are some little know tips:
1) We eat a lot of honey. Instead of buying a new little glass jar of whatever organic crap is stocked at Whole Foods, we get big industrial-sized jars of organic honey at Costco in 3 packs, and then use them to refill a little reusable, dishwasher-safe bottle. Less waste!
2) instead of buying trash bags, we use the plastic shopping bags that seem to magically accumulate around the house even though we mostly shop with adorable tomato-printed totes now. (seriously, they are so cute. i keep them in my car at all times)
also, in the interest of actually obeying the rules of this contest: DR. BRONNERS SOAP IS AMAZING
minty, gentle (when diluted), effective…sometimes the thought of that stuff is the only thing that gets me out of bed and into the shower in the morning. also: undiluted, it makes a great tile/grout cleaner, and is 100% hippie-approved environmentally friendly.
Posted by StephanieL
January 28, 2009 @ 12:04 am
I like method, too. It’s totally eco, and looks cool!
Posted by Lola
January 28, 2009 @ 11:34 am
I used to belong to Melaleuca – which is one of those “you have to order so much stuff a month to stay in the club” deals. Liked the organic/natural products, didn’t like being forced to spend $60 a month. So I switched to Method, mostly because it is easily available and affordable. My faves are the detergent, the dishwasher “pellets” and toilet bowl cleaner.
BUT…this is my favorite eco-friendly cleaning tip: I have a ceramic top stove which are a bi$%^ to clean. We have discovered that baking soda works wonders. Just dump some on, use a wet rag and scrub away and pretty soon all the burn marks are gone and it is sparkly! The soda gets clumpy and grey…so I use an clean cloth to wipe that goop off. And much cheaper than the chemical crap that they sell.
I am also a big proponent of getting water marks of the faucets with vinegar although I rarely have the drive to care enough about the water marks. But it does work!
Posted by michal
January 28, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
there are quite a lot of cheaper green cleaning supplies around these days at Target (Method) and Trader Joe’s (their own brand), so no real need to spend big bucks at the local whole foods superexpensive market.
as far as the recommendations go – i love the Mrs. Meyers toilet cleaner. it smells great and does a really good job with the bathtub too. there’s a bunch of stuff you can use for cleaning that’s not sold as cleaning supplies – like white vinegar. just watch a couple of episodes of “how clean is your house?” on BBC and you’ll get plenty of ideas.
my personal reasons for choosing green clean is because i was in a teen research group in jr. high and we did research on water quality in this river back home. it was shocking to see how much cleaning supplies alone damaged the water and the life in it. my only weak spot – mr. clean magic erasers. nothing cleans a filthy stove like those. sigh…
Posted by M.
January 29, 2009 @ 12:56 pm
j.r. watkins is hands down amazing! and it’s a family business, yet available in major retailers like target.