Esperanza came to clean the house today. The smell of toxic chemicals soon filled the kitchen. I have been meaning to replace all our existing household cleaning products with safer, green alternatives. Have not gotten around to it yet. I have the info stored somewhere on my computer, but I have been too lazy to take action. Plus nobody else in the house seems to mind.
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La Marguerite 
Good post! I feel the same guilt… being green is tough. Especially when the green cleaning products don’t clean as well… like dishwashing liquid that didn’t clean grease well, and was in way too big a container to be handled easily. But there are some good ones out there that I’m slowly discovering. Gradually my cleaning cupboard will only have green cleaners — hopefully this will strike fear in the hearts and minds of the Mr.Clean’s, Vim’s and Tide’s of the world.
Franke, thanks for this virtual green friendship.
They say the smell of clean is not what you find in the grocery store aisle, typical or otherwise. Nor does it smell like psuedo green citrus either – green does not need be painted orange and pink so that it looks good.
Years ago I thought clean and green smelled like vinegar (why does it smell like a salad in here ?) I also thought when I started considering green that elbow grease was part of the plan – determined to be mindful, and poor products combined meant I had to work really hard to be green. I am glad to have found green that works effortlessly. Most of all I have discovered that the smell of green clean actually smells like nothing, but clean!!
I strive as I am “green” with envy, to someday to have an esparanza just like you
Mother Earth
Thanks Mother Earth for your comment. You are very funny!
Your’re very welcome – I like to think that humor conquers all . Although I do have to remind myself of that when I get ” heady” or too much into my own drama. Leading lady and all can be such a burden sometimes. I have delved a bit deeper into your blog and enjoyed your posts tremendously. The honesty is positively refreshing. I caught myself thinking in a la marguerite way – pondering on how you might comment on something I was thinking. Your the outloud conscience for the inside green wanna be!!
Mother Earth
My wife kept giving up on ‘green’ cleaning products because apparently they don’t work as well. And who am I to argue!
I use the Method products from Target & I’ve been very pleased with them. For dishwasher, I use the Ecover tablets… the only caveat there is that you do need a rinse aid with them.
There was an individual in the 50’s who thought past the velveeta cheese, spam and other fabricated ideas of that decade and pioneered a cleaning product that was made simply from soy. It was multi-use and extremely concentrated, additionally he created this product so it would actually clean. Imagine years later, he’s been dead since 1993, his company is now wordly. The scientists have taken something already remarkable and made it better. He, the individual said “science never stands still “. His vision and pioneering continues on. Now it’s a cleaning product derived from corn and coconuts and doubly concentrated. It is still one cleaner that does everything, does it effectively – like really really cleans and completely rinses. Not an ounce of residue. wow. Best of all – it biodegrades, like in 30 days, not 20 yrs by american standards. When diluted just for window solution alone it saves thousands and thousands of bottles from going into the landfill. You just use one over and over. Pretty cool.
consider other moments of greenness:
http://bestwellnessconsultant.com/categories/moments%20of%20greenness.aspx
Mother Earth