Day 17 of Daily Footprint Project. The memory of last week’s toxic attack, motivated me to take action before Esperanza’s visit today. Esperanza is our cleaning lady. I have been talking for a long time, about greening our household cleaning products. Talking, writing about, but no action. Last week, the air in the house after Esperanza came, got the best of my lungs. I had to open all the windows, to let in the fresh air, and give my burning throat and lungs a rest. For months now, I have been suffering from a chronic cough, and asthma like symptoms. Same with Catherine. Both she and I have been to several doctors, and tried inhalers and various medicines, with no results. Finally, I got motivated into action. Prad dismissed my concerns, and tried to dissuade me. ‘All these people using those products, and nobody has gotten sick. You are overreacting.‘ I did not listen to him. I was on a mission.
First, let me say this, it is not easy getting a straight answer on cleaning products. I had to go through quite a few dead venues, before I found the information I was looking for. First, I started with TreeHugger. Then made my way to the Household Products Database. Very thorough and scientific, but it failed to give me the straight answers I was looking for. How bad were the commercial products I was currently using? Which brands would they recommend as perfectly safe? Along the way, I came across several places advocating making my own cleaning products. I finally landed on an article from Organic Consumers that gave me the answers I was looking for.
Now I am a poster girl for Seventh Generation. I purchased the whole line at Whole Foods. Laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, dishwasher detergent, glass cleaner, all purpose cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, shower cleaner, and kitchen cleaner. For furniture, I got the Earth Friendly Furniture Polish. But there are quite a few other brands out there that would do just as good of a job.
Above is a picture of all the stuff I had to get rid off. In good conscience, I could not throw it into the garbage. For now, it has been relegated to our garage, waiting for our next trip to the recycling center.
Esperanza left. And I am enjoying not smelling anything, for a change.
The household cleaning products industry is huge. I am imagining all the women, the children, the houses that keep being intoxicated, over and over again, by these everyday products. Lulled into the false reassurance of advertisements touting the benefit of a clean smelling house. What is clean smelling anyway?
Daily Footprint Project Daily Log Day #17 Water personal: flush toilet 3 wash face 2 brush teeth 2 wash hands 5 shower 1 mom: rinse dishes communal: run full load dishwasher Electricity/gas personal: electric toothbrush 2 microwave tea 2’ microwave oatmeal 4’ microwave soup 2’ microwave leftover pasta microwave milk 2’ laptop on all day mom: heat cream of wheat broil steak communal: lights cook bokchoy in wok boil water for pasta fry pasta in wok Food personal: oatmeal with organic milk organic apple sauce tea organic milk takeout bean soup from Whole Foods organic chocolate raspberries leftover pasta mom: cream of wheat with organic milk organic grapes communal: stir fried bokchoy organic pasta with Italian prosciutto and fresh mozarella Waste personal: toilet paper raspberries plastic box mom: most of cream of wheat (leftover from breakfast) communal: 3 newspaper plastic wrappers two hardened half bread loaves old household cleaning products (to wait for city collection of toxic products) soup carton Recycling personal: three sheets of paper mom: communal: 2 papers milk carton Transportation personal: mom: communal: drive to Whole Foods 5 miles Non food shopping personal: mom: communal: Seventh Generation cleaning products
La Marguerite 
I heard a good quote a few months ago (and typically I can’t remember where) which sums up my cleaning philosophy:
“What exactly are you planning on doing inside your toilet bowl that you need all known germs dead?”
I think “clean-smelling” is the smell of bleach 🙂
As a chef, I have probably used more litres of bleach in my life than my whole block put together. I don’t think it’s particularly harmful to people, overall – though asthmatics might have a hard time.
Nonetheless, at home I’ve rid myself of the stuff, for environmental and peak oil reasons. It’s bicarb of soda, white vinegar, and lemon juice. It involves a bit more elbow grease, but actually gives better results.
I still use liquid detergents for my dishwashing and laundry, but funnily enough the “no name” brand ones have the lowest salt content. The greywater from the laundry goes on the vegie garden, and I’ve seen no ill effects thus far (a year on).
Congratulations on the shift to green cleaning products!
It’s a huge step.
Your earth thanks you too.
I will be interested in your report or esperanza’s on the products cleaning power and performance – I was a lemon, baking soda, vinegar elbow grease girl for some time. I finally got over the super housewife green martyr thing ( not to mention I got sick of my house smelling like a salad ) and started to experiment – I personally found all of seventh generations products to be poor performing
I was very glad to see some of the products I work with and recommend on organic consumers, although rI was really horrified at this comment listed in the solutions section
1. Buy Bulk – wow BIGGER plastic containers. Does that make sense to you?
(I advocate to buy concentrate – mix your own, reduce bottles all together – if one qt of all purpose cleaner made over 3600 bottles of window cleaner can you imagine the value of that on landfills? Not to mention cost savings)
Mother Earth aka Karen Hanrahan
http://www.bestwellnessconsultant.com
Cowrin, Kyle, Karen
Thanks all for sharing your cleaning philosophies . . .
Amazing how we all come at this from very different angles. Wonder what that says about each of us? 🙂
I am definitely not a “super housewife”, I lack the right bits to be a housewife, but I’m not even a super househusband.
I don’t like the salad smell much, either, but I prefer it to the bleachy smell, which reminds me of urine (ammonia bleach) or a swimming pool (chlorine).
Of course the other option is just to let the place go really dirty 😀
Hello,
I came across some good reviews on Seventh Generation’s Laundry Detergent, check out this link http://www.sustainlane.com/reviews/laundry-detergent/LTU7SX9HXOS23RUSI8RFXRXKQ98X
For more information on Green products and businesses, visit http://www.sustainlane.com
Thanks for the link to sustainlane. I had forgotten about them. Great site.
all of my work is about enrollment and beliefs…i battle mainstream marketing including main stream companies that I adore like whole foods all the time
i have to love everyone for where they are at and appreciate small opportune moments to either ask if I can share and or to establish some layer of credibilty
otherwise I am out of work
to kyle – many of my clients are in the food industry – I love when the share that the clean green in their facilities – it’s great marketing ( this lettuce was hand rinsed….)
and kudo’s to dirt — when my kids were little i was grossed out by dirt – their little hands and mouths on everything – anal would be a more apt description – now oh my gosh – i just don’t have the energy for it
do I appreciate clean – totally – is it the priority, nope
Mother Earth aka Karen Hanrahan
http://www.bestwellnessconsultant.com
I have so been dragging my feet on this subject. I want germs dead – I do not want the flu or gastroenteritis sweeping through my home and somehow I equate chemicals with deep cleaning. What is the real deal about cleaning naturally but safely (especially for households where potty training trials are in full force)?
My understanding is natural cleaning products do clean. And they are actually better for little ones.
Hi everyone,
This is my first time visiting the site. Just this evening, I had to make a trip to Whole Foods to pick up my husband’s favorite blueberries (Wyman’s), and while there, I decided to check out the “green” household cleaning products. We’re currently (and have been for quite a long time) trying to get preggers, and I also suffer from extremely sensitive skin (since childhood), numerous allergies, and allergic asthma. I want to not only rid my home of all the toxic chemicals for myself, but also for the health of our yet-to-be-conceived baby. Going organic was a long haul, so I didn’t expect this to easy by any stretch!
When I spoke to a few women in the aisle about the pros/cons of Seventh Generation and Mrs. Meyers brands, the Whole Foods employees (2 of them), praised Mrs. Meyers and insisted I try them over Seventh Generation. But when I spoke to a Mom with a young child at home, she raved about the SG automatic dishwashing detergent and laundry detergent, but said Mrs. Meyers was best for cleaning around the house.
I went ahead and purchased four items from Mrs. Meyers brand (Lemon Verbena scent only), but am now concerned the scent may trigger an asthma flare-up, which I need to avoid at all costs. Have any of you used her products, and if so, how strong was the fragrance from the essential oils?
Also, please share your two cents about SG. I need all the help I can get. I’m chucking the Lysol, Clorox, Windex, Cascade, etc. tomorrow morning (actually giving it to a neighbor who’s not so in to being green yet).
Any comments, advice, etc. would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
Thanks for your visit, PRGal, and best wishes for you and the baby.
I would follow the advice of the earlier commenter, on sustainlane.com. It is a good resource to check out green products.
More importantly, what you are saying, is it is not so easy getting quick assistance when looking for green products. Who to trust? Where to go? are big issues. Mary Hunt, another frequent visitor on this blog, is a big advocate of standards for sustainable products. She is working with MyGreenPurse, a web site designed for women interested in green purchases.
there is a huge movement for green cleaning products…if they work anywhere near as well i think i might hop on the green train
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