Thursday, March 31, 2011

Wheeze...

Today was my cleaning day - I went to the gym religiously the past three days and didn't get around to a lot of housework.  So, three loads of laundry, two loads of dishes, cleaned the kitchen, dining room, living room, and guest bathroom.  None of this is particularly important, but here's the thing -  while I was cleaning I used the following products:

  1. Clorox bleach
  2. Dawn dish soap
  3. Dishwashing detergent (the kind in the little pack that dissolves in the hot water)
  4. Swiffer wet mop pads
  5. Draino
  6. Clorox toilet bowl cleaner
  7. Lysol disinfecting wipes
  8. All laundry detergent
  9. Disposable sponges
The more I think about this, the more disgusted I am.  First of all, I had to stop cleaning early because I was having tightness in my chest.  Not good.  Second, if I am having problems with all of these products, the environments is probably being affected too.  Third, a lot of these products create a lot of trash - sponges that get smelly are thrown out, etc.  

I will admit, I love my harsh, very effective cleaners.  I love watching stains come up without any extra scrubbing or work.  Cleaning the bath tub is oh-so-easy when I just fill it up with hot water and a little bleach, and mopping is almost stress-free when I can just throw the mop away afterwards.  Oh, and the fun of the squishy dissolving pack, wrapped in some cool plastic that just melts away.  However - 

I don't think I'm being responsible when I use products that are made of mysterious chemicals.  I'm certainly not doing my health any favors.  And all of those chemicals either sit on my surfaces, disperse into the air, or go down the drain - none of which sound like a good plan.  I don't want a side of bleach with my julienned veggies!  I don't want to breathe in the toxic combinations of toilet cleaner and tile cleaner!  I don't want to send these chemicals down to goodness knows where to interact with our water, plant life, and animal life.  

As soon as possible, I'm heading over to Trader Joe's to check out some of their natural cleaning products.  I might go to Harris Teeter, too, and look at the Seventh Generation cleaning line.  Because, heck, I think it's time to be a little more responsible - for myself, for my fiance, and for this place we call home.   

6 comments:

  1. Well, if you're going to try to go green, I'll suggest a couple of sites. http://www.gaiam.com/category/eco-home-outdoor/household.do has Seventh Generation stuff (which may be cheaper at Harris Teeter, since the shipping will probably offset the tax), but it's got other stuff too. And I've found some neat stuff at http://www.reuseit.com/.

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  2. Hi! You might want to check out my friend Sommer's blog. She's done a lot of homework on this and she rocks. http://greenandcleanmom.org/

    ~wendy

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  3. Be careful of the dishwasher liquids in this category. I used one (7th Generation, probably) and it created an avalanche of suds that overflowed from my running dishwasher and all over the kitchen. Tried it again, same thing. Switched back, no more suds.

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  4. @Wendy - thanks for the link! Looks like a great place to poke around. I'm really excited about trying new things.

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  5. @John - Ack! Thanks for the tip. Sounds terrible, and our downstairs neighbor would not appreciate any bubbles....

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  6. We switched over to all green cleaning products a few years ago. I second the recommendation of checking out the Seventh Generation products. We also really like the brand Earth Friendly Products-- they have a laundry detergent called ECOS free & clear that works really well and doesn't aggravate sensitive skin. We also use their dish soap for hand washing. (We get a tab called Grab Green at MOMs for the machine.) For toilet bowl cleaner we really like the Method stuff, though it is a little pricey.

    A lot of these companies will either send you coupons or samples if you shoot them a quick email telling them you're interested in adopting a greener cleaning regime and thinking about trying their product. Some you can print off directly from their website.

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