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Green Product Review: Seventh Generation Emerald Cypress & Fir Toilet Bowl Cleaner

September 14, 2009 in Green Cleaning, Product Review by Jennifer | No comments

Product: Emerald Cypress & Fir Toilet Bowl Cleaner from Seventh Generation

Uses: As you might guess this is for cleaning your toilet but cleans and deodorizes without the harsh fumes, harmful chemicals, or dyes that are found in most other toilet cleaners.

Cost:$4.99 for 32 oz. at the Seventh Generation shop, but I’ve seen it for less at my local grocery store. It’s also a product that goes on sale.

Ingredients: Aqua (water), lactic acid (plant-derived demineralizer), polyglucose, coceth-7, coceth-4 and deceth-5 (plant-derived cleaning agents), xanthan gum (natural thickener), peg-15 cocomonium chloride (plant-containing cleaning agent)*, essential oils and botanical extracts** (citrus aurantifolia (lime), abies balsamea (balsam fir), calilistris columellaris (emerald cypress).

Eco-perks: Read the rest of this entry »

Are dryer sheets toxic?

August 27, 2009 in Green Cleaning by Jennifer | 2 comments

Why yes, in fact many traditional dryer sheets can be toxic. The EPA even notes that there are tons of toxic chemical goodies in normal old dryer sheets. They’re also totally unnecessary. Think about it. First off, if you hang dry (which is an eco-solution) you don’t need them anyhow. If you do use your dryer, why do you actually need dryer sheets? In most cases dryer sheets supposedly reduce cling, make clothes smell fresher, and make fabrics softer.

If you buy naturally made fiber clothing it’ll be softer naturally. As for the cling – well, how hard is it to shake out your clothes? Not much. And, once you wash your laundry it should smell fresh via that soap you used.

Still some folks love their fabric softener for that extra pump of fresh or what have you, so to mimic this sans dryer sheets, grab one reusable washcloth, sprinkle a few drops of essential oil on it and toss it in the dryer with your load. Your clothes will smell great and there’s nothing to toss. You can reuse the washcloth over and over.

Still if you insist on dryer sheets at least buy ones that are natural, biodegradable, and not full of chemicals, like…

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Basil Dryer Sheets – made with a vegetable-derived softening agent and natural essential oils on a new biodegradable paper sheet.

Sun & Earth dryer sheets are hypoallergenic, non-toxic, biodegradable and safe to use. Available in scented “Fresh Citrus Scent” and “unscented”.

Do you use dryer sheets? Why or why not?

How to clean properly with cloth vs. paper towels

April 7, 2009 in Green Cleaning by Jennifer | 2 comments

I talk a lot about green, healthy, and non-toxic cleaning here. Why – because green cleaning has to be one of the easiest green changes any household can make. It takes almost no start-up money, no advanced skills are needed (like when building a solar house), it’s an extra healthy change to make, and it’s cost efficient.

One of the major green cleaning tips I go over again and again is to ditch the paper towels and use cloth. You can save so much money and so many trees with this one tiny step that it seems lame not to try. However, sometimes friends I have say, “BUT paper towels are way more hygienic than cloth for cleaning.” Is that true?

Fact: It is true in a general sense. Paper towels, while bad for the environment, do have one thing going for them – they’re cleaner. One paper towel per mess. No spreading of germs.With a cloth or sponge you do spread around germs to a point IF you don’t clean correctly.

However, you can clean well with cloth. In fact, you can make cloth cleaning towels work just as well as paper towels only without the cost and paper use.

HOW TO CLEAN PROPERLY WITH CLOTH:

For general cleaning like wiping down a counter or for things like apple juice spills (no major lingering bacteria in apple juice) or other non-bacteria spills you can use a cloth to death for the mess. Wipe up the juice, wring out the towel, get it wet, and wipe again. It’s all good.

For spills like blood from meat, raw eggs, cake batter, and other items that may carry bacteria or to wipe down cutting boards you need to take a different approach, but that doesn’t necessarily mean reaching for the paper towels.

  1. Use one cloth to wipe up the liquid part of the spill.
  2. Use a second cloth drenched in hot soapy water to wipe down the area.
  3. Use a third cloth to dry the area.
  4. Toss all the cloths into the laundry.

It seems like a lot of cloths, and another argument is cloth takes water resources to wash, but it takes quite a few cloths to make a full load. At my house we bought a bunch of packs of generic washcloths and some smaller fiber dishcloths (all in small sizes) and use those exclusively for cleaning. We only end up washing about one or two loads of cleaning cloths a week. It’s not a big deal.

If you clean smart you can still ditch the paper towels, cut costs, and over time, save some trees.

Green Apartment Life – Easy Ways To Get Sustainable

March 16, 2009 in Green Audit, Green Your Home by Jennifer | 1 comment

This week we’ve been looking at green apartment living. So far we’ve discussed:

Now we’ll look at some green tips that apply to anyone, even folks in an apartment, and later we’ll check out some sustainable decor and furnishings for apartment life before wrapping up this series.

When you live in an apartment, some green rules won’t apply. Unless you live in a very flexible apartment complex, you may not be able to do things like install a low-flow toilet, change your heating and cooling source, or build a rain barrel. But there are still plenty of ways to go green when living in an apartment. Such as…

Insulate your apartment. Caulking is iffy in an apartment but weather stripping and door draft stoppers are usually ok.

Ditch your landline phone.

Turn Down the Thermostat. You may be better off than a home dweller in this case, especially if you live on a first or second floor with an apartment above you. The extra layer of housing can help to seal in heat in the winter and keep it cooler in summer.

Live simply for a better, greener life.

Use eco-smart lighting like compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs and LED lighting.

Conserve water!

You can solve indoor air pollution even in an apartment. The same tips that work for a house work for an apartment.

Rethink your disposables. Using items like cloth napkins and cleaning cloths over paper towels is not only eco-friendly, but handy in an apartment. Apartments tend to be short on space and it takes more space to store huge packs of paper towels.

Hold a green audit! Not all green home audit questions will apply to an apartment dweller. However, there’s still a lot you can audit and possibly change to stay green. Check out the following home audits and simply cut out questions that don’t apply – such as roofing or landscaping issues.

Do you live in an apartment? How are you keeping it green?

Green Apartment Life – Tools for Living Green While Renting

March 14, 2009 in Green Your Home by Jennifer | 1 comment

This week we’re diving into green apartment life – a big deal since the 2008 Current Population Survey notes that about 32% of U.S. residents rent instead of own their home. That’s a lot of households to green up.

Even if you can’t find a totally green apartment community, there are some tools that can help apartment dwellers live green…

An urban compost bin: Anyone, even apartment dwellers can compost. There are plenty of smaller compost bins available. You can set on on your deck or even on your kitchen counter. Once you’ve got some nutrient-rich soil, you can do the following with it:

  • Grow a killer container garden on the patio.
  • Give it to a pal who owns a house and has a garden.
  • Donate it to a local community garden or school.

Rent and borrow: If you need tools for a project, a bike for a specific marathon (i.e. you’re not a regular rider), or a special crock pot, see if you can rent or borrow the item before purchasing one. Why this is green:

  • With less stuff you can live smaller and reduce your overall footprint. Storage space need for items you rarely use is lame and not very green.
  • Buying stuff you only use once is a waste of resources and supplies.
  • Saves you cash that you could use for higher ticket sustainable items. Would you rather own all your own tools that you only use twice a year, or a killer organic mattress?

Be a green human: Technically actions make a far bigger difference than where you live. I.e Portland, Oregon is known as a green hub but just living there does not make you green. You need to practice green living skills like eco-cleaning, saving water, recycling and so on. You could live in an eco-nightmare of a city, but with proper green living skills, your own little home base can still be eco-friendly.

Recycle: Creating a dedicated home recycling area is possible even in an apartment. There are loads of smaller recycling bins available that can make recycling in an apartment easier.

What green living tools are you using in your rental?

Vinegar for Weak Water Pressure

December 21, 2008 in Green Cleaning by Jennifer | 1 comment

If you’ve installed low-flow shower heads to save money, you may be getting a weaker flow than you’re used to. Some low-flow heads spray vigorously, and others, not so much. A major issue is buildup overtime which can weaken your already lighter flow head to an unbearable pressure.

The easy fix:

Vinegar – yup, I swear vinegar will fix everything. Ok, not everything, but it will clean your low-flow shower head.

  1. Take your shower head off.
  2. Clean what you can of the holes with a paper clip, pin, or other small item. Be careful not to scratch the head.
  3. Rinse the shower head with clean water.
  4. Place it in a bowl of white basic vinegar overnight.
  5. Rinse with clear, clean water in the morning.
  6. Replace your shower head.

Vinegar naturally fights icky mineral deposits without harsh chemicals or yucky scents.

Green Tissues for Cold & Flu Season

December 4, 2008 in Healthy Green Home by Jennifer | No comments

In the last post, Eco-friendly Flu Fighting, I noted that I’m sick today. Since I tend to blog along the lines of how my day is going, it’s pretty much sick day here at Best Green Home Tips.

Right now let’s take a look at earth-friendly options for tissues.

Your most earth friendly tissue option are cloth handkerchiefs; but there are pros and cons.

Pros of cloth handkerchiefs:

  • Reusable.
  • Cost effective; much cheaper than buying oodles of tissue.
  • Often won’t dry out your nose as much as paper tissue.
  • Especially softer on a child’s nose.
  • You can use them plain, or drop some essential oil on them for treatment.
  • Can be used as cleaning cloths when they get too old.

Cons of cloth handkerchiefs:

  • Washing! Seriously, how much laundry do you want to do while you’re sick?
  • Can be icky.
  • Kids, in my experience, don’t tend to handle cloth tissues as well. They leave them laying around, and or try to toss them in the garbage.
  • You may need to purchase a lot in a bigger family, and if everyone wants their own, you’ll need to choose specific colors or monograms.

The next best tissue is recycled.

There aren’t too many pros and cons here, the basic gist is that recycled tissue is a good reuse product if you want paper tissue, but they’re not as green as cloth; because obviously they don’t last as long.

Options:

Organic cotton flannel handkerchiefs: Packaged in a brown paper bag. Available in your choice of natural colour or hand-dyed purple.

Colorgrown Organic Cotton Flannel Hankies

Organic Cotton HANKIES – Singles

100% Recycled Seventh Generation Tissues; Hypo-allergenic; Whitened without chemicals containing chlorine; No added dyes; No added fragrances

Green Forest Facial Tissue: 100% Recycled Paper; Whitened Without Chlorine; Minimum 40% PCR Content

Gaiam Facial Tissue: 100% recycled paper with a minimum of 20% post-consumer content; hypoallergenic, unscented and bleached with environmentally safe sodium hydrosulfite and hydrogen peroxide.

Eco-friendly Flu Fighting

December 4, 2008 in Green Cleaning, Healthy Green Home by Jennifer | No comments

I’m fighting the flu, or some sort of killer cold, hence the topic. I feel terrible, and also a little blah because it’s not even that far into cold and flue season. Darn huh?

If you’re looking to try and avoid (or deal with) all these sick germs flying around, I’ve got some eco-friendly ideas for you:

First of all you want your immune system to be in pretty good overall health. This means avoiding things like toxic home cleaning supplies, chemical laden fragrances in most conventional air fresheners, and chemical fibers in your home furniture, floors, and textiles. Your overall goal is to keep your air clean and free of any icky chemicals. Read the following posts to learn how:

Next you’ll want to avoid breeding germs in your home. Some studies show that the use of antibacterial products; like hand gel and dish soaps, actually help germs, not fight them. You may kill some off at first, but it’s like antibiotics. If you give a germ a dose of antibacterial soap, over and over, the germ may not keep dying off, in fact the germ may adapt and just be able to eventually outwit the soap. The best soaps to use are not antibacterial, but basic, natural and organic soaps. One nice hand soap is Manor Hall Soap Company Liquid Hand Soap.

If you’re already sick and looking for treatment options my advice is usually to start with the smallest plan of attack and move upwards. One, keep your house clean or if you’re already sick, see if someone will help you clean. Cleaning with hot soapy water does remove germs from household surfaces. Two, try some natural remedies like rest, hot showers, essential oils, tea and honey, and so on. To learn more about earth-friendly health care visit Simply Home Remedies. Three, visit the doc. I’m way into natural remedies, but I’m also not against using conventional health care when you need it. I don’t think overuse of medications or antibiotics is smart, but neither is suffering away. Smart medical care is sometimes best. Don’t avoid the doctor’s just because you want to focus on natural treatments.

Also read: Five natural & non-toxic care remedies for kids

More sick day posts coming up!

5 Green Stain Removal Tips

November 6, 2008 in Green Cleaning by Jennifer | No comments

Most stain removers for fabrics – clothing, your sofa, what have you, are not so green. Most have plenty of toxic goodies in them. For greener stain removal try…

Wash on cool settings only: Hot water will set a stain, not get it out.

Wash quickly: The longer you allow them to sit, the worse stains get. Working on stain removal quickly is best.

Try glycerin: Natural vegetable based glycerin is easy to find at a health food store or co-op, and can often remove a stain. You need to rub the glycerin into the stain, then soak it before washing. If you’re using this on say, a couch, allow it to sit, then clean it off with water soaked rag.

Use the power of the sun: Read Solar Stain Fighting to learn how.

Always pre-soak: Pre-soaking stains is crucial when it comes to clothing (good luck soaking an entire couch). You can soak an item in the sink or in your washing machine. You can add the detergent while the clothing is soaking, but don’t start the washer for about an hour. Also, if you like you could try adding a little green bleach to the mix. NOT real bleach! Try Ecover Non-Chlorine Bleach Liquid.

Quick Green Tip: Salt Your Oven

October 14, 2008 in Green Cleaning, Quick Green Home & Garden Tips by Jennifer | No comments

Besides drain cleaners, oven cleaners are at the top of the list when it comes to dangerous home cleaning products. Oven cleaners are totally toxic – why else would you need gloves and a well ventilated work area to use the darn stuff.

Instead of toxic harsh chemicals, try plain old salt. If you notice oven spills, sprinkle table salt liberally on the spill before your oven cools down. After the oven is cool, take a damp cloth and rub off the spill. This even works on tough greasy stains; but you have to work with a warm oven. I’ve tried this on col ovens, and had less luck.

For more green cleaning tips, read:

Quick & Natural Household Cleaning Tips

August 25, 2008 in Green Cleaning by Jennifer | 3 comments

Instead of toxic, chemical heavy home cleaning supplies, try these ideas…

Sparkling windows: Lightly spray windows (both interior and exterior) with a solution of 1/2 gallon cold water, and 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar. Wipe windows with recycled newspaper. If you hate the smell of vinegar (I HATE the smell), burn a candle or some essential oil in a diffuser nearby. You shouldn’t add essential oils to the solution to cut the vinegar scent (I tried once), because it’ll streak.

clean windows

A whiter toilet: Spray the inside of your toilet bowl with warm water – lightly, not dripping wet. Sprinkle with plain old baking soda. Let this sit for ten minutes, and then scrub with a toilet brush.

Mold-free home: Once mold arrives, it’s almost too late. The best plan of attack is to prevent, not cure mold. Spray areas where mold might develop (window sills, door frames, floor bases, etc.) with a solution of 1 cup water, 1 drop lavender essential oil, and two drops tea tree essential oil.

Tip: When looking for essential oils for home cleaning, go organic if you can, and make sure you’re buying pure essential oils which actually have cleansing and disinfectant properties. Plain old perfume scents are not the same as pure essential oils.