I kept a small supply of plastic bags for cat pan cleanup and some paper bags for hauling out the household recyling, but I did not really need 75,000 bags. Really.

Crazy Aunt Purl, you are my hero! I have so many shopping bags I just can't bring myself to part with.

Thanks for thinking of the cats and the environment. Al Gore would be proud! :)

I've always sworn by the power of baking soda in cleaning. My mom always wanted to use those weird cleaners for stains on the countertops and baked on stuff. It took me forever to convince her that baking soda could do just as good a job. I'll have to try out some of your other suggestions as I am always look for inexpensive ways to clean that are not toxic to the cats -- and the rest of us.

If this post doesn't make Al Gore swoon, he is made of stone girl!
you are my hero!!

Vinegar is a great all purpose ingredient! Just soaking my shower head in in produces great results.

Actually, baby wipes work just as well as Magic Erasers. Why the husband tried that in the first place, I'll never know.

Flylady (www.flylady.net) recommends "swish and swipe" for the bathroom. A bit of soap of any kind (even shampoo or bubblebath) in the toilet brush container, and every morning giving the toilet a quick swish with the brush. Doing this daily is the key. It's amazing to see a constantly clean toilet! (The swipe is wiping down the surfaces and mirror with Windex daily. I've not tried that and would rather avoid the Windex.)

I use Lemon oil on my glass shower doors...its the same premise...rub it on....its thicker so it stays.....let it sit and go back and rub it off. Works great

Laurie, I'm so glad you posted so I can put this in here! It is my great pleasure to announce that Anna-Liza and I have awarded you the Coveted Blogstar award for amazing, inspiring and all-around fun blog.

You can read all my gushing about you at the link here:

http://prsunshine.wordpress.com/2007/09/12/pollyanna-rainbow-sunshine-says-and-the-blogstar-goes-to/

And cool post! I'm going to try the lemon juice on the showerhead thing - we have hard water in Costa Mesa too.

I use Lemon oil on my glass shower doors...its the same premise...rub it on....its thicker so it stays.....let it sit and go back and rub it off. Works great

Oh, and 409. I once used 409 to remove the oxidized paint from a car I was going to sell. Left it shiny and lovely. The buyer was impressed. I noted that I should be much more careful in what I sprayed 409 on, if it would take off the outer layer of paint! Whoa!

oops...sorry for multiple posts

Like you, I recently decided to stop using Windex, etc. (I was also worried about the environment and my cat.) I switched to Mrs. Myers products and absolutely love them. My house smells like lavendar all the time now. Not as natural as what you're doing, but I'm on the right path I think!

I'm wondering if a paste of lemon juice and perhaps baking soda could help with your shower scaling. Sort of like your borax mix for the toilet. I've recently started making bags based on supermarket bags (from a pattern I found on-line at crafster.org) in my own little attempt to be greener.

I really like Dr. Bronner's soap for washing delicate laundry. It's also a good all-purpose cleaner for almost anything you would want to use soap on--just dilute it a little. And it smells really great! (Peppermint is my favorite).

You're right, using natural cleansers is a lot less expensive. I use Dr. Bronner's, baking soda, Borax, vinegar in one combination or another for almost everything. I'll have to add lemon juice to my arsenal--smells much nicer than vinegar!

Instead of bleaching my sink, I scrub it with baking soda (cuts grease as well as being a good scrub) and then rinse it with the hottest water I can. Works great!

I love this topic! I've gone mostly non-toxic, but I do need to figure out the windows. We don't get the newspaper so the newspapers trick is a no-go. Anyway, I clean the inside of the toilet with Oxi-Clean bleach or sometimes laundry soap, and the outside with Murphy's Oil Soap. I love Murphy's very much. You need some with your lovely new wood floor!

Re: bags, have you seen http://www.morsbags.com? Can I celebrity bag you?

Sorry--you ARE using a paste (or plan to) on the doors!

Oh, I forgot to mention--I don't own any Birkenstocks whatsoever. I do have a pair of Earth Shoe sandals, but I only wear them in the summer. Without socks.

Hooray for green cleaning! I also highly recommend the Method line at Target -- all biodegradable and non-toxic, and their laundry detergent is amazing. It's super-concentrated, so one $8 bottle lasts for months.

I've been usuing Kim and Agiie's recipes for cleaning too. I've discovered that a simple bar of Ivory soap and scrubbing sponges clean a lot better than a lot of the products I've been buying for years. I use vinegar and water now, too and baking soda for disinfecting. Like you said it's WAY cheaper than all those cleaning products and is safe!

I used cloth diapers for my daughter when she was a baby and used Borax instead of bleach because of her tender hiney skin. I always have the huge box of baking soda in the house. I do love my Tide though. And my Downy, too.

Kim and Aggie say (in their book) that you can use baking soda in the litter box. They said 1/3 baking soda and 2/3 litter and it works!! The baking soda clings to the poo poos and pee pees and totally neutralizes the odors!! I have SEVEN cats and there's no smell whatsover!!

Laurie, do you want me send you my copy of K &A's book?? I'm done with it and I think you'll love it! Dirty beggars!!

The Method cleaning products (available at Target!) are pretty good and environmentally friendly, although not cheap like baking soda and vinegar. I love the grapefruit spray cleaner. Last year at Christmas time they had some special holiday scents. The Spiced Pear was awesome!

http://www.methodhome.com/index.php

Ok...can I just say that the sight of your shower heads made me swoon. Our water is hard also and CLR is disgusting. I'm off to try the lemon juice magic!

I'll second Gwen on the Method line. They're also Leaping Bunny ( http://www.leapingbunny.org/ ) approved.

You've done it AGAIN! A thousand kudos...and you know, for stains on clothing, a paste made of salt and lemon juice work as well as any bleach-y thing out there...rub it into the stain and lay it out in the sunshine. (Be careful on colored cloth, just like other bleach.) There are OTHER benefits to being a Living History interpreter besides getting to wear funny clothes and sleep on deerskins in the dirt. Great-great-great-great-grandmaw had a very clean house and never heard of Scrubbing Bubbles (or the secret joy of knowing Mr. Clean).

On the other hand, my dear Miss Crazy - I gotta tell you, don't knock Birkies until you've tried 'em. And if you go out late at night no one will catch you hugging those trees.

This was a fascinating post... i haven't thought about green cleaning supplies very much, but i did switch to seventh generation for my laundry. i was starting to wonder if my continuing face break-outs could be because of the chemicals in my life (laundry detergent use to wash my sheets, for the face-zit example). Wouldn't you know, my face has been lovely and clear since the laundry detergent switch.

Anywho, you've inspired me to switch to green cleaning!

The hard water scale is removed by acid, which, unsurprisingly, is the main ingredient of most "shower-tub-tile" cleaners. Just don't let any acid hit a marble counter (ask me how I know...). And, obviously, combining baking soda (base) with vinegar (acid) is sort of pointless.

I've not tried this for cleaning per se, but you could consider using citric acid (it's a granular powder). It's more economical than vinegar or citrus juice. I hated the vinegar smell when dyeing wool (hot acid bath is needed to set the color), but now I have stink-free dyeing time with citric acid. I buy mine in bulk via mail order, but you could buy a tiny bottle just to try it. It would be by the canning supplies in the grocery or hardware store, it's used to keep fruit perky and nonbrown and to lower pH to inhibit C bot from growing.

Salt, salt, salt.

Salt will cut all manner of grease; plus, it's a great facial scrub. It will clear up an unfortunate breakout in a day... used sparingly, of course. But it is my absolute favorite new beauty secret!

Loved this post. You inspired me again!

Okay, where do you find this Ecover stuff? It sounds great. I'm trying to switch to greener cleaning supplies, too, though not moving as quickly as you are.

Blimey O'Reilly! I'm a huge fan of Kim and Aggie, and they are converting me to using homemade green cleaners. You are also inspiring legions to clean green-style! By the way, you do know that Al Gore is married, right? I'm just sayin'. But he would be proud.

Using newspaper to clean glass and brightwork fixtures is an old Navy trick too - they made us do that in boot camp!

Super timely post, you always seem to write about whatever is lurking in the corners of my mind. I am not the best housekeeper and only clean in spurts, but looooove 409. I have been wondering about the chemicals though since you got me hooked on Kim and Aggie's show. I am still a rookie at this au naturel stuff and wasn't sure how one uses Borax (I've only seen them use it on stainless steel on the show). I assume it doesn't scratch surfaces? What is it exactly and what does it do, cleaning wise? And apparently you can mix it with anything? Any other info/tips on using vinegar, lemon and borax would be most welcome...thanks for the info and inspiration!

Hooray for you, CAP! Green cleaning is the BEST.

I do have one gross thing to tell you about Bounce, tho. (As a former Bounce addict, this saddened me). When I went to have lasik surgery a few years ago, the surgeon looked at my eyes under a scope and asked "Do you use Bounce?" I thought it was a wierd question, but apparently Bounce leaves a film on your eyeballs.... ewwww! Gross. I've switched to Method liquid fabric softener (used in the Downy ball) and it's just as good, but leaves no eyeball film! BTW: Birks are comfy! I've had my pair for 17 years...resoled twice and they ROCK.

Nice post Laurie! I was just thinking the other day "I sure wish I had some environmentally friendly recipes for cleaning supplies". This occurred at the same time as a massive ant offensive in my kitchen (it's a very old building, no there was no food anywhere (except the garbage can sadly), and they are the tiny ants that you can't seem to keep out of your house in northern California). I nearly had a mental breakdown. I resorted to using method all purpose spray cleanser, but it really is more like Windex so didn't destroy the trail and they kept coming back and back....

I do love How Clean Is Your House, which I have seen on JetBlue one time (I seriously didn't want to deplane). But I have not TV right now, so no cable. But they have a book? I must run out immediately and use my consumer powers and purchase it.

And finally, not to be preachy-preachy, why not use cloth bags for the grocery? I realize not everyone is in the same situation. I am currently living car-free as well, so a trip to the market necessitates only buying as much as I can carry, either on my bike or on my back. That being said, toting 2 or 3 bags to the market is no big deal. If you do massive shopping sprees it might be a tad more problematic. On the other hand, a long tima ago in a galexy far far away, when I lived at home, we almost always got paper bags (1. they fit in the garbage can my parents had perfectly, and 2. they had a garbage disposal, so wet foods never went in it). besides using them for garbage we also reused them at the store.

I do have 2 cats as well, so know the need for plasticitude for daily scooping. Yet even though I almost always use cloth bags at the grocery I still have enough bags somehow to scoop. I save any plastic bags with no holes in them: bread bags, used ziplocks, produce bags, packing material bags (the interior packaging my curtains came in were perfect), larger bags from non-grocery stores (Target, etc.) You'd be surprised how much plastic you actually generate, even while trying not to.

what do you use to dust? i am willing to give this a try b/c everyone is saying what a good idea it is. i was at the store last week and had to "re-stock" my cleaning supplies and spent over $50 on those alone....

i would love to save the money and be a little greener too! but dusting is very important to me. :)

If I ever make it back to SnB (tonite?), I'll be giving a sh*tload (or at least a trunk load) of plastic (mostly Target) backs to Laurie Ann. She promised to make good use of them.

Yay for green cleaning! I'm giong to have to tell my roommate about lemon juice for shower fixtures.
I just picked up Ecover's toliet bowl cleaner. It comes in a pine scent, which I'm still unsure of. Do I really want the toliet to smell like a forest? Or Xmas?
I learned to use salt to remove grease from your blog, Laurie. Thank you! It got rid of the sticky grossness on my stovetop!
I also use Method's laundry degertent. The blue one smells kinda like Tide to me, which is what I was using before. I'm still using the same bottle I bought in December.

I have really hard water and scrubbing with vinegar took the soap and hard water scum right off my shower walls. I spray with either diluted vinegar or Method's daily shower spray stuff (although that has a quite strong floral scent - ylang ylang, I think) and both seem to keep it un-scaly. I haven't gone completely low-tech for my toilet, but can highly recommend the Ecover toilet cleaner. It's not very fumey, smells fine, and works great.

I love Kim and Aggie!
Yay you!

I have really hard water and scrubbing with vinegar took the soap and hard water scum right off my shower walls. I spray with either diluted vinegar or Method's daily shower spray stuff (although that has a quite strong floral scent - ylang ylang, I think) and both seem to keep it un-scaly. I haven't gone completely low-tech for my toilet, but can highly recommend the Ecover toilet cleaner. It's not very fumey, smells fine, and works great.

I thought I had read all the info/tips on "natural cleansers", but somehow I missed the one about lemon juice for bathroom/plumbing fixtures, so a big THANKS! The next time I go to Walmart...and hooo-ray for healthy cat environments!

Borax works great in the bathroom. Sometimes you need to let the paste sit a bit if you have old porcelain + rusty water = stains, but then it has a mild bleaching effect.

I don't use anything but soap (method brand hand soap) on my toilet, and it's just as clean as it ever was using bleach-based cleansers.

I actually have been making the switch to greener cleaning procedures for a few months now (as you say, it's a process), but I still have all my old cleaning products lurking in cupboards under my various sinks. How much damage would I do to the environment by throwing away my leftover Comet and Tilex and Windex? Does anyone know of a safe way to dispose of that stuff? Because I would totally get rid of them, if I was sure I was doing it in a safe manner.

But I'm not giving up my Bounce dryer sheets either. And no, they're not toxic...I know this because my cat likes to gnaw on them. And she's 13, so they must not be toxic. :) I keep them up where she can't reach them, and I almost always manage to toss the used ones into the trash as soon as they come out of the dryer, but sometimes one gets away from me while I'm folding the laundry. And sometimes Grace finds it before I do. They must be tasty, but I'm not going to try it!

Thanks for the salt tip, gals, for cleaning greasy stoves. We have a newish, black gas stove and it's impossible to keep clean. I've been going through an ungodly amount of this disgusting spray called "BAM", and THEN I still have to use Windex to wipe off the smudges.

A skin tip: use baking soda for an exfoliator. Just add a little water to some baking soda, in hand, to make a paste, gently rub on, and rinse.

Just a warning about Borax: it's been linked to renal failure in cats. Like bleach, it is natural, but not non-toxic.

Use sparingly, as you would with bleach.

I use 7th Generation dish soap to clean my toilet once a week, but I don't have a normal bathroom (I can't flush toxic chemicals or the helpful septic tank bacteria will die). I think hard water is to blame for most of the toilet "dirt" I've encountered, so perhaps dumping a bottle of lemon juice or vinegar in and letting it sit for an hour would do the trick just as well?

Oh I love the natural cleaners! I do! I do! For the shower doors, may I recommend Method's Daily Shower Cleaner (can be purchased at FAVORITE store, Target)? I use it on my shower doors and after a week, they literally sparkled! I use it when I remember now and the tub is always clean. I love the clean smell and the lack of chemicals. Good stuff, that!

There are a lot of great books on this subject out there... I'm trying to rustle up the names of ones I've been reading - I've been on a similar kind of kick lately, trying to get the chemicals out of my life. Well, except hair dye. That's not really a choice. :)

Greening Your Cleaning
Organic Housekeeping
Mrs. Dunwoody's Excellent Instructions For Homekeeping

There are more out there, but I'm not thinking of them at the moment. I'm sure those are a good jumping-off point, though. :)

Great tips! Here's one for you: Birkies are great for showing off handknit socks. Resistance is still futile.

If you're looking for something to use on your toilet bowl, I love the Ecover toilet cleaner. It smells and works great!

Yeah for borax- it's my all purpose cleaner. I'll try it with the lemon juice for the hard water streaks in the toilet- sounds easier than using the pumice stone.

As noted in other comments, it's a mild bleach and I've used it as a paste to get rid of sweat stains on white shirts.

An older sister of mine became asthmatic in middle-age, and she swears it's because of cleaning product fumes.

I can attest to the greatness of vinegar and baking soda too. I'm the caretaker for a hall - i have to bleach it once a week (required and i hate it) but the rest of the time i clean with vinegar. The wooden floor gets cleaned with diluted vinegar as well.
Here's a question though - anyone else all of a sudden get weird spots on their tshirts? from the washer i mean. They look kinda like oil spots or something. Would the salt & lemon juice work on removing them? And wth do they come from anyhow?

Using baking soda and vinegar to clean my drains was like a religious experience for me. Nothing dangerous! Clean drains! No toddler or cat worries! Woot!

Here are a couple links that I found very helpful for going green:

http://www.diylife.com/2007/08/17/baking-soda-a-cleaner-of-my-choice/

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART00580

PS - forgot to mention that the plastic bags can be knitted or crocheted into strong carry bags.I keep some hanging by the back door so we dont forget to take them shopping. I have plans to make new bike carry bags from some ( this requires collecting them from friends who think i'm tres weird asking for them lol)
googling produces a myriad of patterns :)

I use vinegar and baking soda on lots of things, and plain soap. I do have a special stash of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day geranium-scented clenaing products. They're expensive as hell, but the scrub is really effective when baking soda isn't doing the trick, and they smell divine. And, you know, non-toxic and all that. I've long been a convert to natural laundry detergents. But I do confess to having broken down and bought some tile-clenaer for very occasional use. I live in an old place and I just couldn't get the bathtub really clean.

What I want to know is, when are you coming over to MY house to work your wonderful cleaning magic???

I've been slowly trying to go green with my cleaning, too (when I clean at all, that is). I found a few simple recipes for homemade cleaners on About.com--like half vinegar, half water for general cleaning, and a combo of vinegar, water & alcohol for glass.

I have yet to try anything with lemon or baking soda, so I'll have to give the lemon juice a whirl in my scaly toilets. But definitely let us know if you find something that works! In turn, I'll go ahead and check out Kim & Aggie--have never watched their show, but if they have a book, I'm there.

As for grocery bags, I purchased a set of 4 heavy-duty bags from ReusableBags.com (this set: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/acme-earthtote™-shopping-black-p-498.html). I LOVE them--they're solidly constructed, so you can really fill them up to the top with heavy items and still be able to lift the bags with no fear of the bag itself breaking. (Your back, however, may be another story) Groceries that would have filled 6 or more paper bags can fit easily in these 4. The set also comes with special produce bags that keep veggies & fruits fresher, longer than the ones at the store--great value!

I will shut up now. But--yay, green! :)

Sorry, sorry, sorry...but the dryer sheets are awful for you too...and I doubt they're doing the cats much good either.
I don't know of a substitute for them, but then I'm so old I actually remember the days before the damn things and don't think our clothes smelled worse coming out of the dryer without the sheets!

Here's another tip for bathroom cleaning: a pumice stone works great for hard water scum in toilets and around fixtures. No cleanser necessary and after the first time, very little elbow grease required.

I clean my entire bathroom with baking soda and it gets cleaner than it ever did with Comet. (OK, I am lying. My husband cleans the bathroom.)

I hereby award you the coveted Golden Birkenstock for your goodness.

I keep the giant vinegar and use it on everything- I pour a big glug into my washer when washing towels, I use it in my sink, and with bakin soda down my drain, it removes glue-(yea, who knew?) and if you cook fish, put out a small dish of vinegar and it will help take the odor out of the air. It is pretty great stuff.

I got a recipe from Helloise in Good Housekeeping for home made window cleaner that is WAY WAY WAY cheaper than buying name brand. Equal parts vinagar, rubbing alcholo, and amonia, with a dash of lemon juice. I know ammonia isn't "green" but if you just can't part with your Windex, this is a much cheaper alternative and it smells and cleans just like windex. Since I found this from GH, I never use the name brand stuff any more.

p.s. Get rid of the dryer sheets! Not for the environment, but for your clothes. They erode the fibers and wear out your clothing. I haven't used dryer sheets in years and my clothes never have static cling - I think Bounce invented the very idea. It takes about two trips through the washer and dryer to lose the static, but I swear your clothing will be perfect without it, and think how much money you'll save.

what in the world is borax? also, I'm inspired by that showerhead! good lord, that is amazing...

I too have discovered the awesomeness of the Method line of cleaners, and while I do love going "over the river" to the US to buy them at Target, they are available in Canada at Shoppers Drugmart stores.
I once sang the praises of the Magic Erasers, and then someone told me, and I confirmed with a peek on the box, that aside from the grit, one of the chemicals inside those beasts is formaldehyde. Sketchy. I can't bring myself to use them now, even though I have read a few things that say this is false, AND I have a Costco sized box under my sink.

I too have discovered the awesomeness of the Method line of cleaners, and while I do love going "over the river" to the US to buy them at Target, they are available in Canada at Shoppers Drugmart stores.
I once sang the praises of the Magic Erasers, and then someone told me, and I confirmed with a peek on the box, that aside from the grit, one of the chemicals inside those beasts is formaldehyde. Sketchy. I can't bring myself to use them now, even though I have read a few things that say this is false, AND I have a Costco sized box under my sink.

Hi Laurie! I have to throw in my two cents about using Bounce - I have been using those dryer balls for about 6 months now and they work great! I've had no problems with static and they last forever and won't hurt the cats. I used liquid fabric softener before that and would sometimes end up with oily stains on my clothes (this also happened when I was using the Oxiclean laundry ball??) so this is a much better solution. Just a thought if you decide to get rid of the Bounce!
Can't wait to see you at the MOA!!!!

The only thing that's convinced me to give up Bounce is the smell of clothes dried on the clothesline. It smells like what Bounce is trying to reference with Outdoor Fresh!

You live in such a hot dry area - try drying just a few shirts or a pair of jeans outside, and see what you think! (You can still do all your "delicates" the usual way, who needs Bounce on that stuff anyway?)

Bonus: Al Gore will think your clothesline is sexy.

Congrats! I adopted a couple of cats about 5 years ago and one of them licks EVERYTHING! We made the switch to green cleaners immediately - she already seems to suffer from lead poisoning but boy is she a cutie. Thanks for the Magic Eraser info because before ME if there was a red wine stain on the counter my man curse "the camomille approach"; ME saved our relationship.

OK, that comment about the Bounce and filmy eyeballs freaked me out. I have one tip for you, since you're still using bleach. Making a paste of bleach and baking soda makes the bleach work much better - I learned this after using tons of scrubbing bubbles in the tub - the no-slip texture on the tub floor was turning dark. I blame the gnomes. A little bleach + baking soda lifted it right off. Bleach alone, no dice.

And I'm confused about what "green" means to everyone - does it mean "not harsh" or just "natural"? Ammonia is certainly natural - we pee it every day! I bet rubbing a poison tree frog on your shower doors would work wonders for the soap scum.

Laurie, you have to try Tang in the toilet, yes, the powdered drink. The citric acid in it cleans away all the grossness (?) and smells citrusy too. You'll love it. I'm working on being greeny too. Having 13 cats around, I'm always worried about them getting into something. good luck!!

I had to come back and post about the dryer sheets. I've read that the residue they leave on the lint catcher is a fire hazard over time. When I read that, I switched to a liquid softener.

Also, why on God's green earth are you attracted to Al Gore??? Ewww!

June has already pointed this out, but I want to reiterate it: mixing vinegar (acetic acid) with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, a base) does nothing but produce plain water with some salts in it. The two chemicals neutralize each other. Individually, each is a great cleaner, but together they don't do much.

[descends from lectern] I just cleaned my kitchen using whatever high-powered concentrated chemical cleaner Sam's Club carries (and a toothbrush, that's how nutty I was), and all the time I was thinking, gee, I wonder how plain vinegar would work? Next time...

This is so heroic, and you are such a busy cleaning beaver. Makes Bossy want to hurl herself off her dusty dog-hair-covered roof.

I have been doing green cleaning for years, ever since I picked up the book Clean House, Clean Planet. Main arsenal: vinegar, borax, baking soda, Dr Brommers soap, castile soap and a bit of tea tree oil to take care of just about anything.

I have asthma, and cleaning with anything harsh is hell on the breathing. And I have ferts, and they always have they have their noses to the ground!

I do however, still use a bit of bleach - I sport a 1920's sink and clawfoot bathtub that were poorly maintained, and sometimes thats the only thing that works. But that is it.

google Annie Berthold-Bond for green cleaning tips, she has a great book called "Clean & Green".

I haven't found a good non-tox substitute for carpet cleaner for cat barf, tho. Maybe not having carpet is the best thing to do.

I had the same problem with dog barf. Oxi-Clean took it right out. Try that.

pour some borax in the toilet, swish around, leave for an hour - sparkling clean.
Borax is toxic to cats though I think - I still use it, but I make sure its kept where little girl can't get into it.

But Dr. Bronner's soap, borax, an organic wood cleaner, baking soda and Trader Joe's all purpose cleaner are all I use. Works better than the chemicals, smells good and doesn't make me feel sick.
Going to try the lemon juice on the shower head.

hee heee... you said "scientist friend"....

Hi Laurie,

Thanks for the environmentally & feline/canine friendly post...but, seriously, no criticism intended...I'm really looking forward to you getting out there on your book tour meeting and greeting your fans...I'm a little concerned about your current cleaning/organizing frenzy..."I'm just saying"......to quote a fab author!

For the shower doors...use the finest steel wool you can find...but you can only use it when they are dry. The steel wool gets off the soap scum with very little effort. It will make them look brand new.

A couple people have mentioned the Mrs. Meyers Clean Day products. I LOVE THESE! My DSIL told me about them. Her son had really bad allergies and these did not bother him. I bought the lavender scent and I love them smell when I clean. They also make laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets. The stainless steel cleaner is great as is the scouring powder. I love that I can clean without gloves.

I've gotta say that I love to clean my drains by pouring in baking soda and then vinegar, it cleans pretty well and it's fun for the whole family.

But yeah, baking soda plus a scrub brush on soap scum. Like a charm.

I am as granola as they get, but I have a bit of the scientist/skeptic in me. The following questions are not arguments against natural cleaners in any way -- I want to use the simplest, most natural products that can do the job, and preferably not manufactured by large chemical companies.

What chemical is it in the Windex that is the problem? I thought commercial window cleaners were rubbing alcohol, ammonia, and water (plus colorings) but I'm not actually sure.

Borax sounds old-timey and great, but so is gasoline. And arsenic. Is borax really safer than the cleaner it replaces? (I am not claiming it is as dangerous as gasoline or arsenic, just that we can't rely on the fact that grandma used it as evidence that it's safe.)

Bleach is another old-timey goodness chemical, but chemical it is, and strong. Does it leave lingering fumes? Are they bad for us and our animals? Is it dangerous to the environment in our waste water? I seem to recall it breaks down into dioxins, but I don't know for sure.

Since vinegar and lemon juice are edible, that's pretty conclusive evidence to me that they aren't harmful. Ditto baking soda.

Laurie, you are an inspiration, and you continally challenge me to re-think what I do, what I use, and even how I view life, and for that I am very grateful. And now you have inspired me to go research the heck out of various cleaning chemicals and check the labels on what commercial cleaners I do use. Many thanks!

If you run short of lemon juice, try vinegar on your shower heads. Also an acid, it works as well, but doesn't smell as nice.

Borax is a crystaline salt of borate and sodium. It produces boric acid, which is toxic. Don't go overboard with the stuff.

I plan to look for the citric acid powder. I'd never thought of using that in cleaning, but I have for canning years ago. Should be easy and non-annoying to use. I have alergies, so fumes are a big issue.

Laurie, even though I want to be Just Like You (except maybe not as crazy) I just can't give up my 409. I also cheated and did not give up shopping.

But I want to give up plastic grocery bags. I swear I will make the change by year end. I may even get down my sewing machine & make some, though I hate sewing with every inch of my being.

Also, I've heard a borax mix is good for killing ants but can't remember the recipe.

I'm interested in Libwitch's comment about using bleach to clean old 1920s bathroom fixtures, because that's what I have and they have been Ajaxed within an inch of their lives (previous owners) and now nothing will come off of them. Libwitch, exactly how do you use the bleach?

I like Ecover for laundry, too.

My favorite non-toxic cleanser is made thusly: put a bunch of baking soda (a cup or so) in a bowl. Squirt Dr. Bronner's liquid soap in there and mix until you have a paste. You can use peppermint Dr. Bronner's or plain and add essential oils for scent. Use it anywhere you need to scrub -- it's great for showers, bathroom sinks and countertops, and the kitchen sink. I keep a tub of it in the fridge at all times, so I only have to make it up every 3-4 months.

The book "Better Basics for the Home" by Berthold-Bond is fantastic. I recommend it highly -- it tells you what to use to clean everything.

Static Eliminator! They are reusable fabric dryer sheets! (staticeliminator.ca, they're in canada) There are no chemicals and the weave of the fabric draws the static out of your clothes. I love them.

i use all the same things to clean as well (mainly for my kitties also) avon skin so soft is good for cleaning as well http://findavon.com/skinsosoft.html

Laurie, be VERY careful with the tea tree oil (and the eucalyptus oil too). They smell so clean but they're highly toxic to cats.

Cats are sensitive to phenolics and tea tree oil/eucalyptus oil are full of 'em. You can actually use tea tree oil to thin paint. Phenol compounds affect the kittie central nervous system in a bad way. It starts out as hypothermia. My mum and her cat had personal experience with this.

I've been trying to clean with less chemicals as well, but the toilet bowl I haven't been able to let go of yet. I'm anxious to see how your adventure works.

(P.S. I let myself go full blow with the nasty stuff once in a while because I'm neurotic, but I'm probably about 75% chemical free in my house)

Laurie, the next time you want to clean your shower head, try a condom filled with vinegar or lemon juice. It will be more secure than a ziploc baggie and a hair elastic. I know it sounds strange, but it works.

When combining cleaning products, beware of bleach.

There was a news story about two or three years ago about a cleaning person in downtown DC who combined bleach with an unspecified "cleaning product" and got in hazmat teams, evacuated a few blocks of office buildings, and sent numerous people to the hospital. It was as effective as a small-scale terrorist attack.

I don't use bleach at all anymore.

I also made this move a couple of years ago for my cat and dog, and I have a little book to recommend-- "Slug Bread and Beheaded Thistles: Amusing and Useful Techniques for Nontoxic Housekeeping and Gardening" by Ellen Sandbeck. It has all kinds of recipes in it-- there is one for slow drains, an AWESOME one for mopping floors that requires no rinsing, etc.. Plus, she has some great tips for getting rid of pests in the garden (I would never have been able to make the woodchuck move out of my garden/woodchuck salad bar on his own without her tip on putting containers with ammonia around the area-- worked like a charm and he never came back!) Plus, it is an entertaining little book with lots of interesting facts and tips.

I have made the switch to Ecover and Seventh Generation products, and I loaf them with my wholemeal heart. It's great to be able to clean the tub, the toilet, and the kitchen counter without worrying about me inhaling horrible chemicals, the dog (one of them) drinking out of the toilet, or the food preparation on a wiped-down counter.

I am not as organized as you are. I aim for this level of org! I am going to be making my first outing to an IKEA *ever* this weekend. Wish me luck - I am hoping to get a bookshelf (not made out of that nasty pressboard - don't use it, particleboard outgasses stuff like formaldehyde!), and possibly some organizational knick-knacks, like a liquid soap dispenser, and a toothbrush holder.

Carrie, I too live in northern California and understand the ant problem. Years ago a boyfriend gave me a tip on ant control when I whined about not wanting to use the typical pesticide. Cinnamon is a natural deterrent for ants. If you can find their entry point, just put a little cinnamon across the spot. For some reason, ants do not like to cross it. Oh, and here's a link that talks about natural pest control. Hope that helps.

http://www.eartheasy.com/live_natpest_control.htm

Laurie honey, I think you misspelled your best friend's name---wouldn't that be TeeVo?

I amuse me.

If you'd like to try an alternative to Bounce sheets, Trader Joe's sells lavender dryer sachets. Basically, they are dryer-safe paper sachets filled with dried lavender. Toss one in your dryer, and everything comes out smelling terrific! You can use each sachet at least ten times (and then you can rip 'em open, sprinkle the lavender on your carpet, and vacuum it up to make your house smell nice, too!). They run about four bucks for a package of four.

I am the embodiment of the dad in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"--I use Windex on EVERYthing. I love Windex. Even with cats in my house, must have copious quantities of Windex handy at all times.

But I have to confess I'm with the earlier poster--whazzup with Al Gore? For the life of me, I just can't like anything about him.

Did you ever hear of Leo Hickman's book "A life stripped bare"? You should read it!

I always take cotton shopping bags with me when I go grocery shopping, so I don't need plastic bags. I keep a cotton bag in my hand bag almost all the time, just in case. There's always room for that in my hand bag, and I guess in yours too! ;-)

For pet barf: pick up what you can, and then pour baking soda on the carpet. A LOT of baking soda. Then, and this is the hard part, walk away from the mess. Leave it for 3-4 days--yes, days. Feel the carpet to make sure it is dry--yuck, but you have to. Then, when it is, vacuum it, baking soda and all. Usually the stain is gone, magically absorbed by the baking soda. Sometimes there is a faint outline, but usually not.

STOP THIS NOW! I know I comment, randomly sometimes, about how 'similar' our Texas childhoods are but now it is getting weird.

My grandma lives in a little country house in Blanco, Tx. and she cleans her windows with vinegar water!

Or you could always be like me and not clean as often, but then Kim and Agie would not approve.

CLR--ugh. My grandmother once decided to clean a drinking glass with that (there was something dried in the bottom that she couldn't get out). So she mixed CLR with water and left it out to soak. Then she forgot what it was, and drank it. Very bad thing, CLR.

(And yes, Nana was fine. Her throat burned for days, though.)

yikes! what does this say about me: a birkenstock-wearing, toxic-cleanser-user? Although I am paring back.
I've been using Seventh Generation and Ecover for about 6 years now. I use their laundry products, and dish soap. I will have to try some of the other "recipes" you have in here. Seems like they are not only more earth & pet friendly as well as cheap - but they also seem to be more "flexible". - you can use them for multiple tasks!

Thanks for yet another inspiring post!

Carrie said, "I learned to use salt to remove grease from your blog." This will be handy if my blog ever becomes greasy. (hee hee, I am 4)

Megan said, "I bet rubbing a poison tree frog on your shower doors would work wonders for the soap scum." But Megan, wouldn't the fumes be hallucinogenic?

CAP Readers Rule!

And Rhett:

My dusting trick is my "used" fabric softener sheets. I don't thrown them away after I've used them. (I actually usually use them for two loads apiece).

After I unload my laundry - I wipe down my dusty rooms with the fabric softener sheet - it really grabs on to the dust! And it works amazingly well on electronics - especially the black ones that always seem to hold on to some trail of very conspicuous dust...

and you get to "reuse" an otherwise disposable item. :)

I don't know if this would work for pet barf, but growing up we had one cat that would pee anywhere but the box. We used equal parts vinegar and water, with a dash of lemon juice to make it smell nice. It really got rid of that urine smell.

I have a question. I sweat like crazy, and even my work clothes have stinky pits. I mean, I understand my casual clothes that I actually move in, but at the office I just sit at the computer! You just don't work up a sweat! Anyway, I pre-wash the pits with Oxy-Clean, and it seems to help, but is there a greener way? What about a green but super-powerful deodorant?

I don't think anyone has mentioned this one, but if you really, really need something like Ajax for some hard scouring, try Bon Ami! It's usually sitting right next to it and cheaper even. It's a great nontoxic scourer and doesn't leave all that grit that pumice does. It's usually even safe for fiberglass!

To get rid of ants, use a cedar spray. NOT a cedar-scented air freshener, but a closet spray like this one that contains real cedar oil. It kills the ants plus gets rid of the pheromone trail that attracts all their little buddies.

http://www.myfullerbrush.com/cedar-spray.htm

Well, dang it, I don't have time right now to read the comments but I'd love to later because I'm sure there are some good tips here.

Laurie, I've kinda sorta been thinking about the nontoxic road to cleanliness myself, I mean again. I already use baking soda for the sinks and tub. I used to use vinegar and water in the kitchen but no one liked the smell. Maybe I shouldn't have quit for that reason, though, because the vinegar smell doesn't linger. I could add essential oil to the mix. I've thought about my little gato, too, (er, well, my big, fat gato, he needs to lose weight) since he's a housecat like yours.

This is really cool that you are doing this! It's a motivation for me to start back on that road again.

For the soapy scum on shower doors, undiluted citrus oil works better than ammonia, I think. It's vert satisfying, because the soapy stuff just dissolves.
Also, I totally get the Al Gore thing. Tell me some more about the ice caps, hon...

Hey Laurie - at home I have a book by the "Queen of Clean" - and she cleans EVERYTHING with vinegar/baking soda/wash flakes etc. The book I have at home is on cleaning the whole house and laundry (there's even instructions on how to clean out your dishwasher!) :)

Also - I use my magic erasers to clean off my shower doors :)

Once you get the shower doors sparkly, put on a light coat of Rainex (used for windshields, sold at auto store) on the interior and then squeegee the doors after each shower. It will take much, much longer for the buildup to return.

I use alcohol to clean out all those pesky bad memories. Chug a 12 pack of your favorite beer and POOF all gone, just like magic.

Another thing that works for ants is red pepper flakes. They don't like crossing that substance whatsoever! And you can get big cheap containers of them at costcutting shops (ie: Dollar store type places or Big Lots/Odd Lots).

I'm going to try the vinegar and baking soda in my drains, the bleach and baking soda on the darkened non-slip texture of my tub floor (I'll have to make sure I rinse REALLY thoroughly coz the kitten loves to hide in the tub and attack the other cats when they visit me while I'm answering the call of nature), and the Method stuff for the toilet. I'd like to try the baking soda on a cat barf spot, but I don't think the furry friends would leave the pile of it alone for that long. Maybe covering it with a sieve? Possibilities...

I love Kim and Aggie too, but I'm also quickly becoming obsessed with "You Are What You Eat" which is on BBC America too at 4 and 4:30 (eastern time zone). You should check it out! It is...well, you just have to watch and see...

I am a huge advocate of eco-friendly cleaning and absolutely LOVE your blog! So many great ideas for saving your planet and your health here. I especially loved the lemon juice trick for the shower head. (I too used to use CLR)

I wanted to share a great resource for knowing exactly what's in your household products. You just enter the name of the cleaner or a chemical and it tells you everything. It's the Household Products Database at http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/

I have two asthmatics in my home and can't use any harsh chemicals or anything with a fragrance so I use the shak1ee h2 on everything.

The bloggers here reminded me, I just have to invest in a new pair of birkenstocks!

You can clean your windows, mirrors and all the shiny stuff with only water and a cloth called Miracle Cham-EZ. No chemicals, no streaks, no dirt and practically no effort. They are available at Solutions.com for a very reasonable price.
Their only drawback....alas, I no longer have an excuse for grubby windows.

You can use the baking soda as a face scrub and hairwash, too - rinse your hair with diluted vinegar after. I've been using this for a while, and it works great. I mix the baking soda with honey and lavender oil.

And look for the oil cleansing method, too, for your skin. http://www.forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=5612 Again, works beautifully.

the Ecover laundry detergent is my pic, too. Hydrogen peroxide bleach is a better bet environmentally than chlorine bleach.

I heard a scary tale that the magic erasers are made of melamine.. nice in dishes, bad in our water or cat food.. so I have sworn off. I miss them. :-(

Regarding the Ajax. If you use that on surfaces like your tub for a long time it eventually starts removing the porcelain layer from the tub and looks absolutely awful. Our house was built in 1986 and I think the previous owner must have scrubbed the tub with such abrasives on a regular basis as the porcelain is much eroded around the drain area. I suspect that the baking soda/vinegar/dish soap combo is MUCH gentler. I know you are renting now, but later on you will want to preserve as well as clean your tub, and other like surfaces...you're so on the right path here.

I had to laugh a little (nicely) because my shift to using greener cleaning products was motivated by adopting a cat that just seemed to want to get into anything and everything! I used to help manage an animal shelter and when we first took over running it we had the damndest time getting the volunteers to stop using Pine-Sol - which is really so bad for the kitties.

I agree with everyone who gave points to the Method cleaning products - they are animal safe and smell lovely. And you can buy them online at drugstore.com!

I have to chime in on toilet cleaning -- just get a container of some kind that your toilet brush fits into, and keep a bit of soap (shampoo, natural cleaner, whatever) mixed with a lot of water in there. Every morning after your first "visit" and flush, grab the toilet brush and give it a quick swish around the bowl and rim. Germs and nastiness don't stand a chance if you swish them away every day. I also wipe the seat, lid and rim down with a wad of tp moistened with whatever's handy: alcohol, vinegar, or natural spray cleaner. Toilet is always clean and no more weekly chemical fests.

I haven't used chemicals for dusting in years -- I use an ostrich feather duster, and a damp rag when necessary. Thanks for the post, Laurie - I'm going to check out some of the Method and Mrs Meyers stuff.

Yeah, dryer sheets aren't your friend. There are some by Method (possibly available in Target, surely available online somewhere) that have essential oils in them, rather than the other chemicals that leave a coating on your fibers. Towels dried with regular dryer sheets are actually LESS absorbent because of this coating. Softer, but not as absorbent. Weird.

I also found some Arm & Hammer Essentials dryer sheets (again, at Target) that say they have biodegradable softening agents and no petroleum-based softeners, which would be an alternative to Bounce (which, again, basically covers your clothes in oil).

Oh, and just use the white vinegar on your showerhead--works just as well as lemon juice and is probably even cheaper. Just apply it as you did with the plastic bag. I have one of those "hand held" shower heads so all I had to do was put some vinegar in a bucket, which I put on top of another bucket, and lowered the shower head into it. However, your lemon juice does probably smell better than the vinegar...as K & A would say...perfectly lovely.

I definitely recommend baking soda, plus either lemon juice or vinegar (smellier, but cheaper) for most scrubbing-type jobs. I clean my bathtub with this concoction...wet the tub, sprinkle the baking soda, dribble the vinegar. It foams up most satisfyingly, and takes off all that man-incrustation my beloved leaves on the tub. And you thought there were no perks to being single. I also once cleaned burnt milk out of a saucepan with the baking soda and vinegar! My mother was amazed (and relieved. It was her pan).

I can't live without my big box of Borax! It is indeed an all purpose cleaner. I also have slightly hard water and I use Borax in the washing machine as a water softener. It is also excellent to wash all the pet blankies in as it gets that funky odor out. Also works on carpets that have had little "accidents" happen to them. I have also cleaned my hardwood floors with buckets of warm water and borax to get out the cigarette smoke from the previous owner. Once everything dried there was no smoke odor.
I am definitely going to try the lemon juice on my shower head....where would one get lemon oil?
I must second (or third and fourth) the warning about tea-tree oil, it is highly toxic to many species especially parrots. It also should not be used around pregnant women (or anything pregnant I imagine).

Yeah, Kim and Aggie have really inspired me to try some alternative methods for cleansers and I bought a gigantia bottle of vinegar the last time I need to clean out a clogged drain. Baking soda and vinegar with a boiling water chaser really work!

I have also found a lot of these safe ingredients can be used in non-toxic gardening solutions too. Sprays for aphids, etc. I feel much better about living in my surroundings and I don't worry about my puppers (ancient ones at that) getting sick or hurt because of me.

good tips! I use lots of these and I'm trying to get rid of the chemicals, too. One question though, what's the point of recycling all those plastic bags, and then buying plastic buckets and caddies? :D

Wonder why we're all thinking green now?

I've been slowly moving away from regular laundry detergent in hopes of making my own. Here's a link to the recipes-
http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/category_s/25.htm

For people not living in a small town (unlike me), you can buy the three main ingredients to make your own soap at a regular grocery store. It is supposed to work great AND last loads longer than the other stuff.

Haven't quite made it past the stinky smell of vinegar in my laundry- it's supposed to be a great softner.

I get rid of ants with good, old Southern Grits. That's right- put grits on the ant hills, or in tiny little trays with something sweet like honey- the ants eat them and it blows up their tiny little bodies. And it won't hurt the cats (or kids). It's worked for me for the last seven years, outdoors and in.

Another good link:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/healthy-home/household-hints

Much Southern "hey, y'alls!" to you-
Kim in NC

Emy - Arm & Hammer makes dryer sheets?! That would totally convince me to give up my Bounce. I'll have to look for them - thank you!

Borax kills mold too. I had some on one of my basement cupboards and read somewhere that if you make a solution of warm (not hot) water and borax (I used abt a tablespoon) and wiped the area down - don't rinse! - it would kill the mold. Tried it and yay! No more mold. Also use it on my grout 'cos I can't stand the smell of bleach. Still use it on my whites, but considering I only wash those about twice a month, it's not too bad.

Have you tried the Enjo range of cleaning cloths? I live in the country where I collect my own work and dispose of it via a septic system. I do not use chemicals at all. I use the Enjo range of cleaning fibres with a special cloth for bathroom, kitchen, dusting, polishing, floors etc. They aren't cheap to purchase first up, but when you think you need never purchase another chemical in your life, it more than makes up for it. All you need is a little water. And yes, they do work. I've used them for seven years now. I also run a very large dental practice (8 dentists and four surgeries). We use Enjo cloths rather than chemicals because it is proven that less bacteria grows on surfaces on which Enjo cloths have been used over surfaces wiped with chemical cleaners and regular cloths. We are obliged by law to do regular batch tests on our surfaces and these tests show less bacteria than before, so I know this is a fact.
Good luck with your new cleaning regime.
Carol

dude, i've got seven pairs of birkenstocks. ;)

i've been using the seventh generation, ecover, and method lines of cleaning and laundry products for years; they're all good (though i like different ones from each line for different things). lemon juice, salt, vinegar, baking soda, and borax are all awesome, too.

@lynette -- try using the crystal deodorant rocks. you'll still sweat, but the odor will be greatly lessened.

I approve all your efforts. However, one word of caution before you attack that toilet bowl- I tried the same technique and the Borax turned to concrete in the commode. I don't know if I put in too much or dumped it in too fast, but it required a major effort to get out... I use Citrasolv for almost everything. It cleans great and smells good, too.

Someone asked how to safely dispose of chemical cleaners. You can google "hazardous household waste disposal" and your city and see if your city or somewhere nearby has a program. My city has a hazardous household waste clean-up day every few months. I took some things once and it was pretty cool - you drive into the designated area and there are all these people in space suits. It's like being on the X-files!

Have you tried any products by Method?
http://www.methodhome.com/

They're terrific!

First, I want to say that although I live in North-er TX, I am going to do my darndest to come see you in Houston/Katy!

When my twinsies were born 10 yrs ago, I decided to get all the toxic stuff out of the house, including bleach. Kids (especially 2 boys) get into stuff, no matter how you lock it down. What followed was years of trying different suggestions and ideas til I found the ones that worked. About 2 yrs ago, I started a natural homecleaning business. Like regular cleaning services, but better for all involved. Here's some of my favorite stuff (I love your favorite stuff blogs!): Ecover toilet cleaner; works great, smells good. Seventh Generation shower cleaner and also their degreaser and dish soap. All of them work well, and I like Seventh Gen because they disclose all their ingredients. For your windows, just plain club soda (seriously). Put it in a spray bottle (I let it sit open overnight to get the bubbles out), spray it on, then wipe with a paper towel, newspaper, or my new favorite, microfiber cloth. If you've used Windex before on your glass, it might streak at first. Once that residue is gone, it works like a charm. Zero smell. If you accidentally spray your toothbrush, it won't taste funny. Or make you sick. I have an all-purpose cleaner that I make, and I'm happy to share the recipe-- email me :) Oh, and for calcium/mineral buildup in the shower, I just discovered Ecover's calcium/limescale remover. It's pretty powerful citric acid, and even though it's natural, I use it with care. Read the label to make sure it will work on your surfaces, too.

Anyway, I know this has gotten long... finally my book recommendations; I've checked out just about every green cleaning book I can find from the library, and these are the two I found with the best simple + effective recipes: Clean House, Clean Planet, by Karen Logan, and Better Basics for the Home, by Annie Berthold-Bond.

I'm sure Al Gore is suitably impressed by your initiative and wants to marry you!

Hmm... Lyda wants to know if poison tree frogs emit hallucinogenic fumes when dragged across a shower door...

I say, we can only hope.

:)

If you can't imagine life without Bounce dryer sheets (I've never used dryer sheets and but still avoid being stuck to passing strangers with my staticked clothes) then you could always make your own. Clean fabric squares or sponges with a diluted fabric conditioner will do exactly the same job without the price or the waste. This website http://frugalupstate.blogspot.com/2006/01/frugal-laundry-clothing-care.html has some very good tips including a recipe for homemade dryer sheets. It's a really fab site all round.

You may want to ix-nay the magic eraser. I'm not 100%, but I think they have formaldehyde in them.

I've with everyone who's mentioned using baking soda as an Ajax substitute. I do battle with the bathroom, and the hard water stains in the toilet bowl and the crud in the tub are no match for just straight applications of baking soda and a wet sponge. And there is no smell. My poor husband is so sensitive to cleaning agents that even Simple Green will close his airways, so anything that has absolutely NO STINK is my hero.

Magic erasers DO NOT contain formaldehyde (I mentioned this back when I first put them on my Things I Love list). It's an urban myth.

See:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/eraser.asp

The manufacturer addresses this concern here:
http://www.homemadesimple.com/sites/en_CA/mrclean/ME_Truth/index.shtml

And I don't see how Al could possibly prefer Tipper to you.

Jeannie, I'm holding out hope that Al will ... you know. Be free one day ;) heheheheh. Hotness, southernness and the man can wield some mad powerpoint!!

Thanks Julianne I appreciate the tip - that's a great idea :)

A few people have mentioned microfibre cloths and I totally agree! There's lots of brands, just look for the ones that look like fine terry-cloth. Use one dampened with whatever cleaner you like, or even just water (really, plain water!) and follow with a dry one to clean and dry glass. Use a damp one to clean anything, even the greasy stove-top (but wait until it's cooled down, OK?). Clean porcelain surfaces in the bathroom like the sink and the tub (add some baking soda if you're cleaning my awful old bathtub.) Wash in them in the machine and they're good as new.

I am going to read up on all the Kim and Aggie say. Thanks for the link.
Love those magic erasers too. Especially excellent for crayola products.

If you're not happy with the lemon/borax thing, you gotta try the Ecover toilet bowl cleaner- it's pine fresh, just like it says right there on the bottle, and it really works!

oh and hey Rhett- those microfiber cleaning cloths are great for dusting- use them dry, no spray needed- they pick up and hold almost everything, then you just wash and reuse them. When they finally get less than grippy enough for dust, they're great for using damp on counters, windows, outside of toilet, floor, anything. With those I find I need very little in the way of any product, green or otherwise!

Thanks for all the good ideas, I love to get away from the chemicals. I haven't used a magic eraser since I seen on a tv show that it contains something can cause cancer. They listed a bunch of household hold products that are banned in the UK because of health risks but we have them here in canada.

A few more tips: Cook's Country magazine (who exhaustively review everything!) this month says Seventh Generation and Method dish soaps actually clean better than Dawn and the rest ... it has to do with surfectants coming from vegetable sources rather than petroleum ones. Also, have you discovered Dr. Bronner's soaps? They come in lovely scents - almond, lavender, eucaplytus, etc. Look at the health food store - it cleans everything from hair to cloth diapers. A lot of people take it camping because it's so mild and versatile. A stiff paste of baking soda or borax and Dr. Bronner's will satisfy ANY Ajax craving (or Soft Scrub with Bleach, my cleaning vice!) Schmear some on the toilet brush and scrub away because it works really well. And it's a fun concoction to make. :)

when we changed to a house with septic, i decided to end bleach products alltogether. i had started in my old house anyway. i soaked the whites that were badly stained or dingyin oxyclean and hot water. then used more oxiclean in the hot water wash with regular detergent, and fabric softener. much better than bleach i think. no leftover bleach smell on laundry either. here, i dont have a soaking sink, but still use oxiclean on light colors. it will strip the color out of darks though.

baking soda is an amazing scrub for all shiny surfaces. doesnt scratch glass! good for toothpaste as well. i wouldnt mix it loose in a wet solution though, as it seems to be best as a scrubbing agent.

the fumes from some citric acid (orange cleaners) can be overpowering as well, so be careful with them too. everything breaks down into chemicals anyway, so natural products are chemicals too. we just need to find the combos that are effective cleaners, but gentle on our bodies.

I, too, am slowly making the switch to non-toxic cleaners. I have leafed through the book "Greening Your Cleaning" by some chick or other, before I gave it to a friend for her birthday ("Happy birthday, chicky! Go clean something!") and it was pretty damned eye-opening and helpful - might want to check that out.

As for a product that will cover the all-purpose cleaning spray, I use Method's "Go Naked" spray (because then I can say I'm going to go get nekkid whenever I clean). It's GREAT - I am VERY sensitive to most cleaning products, but this stuff has only the faintest odor, and it works great on glass, the tubbie, the sink, and the terlet (but not inside - I haven't let go of my gel stuff with Teflon for the inside of the bowl yet). And you can get it at Tarzhay, so what's better than that! Although Trader Joe's has a great cleaner (although it's not quite as good on glass) that's cedarwood and something else I don't remember because it's late and I'm tired, but it's nice and non-chemically, and I use it almost everywhere else in the house. Lovely fresh smell (if you like the smell of cedarwood and whatever-the-hell-else-it-is!)

I didn't read all the comments so I might be redundant.

There are a "series" of books by the Queen of Clean that have tons of non-chemi ideas. My favorite is mixing bleach and baking soda to make a paste to clean grout. Just slop it on, close the door, wait a while and remove. No scrubbing involved. Make sure you remove anything cloth (ie towels) because bleach fumes will bleach, too.

My granny always had vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, Octagon soap, Murphy's oil soap, ammonia, borax and bleach. Bleach was only for white laundry, and a solution of one ounce per pint of water for sanitizing the bathroom. I adopted all of Granny's cleaners for the same reasons as you several years ago -- full time indoor pets, which at the time included a lot of fish, which are sensitive to everything. The thing that kept me going when I quit smoking was imagining all the little lungs in our house breathing all that secondhand smoke.

I do use Barkeeper's Friend for cleaning kitchen surfaces, and Murphy's Oil soap for our wood floors.

You can replace bleach by soaking whites in the washer w/hot (or warm, to please Al Gore) and borax--let it soak an our or so. Washing soda is a TERRIFIC degreaser, soak dish towels in hot water and washing soda and see the oil slick on top the next morning.

If you find you still need Oxiclean (or similar) to get your whites white when you use a biological washing powder you could try this: put the washload on in the evening and, once the tub is filled and the laundry swooshed about a bit (so all the washing powder is dissolved and everything nicely wet and mixed up) switch OFF, or Pause if you machine lets you, until the morning. The fabric gets a good long soak and the chemicals in the biological washing powder get a chance to work. I haven't used Oxiclean for nearly a year now, since I got my new washing machine and it made so much noise that I had to pause the washload during the films on TV in the evening and then forgot to turn it back on again. Suddenly everything was so much cleaner and I put fewer things back into the washing machine for another trip through the wash.

Also, if you are looking for cleaning recipes:
http://stretcher.com/stories/04/04jan19d.cfm
I've used many of these. They work as well as the expensive stuff from the shops. Especially the carpet shampoo - three kids and two cats and one cream carpet - it really is a lifesaver!

Someone was asking about dusting. I'm assuming you meant what to use instead of Endust. Endust basically just makes the dust cling to the rag, right? So here's an eco friendly trick: cut nylon pantyhose legs into 6 inch lengths, stack a bunch of them together parallel to one another, and tie a piece of string firmly in the middle -- you're making a large, floppy pom-pom. Wash this in the sink, wring it out and run it through the dryer without a dryer sheet. This creates static electricity which makes dust cling to it. This realy works!

Golly jeez! I couldn't wait to move back to Alaska from Katy TX. Now I am back and loving it, but see that you will be at Yarntopia in Katy in just a few weeks--it didn't exist when I lived there but was within walking distance from my old house. Poor me, who won't be able to come listen to your words of wit and wisdom.
Come to Alaska, OK? There's lots of knitters here and plenty of folks who need your self-helpyness. And it's cool enough to wear warm clothes and knit almost all year round.

Oh, and the reason why I became a convert to baking soda? You know how you end up with baked on stuff on your Pyrex baking dishes? (I know you don't cook often but imagine that you do.) Well, that glass is fragile and so you have to be careful what you use on it. And I was kind of freaked over using anything toxic on a container that would hold stuff that I would be eating. The answer was baking soda. And then when my mother's porcelain sink became stained? Baking soda. It is like the eighth wonder.

Lurker here. I'm wondering if you ever get down this far into the comments but I just have to say "Trust the lemon juice" and trust Aggie. Soak a little into any old towel and wipe down the shower and tub. It will smell beautiful in one swipe and look gorgeous in a couple more.

And baking soda . . . be still my heart. It is magic on sinks and stovetops and pyrex and counter tops and teeth . . .

My cleaning arsenal is really only baking soda, lemon juice, vinegar and good linen or cotton cloths.

Arm & Hammer actually has a website with uses for their baking soda: www.armhammer.com I am taking copious notes from this post & attendant comments.

The best substitute for Windex is to brew strong tea and let it cool. Then pour it into a spray bottle and clean your windows with that and newspaper for a sparkling clean shine with no stinky fumes. The tannic acid in the tea cuts through all sorts of crud.
And it's good for cats :-)

I cleaned my fiberglass shower with Borax & lemon juice a couple of weeks ago. It was fun and smelled a lot better than the alternatives. I did some scrubbing (and yeah, I used the lemons as scrubbers) then let it sit for a bit before rinsing.

As a fellow fan of Kim and Aggie, I wanted to let you know that the soda crystals they talk about are sold as Arm & Hammer Super Washing Powder (in the grocery laundry section) here in the States. Don't use that on a fiberglass bath, but you can use that instead of borax on porcelain. It's a good laundry booster, too. Apologies if you know all that.

I need to go write something for my blog about what led up to the borax and lemon scenario...you'd probably relate. Let's just say a little black light is DANGEROUS! Oh, and while I don't always do before and after photos, I am known for cleaning HALF of something, then waiting for my partner to come home to show her 'before' and 'after.' Makes my day...

P.S. Heidi is right about borax for mold. Many mold specialists say it is superior to bleach (and far less toxic, obviously).

Just have to add my recipe for cleaning everything. In a 2 litre bottle combine half cup white vinegar, 1 cup ammonia, half cup washing soda, fill up with water. I use this to wash: floors, toilet, stove, walls, windows, inside fridge and microwave, ceiling fans, just about everything. Pour some in a spray bottle and away you go.

If you're scrubbing soap scum (bathtubs and sinks, that kind of thing), use normal salt on a damp cloth. Abrasive, rinse off, polish.

Hey, I missed the day of the redecorating post and I haven't read anyone else's post but if you can't pain and can't put up wallpaper, you can use liquid starch to put up fabric on your walls. http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_walls_other/article/0,,HGTV_3805_1375532,00.html

laurie, there's a podcast by a couple of california gals that i found in the last week. it's called more hip than hippie. they're a couple of moms who want to be friendly to our planet, but don't want to get out the birki's. there's a line in their theme song that says 'tofu sucks', if that gives you an idea of where they stand. here's their website: http://www.morehipthanhippie.com/ good luck! this is a battle i fight every day too. love me some 409!!! but i love my 4 kids more...

I can't stand the smell of white vinegar but cider vinegar is bearable and seems to work just as well. So that might be an option for those who have mentioned that they didn't like the smell of vinegar.

Also I just checked the Ph Scale and lemon juice is more acid than vinegar (2.3 vs. 2.8) - so the juice may be the way to go for those hard water buildups.

There is a cleaning product line out called Method. I absolutely love it! I have only been able to find it at Target or on their website MethodHome.com Their motto is people against dirty. Its all natural products and there is a wide variety, from detergents, to hand soaps etc. I am addicted to the White Tea hand soap along with all the sweet water products they carry. I am not big on the floor cleaners, but everything else works great. Give it a try, you should love it.

We struggled with our toilets for years - our water is hard with lots of minerals and well..the upstairs toilet just was nasty. I tried all sorts of stuff and was concerned about the septic system and all of that. Plus, some of them really did not work. The only thing that does is this: empty the toilet and replace the contents with a gal. of vinegar. Swish the stuff up the sides and under the rim. Close the lid and tape it down (that's more to keep people from using it). Leave for 30 min. and flush. I usually don't need to brush it at all. Works every time.

Congrats on making the switch! Good for you that you're using vinegar, baking soda, etc. BUT if you find that too daunting in the long run, Method cleaning products are available @ Target among other places, Simple Green is eco friendly and your house will smell like you've been cleaning (but in a good way), and Trader Joe's (LOVE THEM) has lots of eco friendly household products, too.

Also, I think the Oxy-Clean products are pretty safe, but I could be wrong on that.

Oops! Two things I forgot. 1) regarding dryer sheets - I've heard that one of the popular ingredients is animal fat. Basically, you're covering your clothes in lard. Nice.

2) Don't knock the Birks until you've tried them. If you shop for them @ QVC.com, they have lots of very cute styles that you'll never find anywhere else.

If you ever want to try nd replace your mhic eraser, look into the e-cloth. That thing is trule magic - you can wash it repeatdly and it really cleans everything with just water. even the nasty fume hood over my stove and crayon off the wall.

expensive at the outset, but saves a ton of money.

Why do my posts always get deleted?

I haven't deleted anything. Are you sure it was on this post, Becky?

i have a tip that i just tried for cleaning the bath tub: make a paste of baking soda, peppermint essential oil (or any other kind), and some dr. bronner's soap. it makes a really gentle, nice smelling soft scrub, and it WORKS. :)

Dryer balls rock! (And who wouldn't want drier balls?) Honestly, I don't miss my dryer sheets. You get used to not having perfumey smelling clothes. I am also happy to be able to stand next to lit candles again ... :)

Nope, never sure of anything! LOL But I did accidentally double post it so maybe that is why. Who knows.

We have really hard water in Santa Barbara too. I do the same thing with my shower head as you do, except I use white vinegar. My shower head has no scale at all. Lemon juice smells better, I will try that next time. I have used Borax and Baking Soda for scrubbing sinks and toilets for a long time. Every time I use it, I am amazed that it works as well as it does. Every so often, I put Borax into the toilet and let it sit there for a while. Because I like soaking more than scrubbing. It hardens up and I have to break it up with something. Don't let it sit too long. Baking Soda is fine though.

This is mind-blowing, but true.

For glass shower doors, use a dryer sheet and a splash of plain old warm water. You won't believe your eyes!

- Christy

Didn't bother to read the 181 previous comments, so pardon if this tip was already mentioned :)

As an alternative to Borax and lemon juice, I use vinegar and baking soda on everything. For greasy grime, I add a few drops of dish detergent (don't stone me, I use *gasp* Palmolive).

Vinegar works great on hard water stains, too. A little spritz from a spray bottle everyday keeps everything sparkly clean. And the smell disappears when it dries.

You know, I always made sure my beauty stuff was natural.. I use homemade soap, and tend to stick to stuff like olive oil as a moisturizer and makeup remover, tea tree oil for blemishes, etc.

But here I am, slopping 409 and bleach and who knows what else around.

I am definitely going to pick some stuff up on the next grocery trip. Since I dye lots of wool, I have plenty of vinegar, so that's a start. And this is going to be interesting, since I live with a boy human and a boy cat, and things can get gross at times!

a site where you can check out the products you use for toxcicity.
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1

Methodhome.com have very reasonably priced cleansers that smell nice too. The brand name is Method.

Yes, yes, yes!!!

Love this post, C.A.P. We here in Valley Scorch are synchronized in our striving for "Greenness."

My boss is writing about it:

http://jillieofthevalley.vox.com/library/post/why-green.html

Ps,

When are they coming around your 'hood to pick up the hazardous stuff? I threw away my notice.

Serious Grease: Dawn dish washing liquid. Not o-so-organic, but GREAT for after frying stuff.

Medium Grease: Paste of Baking soda and water (actually, your stomach produces bicarbonate (baking soda) to break down fats in your tum! I'm SUCH a bio0-nerd!)

Hard water & soap scum on bathroom tile: Plastic mesh scrubby puff (usually used for your bod) and Borax combined with a little soap. Works like magic!

I like to use a little bleach in the toilet bowl once a week just to make sure I've gotten the thing reaaallly clean. Other days I just do the Flylady squirt of whatever soap is handy and swish.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/27538777/

Didn't you organize your books by color? I saw this Flickr photo and was reminded of your blog. Now I have to do this.

great entry. after your entry on how clean is your house, we started watching it, and i am a convert. really. though i'm baffled by borax. is it the same borax you buy to keep away cockroaches? we weren't really sure if there was some mystical uk borax we weren't aware of.

Ok. This is just too cool. I went chemical free nearly a year ago when I didn't have my toothpaste on a camping trip and used my kids' only to discover it was full of saccharin. Definitely going to try the lemon trick. This chemical free gig is addicting, though. Have you given up shampoo and soap yet? Just wait until an accidental whiff of Lysol or someone's perfume gives you an asthma attack!