Following on from Betty Jo’s guest post from yesterday I simply googled “alternative cleaning products” and below I have included some of the interesting sites I found. I have also included a site seemingly from an opponent of the home formulated cleaning products movement just to balance things out.
Sites with recipes & tips for alternative household cleaners
- http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm
- http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm
- http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/4672/Cleaning-Products–A-healthy-alternative-for-self-and-planet/
- http://environmentallysafecleaningproducts.net/
The alternative view to alternative household cleaners
That will be quite enough reading for you for one day so I will sign off right here and leave you to it.
ITEM 254 OF 365 LESS THINGS
An example of how things perish when left unused for a long time. Elastic is particularly susceptible to this.
Your comment with the picture, about how some things like elastic deteriorate when left unused, rang some bells with me. I have been going through my closet dealing with clothing that has been unused for a number of years. So many things are now completely unusable because of bad elastic, yellowed material (especially places like necks and underarms, even though the clothing was well-laundered before storing), or even breakdown of the fabric. Even if I had ever wanted to wear those things again, I couldn’t, because of the aging in storage. It’s a really good incentive to not store anything else, even if it is currently “in good shape”.
I once read about a woman who had a blouse that she loved so much that she bought two, and stored the second one. She felt awfully clever knowing that she’d have this favorite blouse for years and years. But when the first one did wear out, and she got out the replacement blouse, it deteriorated very quickly. Even though it wasn’t being washed and worn, just the act of sitting around waiting to be used had shortened its life.
Hi Cindy,
that is not uncommon, anything with an elastic element is sure to deteriorate without use.
Hi Jo,
glad to be of help. Did you try one of those oxygen activated cleaners to remove the stains. I find they are usually very good but use them sparingly only when necessary.
No, I hadn’t thought of that – thanks for the idea!
Thank you for this! I have just come across your blog and this post is a great help for using less chemical products. I think I’ll try baking soda for toothpaste, maybe even deodorant if I’m daring.
Interestingly, I recently bought a reusable coffee cup and they recommended using lemon wedges in boiling water as a good way to properly clean it.
Hi Tom,
thanks for taking an interest in my site and welcome to the comments section.
I love that lemon juice idea but actually I hadn’t thought to clean the coffee cups at my work with the lemon. I will do that when I get back from vacation. Thanks for the thought.
That last link to the site of the household chemists association (or whatever it was) cracked me up. I can’t belief their ridiculously lame attempts to not only defend their chemical cleaning products (that I can believe) but to also imply that making your own cleansers from vinegar, etc. (cue the scary music) might … go … wrong.
Hi Cindy,
I felt the same way when I looked at that site but I thought I should put in a rounded view of the subject.
I have notice while on vacation and living in hotels7pensiones that judging from the smell (and not a bad smell either) that a lot of laundries over here use vinegar as a fabric softener for towels. I have heard of this before and it must work or they wouldn’t be doing it.
I’ve never heard of that. I don’t use fabric softener at all. Everything comes out fine and soft; don’t know what the point would be.
Having lived in England and Italy, vinegar is what they use to help whiten as well as soften clothes. My hubby HATES the smell, but I normally can’t tell (I use a tad to help freshen the load {we have a dog}) but with hotel lines I can.
Hi Gen I add a couple of drops of essential oils to the vinegar to give the wash a nice smell. I am get to discover whether it will cause any sort of build up in the machine. I only use a very small amount.
I actually gave up on the vinegar idea there for a while, because I didn’t get wonderful results, until one of my other readers mentioned it again and I decided to give it another go. I think that the more you use it the more it eliminates all the chemical build up in the clothes and it then shows its real ability. The bonus is that it also help to keep your machine from going mouldy. It is all I use now.