How Do You Find Eco Friendly Store Bought Cleaners?

Not everyone wants to make their own cleaners for their home, even when it’s as simple as baking soda and vinegar for many jobs. Some prefer to buy cleaner that have been made for them. The hard part is getting past the claims and finding products that are more environmentally friendly and safer for your family.

What do you look for?

There area few clues, and labels proclaiming that the product is “all natural,” “green” and so forth really aren’t it. Too many of these claims are not regulated and are in fact meaningless.

Clearly Marked Ingredients

The ingredients in general should be clearly marked. There are a lot of ingredients to look out for, such as anything derived from petroleum. There are a lot of ways these can be listed, such as mineral oil, propylene glycol, isopropyl alcohol, parabens, and many synthetic fragrances.

If you don’t know what’s in the cleaner, you don’t know what you’re using. A partial list isn’t enough.

Calling a product chemical free is misleading. While most of us would assume they mean dangerous chemicals, the simple truth is that nothing in this world is chemical free. Water is a chemical, for example. So is baking soda. Don’t let a label mislead you with this term.

Good Terms to See on the Label

There are several terms you do want to see on the labels of cleaning products. These include phosphate free, ammonia free, plant based, biodegradable, chlorine free, certified USDA organic, solvent free,  fragrance free, and dye or artificial color free.

Terms to Beware of

Some terms are there specifically to tell you that the product is dangerous to ingest or get on your skin. Even some natural products can have problems, such as essential oils that are better for you when diluted into a carrier oil. Natural does not equal safe, after all.

Poison and danger are the strongest terms. These are the products you most want to avoid, and doubly so want to keep away from your children.

Next come caution and warning. These have hazards, but not as bad as those labeled poison or danger. Still not thing you want to have around your home when you can avoid them.

Finally, if the package tells you to wear gloves or use in a well ventilated space, pay attention. These are hard on your skin or can make breathing difficult. They certainly aren’t healthy for you to have significant contact with.

Packaging

You can’t avoid packaging, even if you make your own cleaning supplies. But you can do your best to buy cleaning products in packages that can be reused, refilled or recycled. Reusable and refillable are of course the best.

Many genuinely eco friendly companies try hard to have refillable containers. It’s a part of their work to be kinder to the planet. Non-eco friendly companies can do this as well, so it’s not a real indicator.

Refills should be in either larger containers or in a concentrated form so that they use less packaging than the original container. Ideally these containers should also be recyclable, although the lack of available recycling facilities is a reality many of us have to deal with.

Generally Good Brands

While I can’t promise that every product offered by these companies will be good, these companies tend to sell cleaning products that are more eco friendly than others you will see on store shelves.

Simple Green Naturals
Dr. Bronner’s
Method
Seventh Generation

Is Scraping the Dishes Enough for Your Dishwasher?

These days I always hear that you don’t need to rinse your dishes before putting them into the dishwasher. They say with modern dishwashers and dishwasher detergents, it’s not only unnecessary, it makes it harder for the detergent to work correctly. They say the detergent breaks down the bits of food.

Does it work for you? It sure doesn’t for me!

It doesn’t matter if I use an eco friendly dishwasher detergent such as the one from Seventh Generation, or one of the usual suspects. If the dishes have more than an insignificant amount of food on them, I get food dust all through the glasses on the top shelf. It’s disgusting.

I do still need to try Ecover, which is well rated on Amazon.

My way of handling this is to scrape first. I have a good scraper my mother gave me, and spoons do a fair job on some surfaces too. Sometimes the flat and flexible surface of the scraper does a better job, though. An alternative to buying a scraper is to use an expired credit card – they’re flexible and have a good enough edge for the job.

Then a sink of water for rinsing, rather than running the faucet, at least if several are being done at once. Running the water is wasteful if there’s more than a few dishes to rinse.

Honestly, I’d love it if dishes only needed to be scraped to get clean in the dishwasher. A big part of why they’re supposed to be more water efficient is that you shouldn’t always need to rinse dishes now. Too bad it doesn’t work that way for me.

Does it work that way for anyone?

Have You Talked to Your Family About Being Green Lately?

If you’ve been working at being green for a while in your home, you probably figure your family is used to the idea. But have you talked about it? How does everyone feel about it? Are there more changes people would be willing to make?

It’s easy to slip into a comfort zone with any activity. We all do it. Having a family talk about how things are working out is good for making sure that resentments aren’t building and to come up with new ideas.

What Are the Problems?

Raising a green family isn’t easy and it’s not always fun for all participants. What is acceptable at one point may be turning into a burden as your kids get older, for example. Talking about how things are working gives everyone a chance to express their feelings, even if you don’t make changes.

What Are the Solutions?

Discuss what your family is willing to do to go green. Who is responsible for various activities? Why are you doing all of this anyhow?

Each family will have their own areas that are easier and harder to deal with. For some, growing an organic garden will be a pleasure, even when it comes to dealing with the compost pile. For others, it will be a chore, and possibly better replaced by joining a co-op or finding other organic or local food sources.

Go through the list of easy and hard eco friendly activities. When something is challenging, talk about how you can meet that challenge or simplify it.

Give everyone a chance to talk. If one of the kids is on the quiet side, encourage him or her to speak up. Not only is it good practice, it will help to ensure that they feel their concerns have been heard. I can tell you from experience that just because a quiet child doesn’t speak up readily doesn’t mean he or she lacks an opinion or isn’t resentful that things don’t go their way. It’s just incredibly hard for some people to speak up for themselves.

You can write down your solutions to help everyone remember what you’ve agreed to. Some things you will be able to schedule so that everyone will know when particular jobs need to be done. Other things will just be a part of the routine.

Talk Regularly

You don’t need to talk about these things daily, but do talk regularly. How often depends on what works for your family. Just remember to talk about it.

Is Big Oil Going After California’s Climate Legislation?

Quick answer, yes, Big Oil is targeting California’s climate legislation. Proposition 23 would cause California to only enforce it’s Global Warming Solutions Act when unemployment is under 5.5% for four consecutive quarters.

That doesn’t sound that bad until you understand that unemployment has only been that low three times since 1970.

Worse, as the article at Grist points out,  the clean energy law has created more jobs than it has damaged. Claiming that green energy solutions damage job creation is a common tactic used to make people think that it’s not something we can afford to do right now.

Funny, I always thought that new technology meant opportunity. Opportunity for individuals to get jobs and for new businesses to grow. Jobs are being created as new technologies become available and improve.

Of course, this isn’t about other businesses. This is about the oil companies protecting their profits. What happens to the rest of us doesn’t matter.

This is where it becomes important to pay attention to who is sponsoring a proposition, or any commercials supporting it. You can learn a lot here in California about what to vote for just by who’s trying to pass or defeat a proposition.

Keep an eye on this one. I expect some really nasty advertising to come around trying to pass Prop 23 in the coming months. I hope my fellow Californians don’t fall for it.

Treat Your Skin to Eco Friendly Care

Many popular beauty treatments you buy in the store really aren’t that good either for your skin or the environment. They give a temporarily good look, but in the long run they’re hard on your skin and may even be damaging.

It’s amazing how easy it is to make some basic beauty treatments at home with products that are much kinder to your skin and the environment. They won’t feel exactly like store bought products going on, but that’s not a bad thing at all. Do your best to find organic versions of these products. Fair Trade is a good choice also when you cannot find locally produced versions of these products.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil, especially organic, virgin, unrefined coconut oil is wonderful for your skin. You don’t need a lot. Just take a little and rub it in. It’s also very good for hair, but be very careful to not overdo, or your hair will appear oily.

Jojoba Oil

Jojoba oil has similar effects to coconut oil, but it is a much lighter feel. It is considered to be the most similar to the skin’s natural oils.

Shea Butter

Shea butter is another great choice for dry skin. Once again, organic and unrefined are the best choices, and you may be able to find Fair Trade shea butter. There are claims that shea butter can treat a variety of skin ailments, but I would suggest testing it out on your own.

Honey

Honey is an ingredient in many homemade facial recipes. The simple reason is that it’s great for most types of skin. It’s mildly antimicrobial and helps to keep skin moisturized. It can even be used to soothe cuts and burns. Raw honey is considered to be better by many people.

Egg Whites

The proteins in egg whites are good for your skin. Whip them, apply to your face, and let it dry for 15 minutes before rinsing off with cool water.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Many people are fans of the wide range of uses of apple cider vinegar. On your skin it acts as a natural toner and is great for the pH balance of your skin.

Essential Oils

Some essential oils are great for your skin. Others aren’t so research before you add any essential oil to your skin care regimen. They should always be added to a carrier oil such as coconut oil or jojoba oil, just a few drops per ounce. Lavender is a great choice for a relaxing scent. Tea tree oil is popular for its antiseptic effects.

There are many more products you can find around your home to care for your skin. The best part is that you can treat your skin wonderfully while spending less than you would for name brand products that might be damaging your skin in the long run.