Tips on keeping clean home and clean environment

Tag : Micro-Fiber Towels

It wasn’t that I was skeptical that other glass cleanerscould do as good a job or better than Windex, it’s just thatI grew up with this brand and never really thought about trying anew one.
A friend of mine who is a kitchen designer pushed me to at leasttry some non- toxic household cleaning products. I had embracedplant-based laundry detergents a year ago once I learned that Tidewas made from petroleum so why not forge ahead on thisenvironmental-learning voyage.
I had no idea what Windex is made from. I just knew it seemed towork fine and smelled strong. My friend Kathy pointed out to methat for most families the exposure to harmful toxins is muchgreater in the home than outside.
So how bad is this indoor air pollution? According to the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency, pollutant levels indoors, where wespend 90 percent of our time, may be two to five times higher, even100 times higher, than levels outdoors.
Many household cleaning products contain harmful chemicals.Unfortunately, manufacturers of cleaning products are not requiredto provide a full declaration of all their ingredients. Someresearch on the Internet reveals that Windex Glass Cleaner cancontain Ammonia and 2-Butoxy ethanol.
Ammonia is a corrosive chemical that can burn skin and eyes and itsfumes can irritate the lungs. Ammonia is on the hazardoussubstances list and if it is accidentally mixed with chlorinecontaining products it can create dangerous, noxious gases.
The neurotoxic solvent, 2-Butoxy ethanol, is one of the most toxicof the glycol ethers. Many Web sites I found linked chemical windowcleaners to reproductive disorders, kidney damage, liver damage,bone-marrow damage and tumors.
OK. Now that I have your attention, maybe it is worth trying a newsolution for cleaning your windows.
Fortunately there are many safe window cleaners with no harmfulfumes or vapors. Many cleaners can be made at home with simpleingredients like vinegar, while others can be purchased at localstores and online.
One of the cleaners I tried and am now a convert to is the GETCLEAN, Basic H Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate by Shaklee,www.shaklee.net.
In my kitchen-window home test, I compared several windows cleanedwith Windex next to those cleaned with the Shaklee Window Cleaner.The results were unmistakable. The windows cleaned with Shaklee GETCLEAN were much cleaner and showed no streaks or film left on thewindow.
So how does this natural product compare in cost to the Windex Inormally use? After getting used to spending more for organic food,I was surprised to learn that the Shaklee organic window cleanerwill save me money. One 16 oz bottle of GET CLEAN, Basic H OrganicSuper Cleaning Concentrate will make the equivalent of 5,824bottles of Windex 24 oz.
The Basic H2 Concentrate costs only $ 12 and can be used forgeneral cleaning purposes as well. To make the window cleaner, itonly takes 2 drops of concentrate from the dropper provided (moredrops causes streaks) to mix with 16 oz of water. To make theAll-Purpose cleaner, it takes ¼ teaspoon of concentrate mixedwith 16 oz water.
Another thing I feel good about is that I will be using the samespray bottles for years and not bringing new waste into the house.I bought two re-useable spray bottles from Shaklee for $ 7.50 each— one labeled window cleaner and one labeled all-purposecleaner and I will mix up my cleaning solutions with theconcentrate. The bottle of concentrate should last me a coupleyears. Shaklee products are not available in stores, but can bepurchased from local distributors.
If you are interested in learning more about these cleaningproducts for your home or boat — better for the ocean,contact any local Shaklee distributor you may know or KathyMarshall at 978 468 7199, or www.shaklee.net/kathymarshall/getclean.
Another safe and inexpensive recommendation for cleaning yourwindows is the old fashioned method of vinegar and water. Some homerecipes suggest mixing in a spray bottle 1 cup water with 1tablespoon white vinegar. Variations of this recipe include adding¼ teaspoon liquid castile soap and shaking solution beforeeach use.
Many local stores in Beverly are increasing their offering fororganic products, window cleaners included. At Wild Oats HealthFood Store in Beverly Farms you can find two well recommendedorganic window cleaners. Dragonfly Organix Glass and Shiny SurfaceCleaner is safe, organic and made in Massachusetts. Ecover Glassand Surface Cleaner has the added bonus that it can cut grease andgrime as well, but is made in Belgium so it takes more carbonemissions to get here.
Another product, which some people recommended to me, is the ClearPower Glass Cleaner, which can be found at the catalogue and onlinestore Melaleuca at www.melaleuca.com.
Until recently, I used paper towels to clean my windows but justswitched over to a re-useable micro fiber window cloth available inmany stores and from Shaklee for $ 4.50. This cloth can be easilywashed in the laundry, saves on purchasing paper towels and reducesthe number of trees cut down to make the paper.
Many people suggest using old newspaper to clean the windows but Ithink I will stick with the cloth.
Feels good to get rid of many toxic products in my home and replacethem with natural, biodegradable cleaning agents that will breakdown easily and not hang out in the ground for hundreds of years.
Thanks to those of you who have been doing this for years. I stillhave a long way to go on this environmental learning voyage. If anyof you have some good tips on safe, natural lawn care and weedkiller, please send them my way. If I get enough provenrecommendations, I will be happy to write a column on safe andeffective lawn care.
Lisa Lillelund lives in Beverly and is a regular columnist for the Beverly Citizen . Lisa welcomes your comments at lisa@mangonetworks.com.