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I am increasingly interested in being more earth-friendly, and with a young baby I would like to use cleaners that are safer. There are a ton of options out there and I am at a loss. Our budget won't allow me to just start buying products to try, so I'd love to get some recommendations for what you've tried and what works well (or what to avoid).
I'm interested in household cleaners - I've read good things about Babyganics. With a baby and cats, I also need a good carpet stain remover - I've read good things about Kids N Pets. I'm also interested in better laundry detergent - I'm getting into cloth diapering (prefolds and covers), but we also have very hard water and a front-loader (things I know make a difference). I'd love it if there was something good to use for all our laundry (not just the baby laundry). I've read good things about Arm & Hammer Essentials Free (and I can probably pick that up locally), Mountain Green Free and Clear, and Planet Ultra Liquid. I'm also considering a better dishwasher detergent, but haven't found many recommendations (again, our hard water is a concern).
Ideally, I'd like to find things that are not much more expensive than traditional cleaners (with the budget issue), but there seems to be a huge range in pricing. I don't mind ordering things online (though certainly, if it's available locally, that works too). So please, help me know what to try!
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My organic-everything friend swears by this stuff -- for laundry, for floors, counters, stains, etc.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Melaleuca has a line of safer, more environmentally friendly household and laundry cleaners called EcoSense. We use them and like them quite a bit, especially the Sol-U-Mel.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I really like Nova Scotia's Guide to Less-Toxic Products. The list starts about 1/4 the way down the page, and it includes both commercial products and (in most cases) homemade alternatives.
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Edited to add: Of course, you can also just use the links at the top of the page to jump to a particular type of product.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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That's funny. I use Simple Green all the time but I never figured it for being particularly environmentally friendly. It's great on grease/oil.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Heh, like Miro, I had never thought about Simple Green as being environmentally friendly. We often used it where I used to work.
We buy baking soda in the giant Costco size packages. I use it for cleaning my glass cooktop (and other places where I need gentle scouring). I'd love to learn other uses for it too!
Excellent suggestions (I love that product guide CT)!! Keep them coming!
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Replace your Windex with vinegar and water. Very green-friendly, and it does work--just takes a little more.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Steam cleaning is pretty darn clean/non-toxic/environmentally friendly (if you don't worry too much about how the electricity to generate the steam is produced - but hey you aren't buying products in disposable plastic containers so there's an offset). I think a good steam cleaner can replace most cleaning products. Might be a pretty big initial investment, though, and if you fed it with your hard water it would probably affect the amount of maintenance required and/or lifetime of the product.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Use Dr Bonner's castille soap as a stain treater. Get a little nail brush and scrub it in. Just as effective as stain treaters.
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I use it for cleaning my glass cooktop (and other places where I need gentle scouring). I'd love to learn other uses for it too!
