Tuesday, June 10, 2008

How does your house get clean?

I'm finally catching up on work and personal email after my trip to Mexico (no I didn't buy carbon offsets - I know I suck) and visited BabyCenter - it went green! Just kidding, it was just a couple of posts. But, I saw in the comments of this blog post that people are just in LOVE with bleach. I have memories growing up of a sink full of a bleach/water mixture 'cleaning' our white enamel sink. I hated having to put my hand down in that to pull the stopper - it hurt! - and I did occasionally ask my dad to do it for me. I've never liked the smell of bleach; so I've never used it in my house as a general cleaner, just in the laundry. I did, however, use a plethora of chemicals to clean our three bedroom two bath home. Scrubbing bubbles, toilet cleaner, formula ### - you name it. But several years ago - the dot com bust actually - we went through some not so fun times and one of the things I did was make my own cleaning products. So I've really been using vinegar for a while, but I have recently discovered baking soda. I now use it when I clean the bathroom; the tub, toilet and sink, and the kitchen as well. My friends joke about how we should have a soap-making party (they joke, not so much me) and I recently read about a group doing Green Cleaning parties. It's like a Tupperware or Avon party - only not earth-killing. But I'm not sure if I could justify the cost of paying for that when I could just do it myself, we'll see.

Anyway, so how do YOU clean your house? Any ideas on a decent do-it-yourself dishwasher detergent?

2 comments:

Andrea Frazer said...

Hi -

Wanted to thank you for stopping by my BabyCenter blog. I am not a fan of bleach either. I have been using vinegar and water for a lot of things, and except for rare comments from friends like, "It smells like a douche in here" I am happy with it.

The baking soda I have not done. I guess I wonder if it kills bacteria like the store bought stuff. I obviously need to research more. Your site will be very helpful.

Next month - I'm making my all my cleaning products. Stay tuned for greatness or failure!

Anyway, great post. Thanks.

Adriana said...

Lotus Sanitizing System is EPA registered for produce and household surfaces just by using cold tap water.
• FDA and USDA approved process for food sanitation
• UL, CSA, GS, CE, CQC tested and approved
• Kills 99.9 % of: E. coli, Salmonella, Staph, Listeria, K. Pneumonia
• Works 3000 times faster and 50% more powerful than chlorine bleach