Green Clean Review

Bona Floor Cleaning Products

2009-08-28T18:25:00.003-05:00

I was fortunate enough to nab two bottles of Bona's floor cleaning products from Houston's eco-friendly home goods shop, New Living. When I bought my first house down here recently I was suddenly faced with a new substance to clean, one I'd never dealt with before- travertine. Travertine is in most of the houses I looked at down here in TX, at least somewhere on the property. It's common on newly remodeled shower walls, but also in dens/ adjacent to kitchens. It stays nice and cool in the scorching summer heat, so it has that advantage over wood at least. (Had we been able to choose I may have selected bamboo flooring instead.)

Anyway, I have read a lot about ways that different cleaning products can damage travertine, and we already have cracks in some of our tiles from foundational shifting. I wanted to be able to clean this stuff in my shower AND on my floor, and wanted to be able to use my existing microfiber mops.

I tried the spray cleaner first, and was impressed that it wasn't as much of a pain as I'd feared to spray while I walked around the room. I had been careful to vacuum the room first as per the directions, and the floors looked squeaky clean when I was done. (Then one of my dogs peed on them, as it was lightening out and she gets hysterical. Thanks, Mei.)

I was most interested in the floor polisher though- could it really make these tiles gleam? It claimed to provide a protective coating that will guard against damage in the future- that I definitely am in favor of.

The bottle said to keep traffic off the floors for 12 hours after use of the product for best results- and I knew that wasn't going to happen, as our stone floors are in the middle of the house and must be crossed to get anywhere. This stuff smelled a bit strong (I cannot think of what to compare it to), but it did seem to coat the tiles lightly. I'd say I was ... mildly pleased, as I'm not sure the results on my flooring are as dramatic as they might be on other kinds of stone, tile, or on laminate. (It's worth trying on your end, I think.)

I must admit, I am really intrigued by Bona's wood floor polishing products- I love the sight of a gleaming wood floor. I hadn't heard of this line before New Living tipped me off, but I haven't found anything else that even claims to be non-toxic to clean these floors with.

Oh, and my shower? That one was tougher. I gave it a good once-over with the cleaner, but I still cannot figure out how to deal with the mineral leaching (it looks like rust) coming off of the stones. It seems like a combination of their natural properties and my very hard water.

New (and not so new) things at the store

2009-07-10T17:50:00.007-05:00

I love Casabella products. Everything they do is so well-designed. Their sponges are attractive, I prefer their microfiber cloths to anyone else's, and I've waxed poetic about their magnet mop in the past (it's the best mop ever, I'm convinced). Anyway, I saw something cool in my local BBB today- a stylish spray bottle with three different types of microfiber cloth in it. And printed on the side of the bottle were formulas for making your own basic cleaning products from simple ingredients. If you happen to need either a spritz bottle, or microfiber products, it's pretty sweet.

I also saw the Method hand soap refill jugs for the first time at BBB- HUGE! If you use their hand soap, this is a pretty good deal. I haven't seen refills this size at Target or Whole Foods. This size doesn't seem to be available anywhere online-apartment therapy only saw it in person at Costco.
It seems like it was much cheaper at CostCo, actually. To my surprise, I like the smell of the Sea Minerals and the Green Tea+Aloe self-foaming hand soap. As a bit of a tangent, the spring limited edition Mrs Meyer's smell- snap pea- smells awesome, really like fresh peas! I'll link to it on drugstore.com, since mrsmeyers.com is no longer selling it.

Trader Joe's (HE) Liquid Laundry Detergent

2009-07-09T12:43:00.004-05:00

I should be grumpy at you, Trader Joe's. I just moved from Chicago, land of TJs, to Houston, and in the entire state of Texas there is not a single TJs. Not even in Austin. Nonetheless, I'll forgive TJs and lament the loss of their delicious lime habanero salsa.

First: A great, informative post on Earth friendly laundry detergents here.

Anyway, I was slightly concerned about buying TJs detergent because it only comes in a lavender EO scented variety, and my dog has experienced skin reactions to eco friendly scented detergents in the past, although I cannot see why he'd have a problem with lavender EO, per se. Especially in limited quanities. (I wash the dog beds and blankets as needed.)

Like the reviewer on grist, I've had fairly consistent results with all of the eco detergents I use, so your best bet is to go with one in your preferred scent (or scentless) and pay attention to cost effectiveness (which goes hand-in-hand with greater eco friendliness, in that if you're emptying bottles faster, you're creating more waste), and overall environmental impact of the formula.

So... the smell on this detergent is actually lovely. It's quite mild, and doesn't seem to linger through the drying process in my dryer. I have tested some grim stains on this stuff- red wine, salsa, bloody mary- and all came out easily. My clothes, towels, and bed sheet all feel soft when they come out of the dryer. If you have an HE washer, you won't need a ton of detergent, but even if you don't, this is a fairly concentrated product. The powder is even more so, as water is still an ingredient in the liquid version.

Alas, for me, I'll be going back to Seventh Generation Free & Clear, my old standby, as this isn't an option for me anymore.

p.s. A good run-through of the ingredients can be found on the greener one blog

J.R. Watkins Window Cleaner

2009-03-15T10:47:00.003-05:00

I thought all window and glass cleaner was created (fairly) equal(ly). Apparently I was wrong. Until we get rid of this mod glass dining table[1], I'll be using a lot of glass cleaner, so I decided to try the J.R. Watkins version. We've seen their products at Target before; my husband used to love their bay rum aftershave. It was only recently that I realized they sold cleaning products.

Always a sucker for scent, I nabbed the "Aloe and Green Tea", which just smells fresh and pleasant (and is lightly scented). I don't know if the aloe is what made this product so easy to wipe off, but it is! My glass got cleaner without nearly as much elbow grease. Huh....

It's sold online, ($4.69/bottle) but many Targets carry their full line.

1. Chicago area people, wanna buy it? It'd be nice to sell it before we move again. I have photos somewhere.

Earth Friendly Products Window Kleener

2009-03-06T12:26:00.004-06:00

I have a mod-style glass topped dining table. I'm actually not a huge fan of it anymore, but adored it when we bought it back in... 2003? The thing shows fingerprints like MAD, so I need a good glass "kleener", and believe me, vinegar and water don't seem to cut it. Could be some error on my part, but vinegar+H2O left a bit of streakiness on my table, windows, and mirrors. So much for the cheap option.

I like EFP's line, and I like the smell of lavender so I nabbed this version from a cute little local health market that for whatever reason, only had this version in stock. It works great! When my mother-in-law was visiting she cleaned the table after meals for me a few times, and commented that this stuff worked well and smelled nice. I was pleased because she uses fairly traditional 'toxic/caustic' stuff, as does my own mother. I like that this stuff is just clear, and it comes in an unscented version for those who don't love lavender.

Give it a shot if you don't have success making your own!

p.s. I am noticing you can get a 12-pack on Amazon for $36.86 or about $3 a bottle. Weigh that against your local price to decide.

Method "Smarty Dish" Dishwasher Cubes

2009-02-08T10:49:00.007-06:00

I actually am rushing to post about this stuff because I am so pleased with its performance. I may have found an eco dishwasher product I can stick with! I bought this stuff on a lark (in the 'go naked' unscented variety), because I like the idea of dishwasher tablets. I was never that psyched that Ecover individually wrapped theirs, however. That's not particularly eco-friendly, even if the dish tablets worked well for me.

The Method "Smarty Dish" version comes in a single recyclable canister, and they're shaped somewhat like a losange.

The important thing? They work. As well, if not better than the toxic crap at my local supermarket. They've gotten residual coffee stains out of cups, taken the weird mineral stains out of my bathroom cup, cleaned an old soap dish that I thought was permanently manky, and made my cocktail glasses sparkle.

I've never understood why dishwasher soap needed to be scented, so I haven't tried the pink grapefruit version... and I like most products as scented as can be.

Of course, whenever I review a dishwasher detergent people post and say that their experience vastly differed, as we all have different appliances and water quality. But I'd give these a whirl for sure... because if they work half as well for you as they did for me, you'll be hooked!

(I use it with Earth Friendly Product's rinse aid, but I'm not sure it really matters. I bought the rinse aid to try to improve some prior, lousy dishwasher products.)

Dishwashing Liquid- Who's Got the Best Label?

2008-12-14T21:24:00.007-06:00

National Geographic's Green Guide had a good article on dish soap this month. They ranked them according to how completely the company discloses ingredients, so that the consumer might discern how many are plant-based, how many are harmful additives, etc. At the top of their "honesty" list was Seventh Generation's Dish Liquid, which got three "G's". At 2 (for using generic terms like 'preservative' or 'surfactant', although these were certified low- eco impact by an independent agency) were Clorox Green Works (Natural Dishwashing Liquid), Ecover (Dishwashing Liquid), and Planet (Ultra Dishwashing Liquid Gel).

Receiving 1 'G' for generic ingredient names and a lack of independent testing were Biokleen dish liquid, Earth Friendly Products (Dishmate), Method (Ultra Concentrated), and Mrs Meyers (Clean Day Dish Soap). D'oh!

The label vaguery doesn't necessarily mean that the companies in question have something to hide, but I'd encourage them to spell things out as much as possible. Trade secrets are important, sure, but so is knowing what we're buying.

Incidently, SG has coupons on its website, and you can stock up in bulk on Amazon.com

BabyGanics Tub & Tile Cleaner

2008-12-07T17:47:00.006-06:00

First- something random that I like. Method's aroma ring comes in bamboo (the actual ring part, not the scent)! I'm convinced bamboo, buckwheat, and soy can save the world, so this is great news. I've reviewed the aroma ring here, and because it didn't really make much scent for me I won't be buying it. Have you had any luck with it?

(I kind of want the Method frosted fir glass candle. If you're not candle-savvy, paraffin wax candles are to be avoided. They make nasty soot, which gets into your air, and they're made from petroleum. This means Yankee Candles' products are pretty seriously not eco-friendly. I am really enjoying wood wicked candles right now, because I don't have a fireplace and I missed the crackle of a good fire. Particularly since it's now snowy and freezing in Chicago.)

But this post is really about BabyGanics' Tub & Tile Cleaner. I've been using it to scrub my glass-doored stall shower for a while now, and a little goes a long way. It's done a good job getting the soap scum off. So much so that I have been able to stop using my daily shower spray. I clean about every other week with it. BabyGanics sent me the unscented version to review, but this stuff also comes in Lavender, and both bottles have a nice cloud picture in the background for me to gaze at and wish I had a window in my bathroom. Anyway, it's effective stuff and if you haven't had much luck with other 'green' shower cleaners, you may want to give this a go.

Mrs Meyer's "Basil" Surface Scrub

2008-11-29T20:19:00.008-06:00

As a scrub this stuff works really well. It gets my tub clean, my shower clean, and my sinks clean. I have no gripe about the performance. What I do have a gripe about is the scent (and it's a problem with the all-purpose wipes as well). I mean... gahhhhh I often enjoy Mrs. Meyer's scents, but this one is like bad body spray. After a recent bout of cleaning my whole apartment smelled of it, and it was really headache inducing, not fresh. Despite it being November in Chicago I considered opening the window.

It's really not basil scented, of course. That would be pleasant. The website explains that it has "top notes of basil, apricot leaves, parsley, and eucalyptus". My husband compared it to "cucumber-floral eau de toilette". It certainly gets up my nose in a way that reminds me of some of the Bath and Bodyworks products I bought in the early '90s. *Gag*

I'll finish the canister, of course... but I'm thinking I'll pass on the Basil line in the future.

On another hand, the holiday gift pack is peppermint scented and would make a lovely hostess gift. Hopefully it's just straightforward peppermint. I'm STILL using my gingerbread kit from 2 years ago because the all-purpose cleaner goes so far. A teaspoon full mixed with water fills my spray bottle and then I'm good to go for another month.

As an alternative scrub I recommend Bon Ami, or the same Mrs Meyers scrub in the Lemon Verbena or Lavender scents. I have a similar gripe with their Geranium fragrance, so if you enjoy that then you may actually dig the Basil!

Trader Joe's "Auto (Next to Godliness) Dish Soap"

2008-11-29T19:40:00.004-06:00

I somehow suspect that this is supposed to be a similar to product to Earth Friendly Products' excellent Wave dishwashing gel. It looks vaguely similar to EFP's version in the bottle and the texture is comparable. However, Trader Joe's version doesn't seem to be as effective. Most of my dishes come out clean, but my silverware is typically cloudy looking, and it doesn't do anything for the tough jobs, like my dogs' food bowls with crusted-on homemade wet food that I slacked on soaking in the sink before tossing in the dishwasher. (Let it be known, the dishwashing products I like pass this test.)

It's fine for most dishwashing jobs, it's just not good enough. Any time I have to re-wash things when they come out of the dishwasher, I won't re-buy. It's a big waste of water and effort.

Sad, because the bottle claims it "dries spot free". It's also labeled "biodegradable, phosphate free, chlorine free, removes dried on foods, removes tough stains, built-in rinse aid." If you can't find other eco-friendly options, give it a shot and post here to let me know if it works.

Earth Friendly Products ECOS Lemongrass Laundry Detergent

2008-11-01T17:22:00.004-05:00

Hello! I am back. I'm resurfacing :) Things are very busy right now with school, but I'm still cleaning and still trying new things.

I've been using this liquid laundry detergent for a while. It's "ultra concentrated" meaning it really doesn't take much to do a single load. One week Jhimm and I thought we looked low on the stuff so we picked up another bottle. The one we had lasted another month and a half. Just be mindful of the fill lines inside the cap, and you should get a good value from the stuff.

As for the smell, well, I can't say it really recalls lemongrass for me or that my clothes come out smelling of anything. However, it was actually cheaper at my local grocery store than the unscented version that I'd previously bought, so.... lemongrass it is!

I'm a big fan of this brand because their products actually work for me. My laundry comes out of the dryer soft, clean, and fresh. My little potty-troubled dog's overnight diaper smells snuggly rather than... um, how it smelled when I tossed it in the laundry pile. If this detergent works on that foul odor, it's my friend.

I really haven't ever noticed a stain go into the wash and come back out again while using this stuff, but perhaps I haven't given it a tough enough challenge. I'll have to try to spill some wine or bleed on it or somesuch. Or... oooh, I had a pen explode on a sweatshirt sleeve the other day. I'll try that later.

You can get save a lot by purchasing a pack of 4 of these jugs from Amazon.com for around $40... that would easily last me a year.

(They also have a laundry powder version that I am dying to try.) Alas, everything is "out of stock" as they move their Health & Personal Care products warehouse.

Trader Joe's Lavender Dryer Bags

2008-08-16T17:31:00.007-05:00

I don't like what dryer sheets do to laundry (generally coat it in a layer of film that actually lowers the lifespan of your textiles), but I do enjoy the smell. Trader Joe's has come up another good solution! Their lavender dryer bags are filled with delicious smelling lavender seeds. They can be used for 5-10 dryer cycles each, and I've been erring more towards 10. They very subtly scent my laundry a nice, natural lavender. It seems like the dryer (machine) gets more lasting scent than, say, my towels, but this is mainly because I dry everything on low heat and these really make a better stink on hotter settings. I'm not sure they produce enough scent for my liking (at my preferred drying temp.), but for less scent-obsessed folks they're probably more than sufficient.

When you're done with a bag, the package advises sprinkling them on your carpet and vacuuming them up for a lovely lavender smelling house. I did this, and it was herby and delicious everywhere I vacuumed. Delicious, that is, if you like lavender. I imagine these'd also work well in drawers and closets to keep things fresh.

Each pack contains 4 bags, and although I've forgotten the price it was pretty reasonable. I'll re-buy.

(Theoretically you could make your own! Fill a small cloth bag with dried flowers or herbs, close it securely, and toss it in the dryer.)

When Natural and Organic are just words...

2008-08-08T22:15:00.004-05:00

I know this isn't cleaning related, but as is true of my occasional deviations from that topic, it's about potentially dangerous components of the products we use. I'm so disappointed that some of these brands, which I have used and praised, don't pay as much attention to their quality control as they should, or don't research everything they're putting into their goods well enough... (or are deliberately deceitful).

So, I give you:
"Panic in the Organic Aisle: How a dirty scandal is forcing the natural products industry to come clean"

What do you think? Will this change your buying habits at all?

Target Organic Cotton Bed Sheets?

2008-07-20T20:11:00.006-05:00

Okay, so bedsheets aren't really cleaning products, but I'm enjoying these new sheets so much I had to mention them. I'm really surprised too. I typically buy pretty expensive organic sheets because I have chronic problems sleeping and I try to make my bed as comfortable as possible. When I spotted a set of organic cotton 250-thread count (non sateen) bedsheets at Target, next to the also promising bamboo sheets, I nabbed a set. I figured at $49.99 a set I wouldn't feel awful about it if they didn't work out longterm, unlike the sets that are $75 for just the flat sheet.

Well, after my first set of these in a dark cocoa color I made a special trip back to get a second, robin's egg blue set. I washed them and that put them on the bed last night. I wanted to roll in them they feel so nice and soft. My closest Target seems to be making a big effort to stock more eco-friendly products. They have a whole green cleaning isle!

Anyway, highly recommended! (I like them better than my gaiam sheets.)

Skoy Cleaning Cloths

2008-07-11T18:28:00.005-05:00

The kind people at Skoy (I love that word) were generous enough to send me samples of their biodegradable and compostable cleaning cloths, and I've been using them for about a month now around my kitchen. We've been trying an experiment in our house to see if we really need paper towels. So far.... no. The Skoy cloths, which are made from cotton and cellulose (from wood) have been alternated with our existing microfiber cloth stash to keep our kitchen very tidy, if I do say so.

My husband has been using the Skoys to clean out his wok after he makes us yummy summer stir-fries. He just wets them and swipes a few times and then tosses the cloth in the laundry pile. (I don't put these in the dryer. They air-dry nicely.) The trick is to wet these under the faucet, ring them out, and then clean whatever you've just spilled (like breakfast smoothie).

I am enjoying the bright colors (you can order them in a pack of just white if you prefer) in my kitchen this summer, and they've got a big daisy on them too... more summery cheer. I suppose how you'll feel about that depends on how you feel about floral print.

You can put these in your dishwasher, which is cool :) I need to start doing that, although the washing on cool is also fine. (More tips here.)

I haven't tried these outside the kitchen yet, but after they get a bit worn I may give them a shot in the bathroom.
More weapons in my effort to stop buying paper towels, which I have no room to store!

Trader Joe's Room Spray: Coriander and Bergamot

2008-06-22T22:19:00.005-05:00

My bathroom occasionally smells less than fresh, as I'm sure yours does. I've actually avoided (even eco-friendly) room sprays for the most part, but Trader Joe's has a way of talking me into things I wouldn't otherwise consider!

Last time I was there, I nabbed a bottle of their essential oil-based coriander/bergamot "Next to Godliness" room spray and I'm really enjoying the scent. I've had the urge to spray it on myself a few times. Never felt that way about Lysol spray, that's for sure. Now granted, I could make this stuff myself with the essential oils in question ($17 for coriander and $13 for bergamot; I already have the bergamot.) and some water, and I may try that. But I have to credit TJs for selling this stuff cheaply and giving me the idea for the scent combination (and for making it non-aerosol.) The scent could linger a bit more, but it seems to mask stinky bathroom aromas nicely, at least temporarily.

Depending on how much air freshener spray you go through and whether you'd use the essential oils for anything else, you might be saving money by buying the TJs version.

Most essential oils have directions on the packaging for how much (distilled) water to combine with EOs to make a room spray or linen spray. My favorite linen spray "recipe" = 18 drops of oil for every 1 oz water combined in a spray bottle.
(Aura Cacia also sells prepackaged EO blends for those of you who don't have a full medicine cabinet of oils like I do.)

South of France hand soap

2008-06-07T14:46:00.004-05:00

I'm biased against bad packaging. I know... it means I probably bypass good products and spend more on cleaning products overall, but as some of you know, I'm an ex-design professor. So when I told my husband he could pick out our hand soap and he returned with a brand called "South of France" whose label design I wasn't overly fond of, I kind of assumed it couldn't be that great. It looked so "generic drugstore brand"!
The texture though, was totally different from any hand soap I've tried before. It's creamier somehow, and a lot more moisturizing. I really like it! The "green tea" scent doesn't smell like actual green tea to me (as usual), but it's quite fresh and herby.

Apparently this hand soap is "kettle cooked in small batches using a traditional recipe from Marseille". Well, that's kind of cool. The company makes bar soaps too. It contains essential oils and no SLS. Judging from the reviews floating around online, people either love it or hate it.

And, to combat purchasing for aesthetic reasons, I found a great site the other day: debranded home. They encourage you to make your own personal care products, and/or to purchase in larger quantities and refill plain jars. We do this! We have lovely recycled glass soap dispensers that we refill with hand soap. It's a fun site.

Seventh Generation "Green Mandarin and Leaf" Shower Spray

2008-05-30T18:39:00.005-05:00

I'd been using Seventh Generation's Citrus Shower Spray as my daily cleaning spray, but wasn't that fond of the scent. Rather than smelling bright and orangey to me it always smelled a little, um, vomitous. Anyway, I was relieved by the replacement of the citrus with "green mandarin and leaf" scent. The leaf definitely comes through more strongly, so the product has a green, almost biting scent. I actually don't think I'm a fan, because there's a medicinal tone to the scent that bothers me. Scent preference is so subjective I'd encourage you to try it anyway. I might be imagining the medicinal part.

I was talking to someone about this blog the other day (boy do people think I'm a nerd when they hear about it!) and I mentioned I really like SG products. She said she'd never had any success with them, and I mentioned the shower cleaner specifically. "Ugh," she said "I especially don't like the shower cleaner."

In retrospect I wish I'd asked her some followup questions.
1. Do you use this stuff as a daily shower spray, not just once in a while? For it to work you must spray it every time you shower (which is the point of "daily shower sprays" I probably don't need to add).

2. What kind of shower do you have?
I have a glass-doored stall shower (three panels of glass, two of tile), and I can't vouch for how well this would work on a tile-only shower.

I'm sure product performance is completely contingent on things like the kinds of personal care products you use in the shower, water hardness, etc. I also use a squeegee on my shower walls when I am done in there, and I'm sure that helps a ton!
I feel like this stuff does the best job of any shower spray I've ever used, earth-friendly or toxic, but I'm always on the prowl for a new and better product.

Biokleen Bac-Out (and Mrs. Meyer's Rhubarb)

2008-05-19T10:33:00.002-05:00

Phew, I finally got around to buying a bottle of Biokleen's "Bac-Out", a liquid that promises to remove the stank and stains from a variety of places. I bought it to spray into my toilet, my trashcan, and to pour down my garbage disposal.

(Re: the last: lime and lemon rinds do the trick nicely, but I don't eat many citrus fruits so we don't have them in the house often. Just put 'em down the disposal and grind away.)

The bottle I bought didn't come with a spray nozzle, but thanks to the collection of empties I keep around for making my own cleaning products, I had a spare. I immediately tackled the toilet. I clean my toilet with a combination of a homemade tea-tree concoction, eco-friendly bleach, Mrs. Meyer's wipes, and Bio-Pac toilet tabs. My toilet is a huge stink problem, and has been since we moved in. It's a low-flow model, and I don't think the bowl gets rinsed enough between flushes. Or the toilet seat needs replacing. Either way, ew.

So I cleaned the bowl and then sprayed he Bac-Out all around the inside. Then I hit the other toilet, and then my garbage disposal. This stuff smells -amazing-. It's tangy lime bliss (I adore Biokleen's products for their scents alone.) Anyway, I am finding as I type this that I can't remember if the toilets still smell. This must be a good sign, but I'm going to go investigate for you, blog reader. WOAH. Ok, they smell. Hmph. I'm going to keep trying with the Bac-Out though, so I'll update this if it starts working on my toilet reek. In the meantime, this stuff is good for laundry and carpet stains as well.

**
I got a chance to smell the Mrs. Meyer's Spring Rhubarb cleaning kit in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I think I'm sold. It's sweet and tangy, and the perfect kit for spring/summer, I'm thinking. Of course, I'm still using the gingerbread kit I bought during Christmas of 2006. At least you know it's a good value! Anyway, I think I'll have to snag one.

Mrs Meyer's Wipes in Baby Blossom

2008-05-04T11:25:00.002-05:00

I think I am moving away from using disposable wipes, even in the bathroom, but I've really loved them in the past. Mrs Meyer's are my favorite, as they don't leave too much soapy residue behind (thus trapping more dirt, ultimately). I ordered their new Baby Blossom wipes, even though I don't have any babies hanging around in my apartment. The scent sounded great for spring cleaning: "spring wildflowers, butterfly violets & honeysuckle with a teeny bit of apple, lemon & mint".

Okay, so my nose can't really identify even half of those notes when I'm cleaning, but I do smell a sweet floral. Not bad. It doesn't beat the lavender or lemon-verbena scent for me, but it's pleasant. (Still waiting to try that Basil!) Mrs. M's site claims this line of products is especially safe for use around small children. Also nice for me, as I have sensitive skin. ;)

My bathroom, particularly around my toilet, is now actually clean thanks to these. My absence from this blog has been indicative of a workload that's kept me from cleaning as thoroughly as usual too.

I just got Bon Ami powder yesterday so I'll be testing that soon too.

Method, Bi-o-kleen, etc.

2008-04-27T11:16:00.005-05:00

Hello! My apologies for being absent so long, my fellow green-cleaning fans. School has been a bit crazy. I have made the time to eyeball Method's new products and packaging design though! (Check out their great new website!) They launched kids' products and more bathroom cleaning goodies (I want to try "Le Scrub!) I am curious to know if any of you have tried them, and if so, what you think! This is my favorite new page on their website. What droolworthy design!

I like that they have hand soap refills now (good for me, as I have glass soap dispensers I just pour soap into and that'll be cheaper and more eco-friendly). Alas, the magic self-foaming soap won't work in my dispenser. (Their having hand soap in "eucalyptus mint" now makes up for it... although their soap tends not to be super moisturizing. I'll sneak in here that I like EO's hand soap better than method's, and EO's comes in gallon jug refills!)

Right now I also want to try Biokleen's "Bac-Out" (scroll down on their site a bit). It can be sprayed on surfaces or poured. Apparently you can use it to take odors out of your garbage disposal, kitchen trash, and toilet bowl, among its myriad functions. I have odors in all three consistently despite my rabid cleaning, so I need some anti-stank remover. Biokleen's products have been very effective so far. I have hope for the Bac-Out!

How do you clean your ceiling fans?

2008-03-31T12:18:00.005-05:00

This weekend I was trying to dust my fan using vacuum cleaner extensions and a stepladder. It didn't go very well, as I couldn't seem to get around the top of the fan blades easily. Dust was also flying around like crazy and I was chasing it with my vacuum hose. I can't seem to reach using just my arms, either.

How do you clean your ceiling fans, if you have one? Obviously ceiling height plays a role. Casabella makes a ceiling fan duster that can be used to dust any high surface. I only have one fan at the moment, and not much storage space, so it feels a little decadent.

Citradish Automatic Dishwasher Detergent

2008-03-26T11:32:00.005-05:00

Citradish (or "Citra-dish") is my newest experiment with dishwashing powders. I tend to have problems with my dishwasher leaving powdery bits inside my drinking cups, but the box claims that the product (Valencia Orange version) incorporates a rinse aid so I thought... hmmm maybe somehow it'll help rinse off the residue.[1] It also advertises itself as cruelty free, vegan, chlorine bleach free, and made with essential oils. (There's more on the side of the box, but I don't want you to doze on me.)

This is another case of "they must have updated their packaging but not their website". My box is a bright orange recycled paper number with a big juicy orange on the front, unlike the rather unaesthetic former packaging job they have on the www. (See image.)

As far as performance, I have no complaints at all. This stuff works perfectly, as well as my Biokleen powdered detergent. It leaves my dishes and cups shiny, and doesn't leave behind any sort of odor (I love scented products, as you know, but dishwasher detergent doesn't need to smell unless it's part of the functionality... I'm not going to stand around huffing my dishwasher cups.) The box claims you ought to fill both cups in your dishwasher, but I can actually get away with filling one cup only half and get the same results. Nothing stuck to my dishes, and everything came out with a nice shine. (The test is always the dog food bowls.)

The super test was the enchilada spatula and plates from last night. These products always brag that they can remove "baked-on food". Well, it actually did. I'd buy again, particularly if my local natural foods shop doesn't start stocking more varieties of dish detergent ;)

1. My logic, it is flawless!

Method Repackages Omop (And Cloths)

2008-03-25T19:48:00.004-05:00

We were just in Target buying a suitcase (all three of ours having been stolen from the storage unit in our building), and of course I had to stop by the cleaning isle. I had read Re-nest's post on the Method aroma pill (which I mentioned in a previous post) and wanted to sniff one in person.

I noticed that they'd repackaged the omop compostable dry cloths and the omops themselves in a recycled cardboard box, to replace the plastic boxes they'd been using! (The packaging looks great- kudos to the designer.) Ironically, they haven't updated the photos on their website, but they did mention the package redesign in their blog.

I also bought one of the glass/mirror microfiber cloths because I am sick of my linty old ones and would like wiping my glass table and mirrors to go back to being an easy chore. I'm going to test out the cloth and see if I want to buy another one or try the Casabella version. (Casabella = 2 for 12.99 vs. Method 1 for 5.00. So far it feels pretty good.

They only had one aroma pill, but I did take a whiff of some new scents for the aroma ring- 'beach sage', fig, and some others I can't recall- which also aren't on the website. ?

Mrs Meyer's Spring Cleaning Kit

2008-03-16T11:26:00.004-05:00

Woo woo! This year instead of their honeysuckle scented spring cleaning kit, Mrs Meyer's has released a Rhubarb scented line. Now, I actually don't think I know what Rhubarb smells like off the top of my head (sweet?), but I like Mrs. Meyer's products and the offerings in the four-pack look good:

All Purpose Cleaner, 8oz
Countertop Spray, 8oz
Window Spray, 8oz
Liquid Dish Soap 8oz

Seems like a little aromatherapy might just make those chores more bearable as the weather warms up. I hope to be able to open the windows and fill my home with fresh air and good smells pretty soon. I just got over being sick and it feels a little stuffy in here.

The only thing I think will wind up languishing in my home is the All Purpose Cleaner. I never seem to get around to using it, because it winds up being best for big cleanings (Dilute 1/4 cup in 1 gallon of water), and I clean in little spurts. I love Mrs. Meyer's surface wipes. Hm, they also have window wipes.

Ooh, I should add that they have products in Basil now! I'm definitely going to have to try that one. They also now have Baby Blossom but I'm not sold on that one yet... I'll have to sniff it in the store.

Whole Foods' New Cleaning Line

2008-03-06T19:38:00.005-06:00

Last time I was in Whole Foods (a few weeks ago, and I already have to go back because I'm out of vitamins. Grr!) I noticed that their internal brand, "365" now includes a line of cleaning products! They had what you'd expect- all-purpose spray, bathroom cleaner, mildew spray. The packaging was minimal with clear bottles, and came in a few different scents (I recall lavender?)

Oddly, I don't see anything about the cleaning products online. I wonder if they're testing them locally before officially announcing them. Are they at your Whole Foods?

Naturally Clean products

2008-03-04T11:04:00.005-06:00

I noticed a new (to me) line of products in my local natural foods store and in Whole Foods. They go by the name "Naturally Clean" and they've got some intriguing products. The stain eraser promises to erase all sorts of gruesome stains from clothing. I admit it, I got excited thinking it was a safe version of the "Mr. Clean Magic Eraser". I wish someone would make a green version of -that- somehow.

Anyway, the mildew spray is calling my name, as I've started to get allergies in my shower and that means mildew's lurking. The floor cleaner looks pretty good (for my hardwood I just use a tiny bit of water and a tiny bit of vinegar though. Longterm readers know of my love for my Casabella Magnet Mop.)

When I need a new kitchen spray I'll try the kitchen product as well. I wonder if these products will be any different from my standbys. Most of their items claim to work with vegetable enzymes (plus SLS/SLES, our friend "coconut oil surfactant") What do you think?

Method Eucalyptus Mint Flushable Wipes

2008-03-02T22:05:00.004-06:00

I was surprised a couple of weeks ago to find Method products at my nearby Whole Foods! Until recently, Whole Foods seemed to take the attitude that Method wasn't natural enough to stock. This particular store's move to carry Method came at a good time; I had just run out of bathroom wipes and was despairing of finding anything at Whole Foods (my closest one stocks Mrs Meyers products in general, but not the disposable wipes.)

I don't know what it is but I seem to keep gravitating towards Method's Eucalyptus Mint Flushable Wipes. In the past I've used them and lamented how soapy they are. They seem to leave a bit of a film on everything. I have to use a really light touch when wiping with them, or I wind up having to go over the area I've just swiped with water. Still, I love that Eucalyptus Mint smell.

So I bought a new pack despite my memories of soapiness, and basically reaffirmed my opinion. I just need to remember not to re-buy these next time; they're just too soggy. There's also something about the way they're seated in my resealable pack that's a bit difficult as well. I pull on the topmost cloth and wind up in a tug of war, finally extracting about 20 sheets. I can never seem to get them back into the pack the way they were either.

Sure, they're flushable, but I'd rather drop them in my trash bin given the chance. I don't want to flush my toilet more than I need to. I think I've made a good environmental calculation there . Sometimes it's a wee hard to tell.

I'm a big fan of disposable wipes for bathroom surfaces (except the mirrors. Microfiber all the way there.) I can clean in little spurts as I see messes appear and avoid dealing with a big job / gross bathroom.

I think in order to get my EM scent fix I may try the new aroma pill instead. It comes in gingerbread spice, sweet water, vanilla apple, grapefruit pear, and, of course, eucalyptus mint.

Twist Loofah Sponge

2008-02-16T17:18:00.004-06:00

Ah, the Twist Loofah Sponge. I've actually had a couple of these for months, but I wanted to really decide what I thought before posting about it. Essentially, if you're familiar with loofahs and scrubby sponges you'll get the concept pretty quickly. I've never seen any other product that combines the two though.

I was able to give this a pretty difficult test - our stove seems to build up some serious crust. I scrub as hard as I can, even employing baking soda, and sometimes I can't get the crud off. This sponge actually did a better job than most "heavy duty scrubbers" on this sort of task. I also used a separate one to scrub my bathroom and it made quick work of any grime in there too.

My only real complaint is that I am not a big fan of loofahs in general because they don't actually absorb water well (does anyone know what I mea by this?) They don't soften and occasionally the way they don't bend makes them a bit clunky.

Anyway, of all the Twist sponges, this is my favorite.

Seventh Generation Blue Eucalyptus & Lavender Laundry Detergent

2008-02-03T11:21:00.000-06:00

I have said it before, but I absolutely love the new Seventh Generation scents. That blue eucalyptus is really yummy. It makes me feel like my laundry is getting cleaner somehow, which is, I guess, the point. And lavender, mmm I am almost always a fan of lavender. I'd say the lavender definitely takes a backseat in this scent combination, however.

Of course, it can smell like whatever it wants but if it doesn't work? Not going to buy. This is Seventh Gen. we're talking about though. I haven't disliked any of their products yet, functionally speaking. I used to think their scents were boring, but they've updated them to compete with the other non-toxic companies.
Anyway, this stuff really does do a good job on my laundry. I don't have great laundry machines. Actually mine are compact stacked models intended for small apartments. SG has taken care of dog pee and poo messes as well as stains on towels, etc. No complaints, yet. I can't think of anything it's doing wrong or any way in which it is inferior to commercial toxic detergents. The sign of a good laundry detergent is, for me, if I don't have to re-wash anything or really, think more about laundry than necessary.

I guess that makes for a rather boring review :)

Clorox's Eco-friendly cleaning line

2008-01-26T19:54:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I'd be a bad green blogger if I didn't mention that Clorox (who recently bought Burts Bees) has released a line of green cleaning products. They're called "Green Works" and the company brags that unlike other eco cleaning products, they work! (Er, if you go through this blog I haven't found many products that don't work fairly well. I'm still marveling over how clean my shower is if I spray it with Seventh Gen every time I use it.)

They have a separate website for the new products here. There is a section specifically and seriously devoted to defining what they mean by their terms "natural" etc, which I appreciate. I was laughing at the description under the bathroom cleaner of, once again, "coconut based cleaning agent". I've mentioned many a time how funny I find it that cleaning companies tiptoe around admitting to using "SLS" and "SLES" for foaming power, because of a sense that these ingredients have been linked to skin irritation and even cancer (provable or not, there is a green consumer bias against these ingredients as well as parabens, etc.)

I don't know. I like lemon essential oil (used in most of these), but I'm not swayed. These're not as cool sounding as some of the products I already use. Plus, Clorox is not generally a company I want to support. Aside from making generally non-eco friendly products, they still test on animals!
I'd rather people buy these than most mainstream cleaning products, but I'd also rather people support some of the brands linked to the right in this blog than Clorox.

I learned about this because Natural Health magazine gave the line a mention in their last issue.

Wipex Natural Wipes

2008-01-26T19:38:00.000-06:00

I recently spotted a new (to me) brand of cleaning product in the natural section of drugstore.com: "Wipex" cleaning wipes (link to company site). These claim to be made only with ingredients like vinegar and essential oils. Sure, you could make such a thing yourself using an old t-shirt and the same ingredients, but I was curious. I ordered the "floral rosemary" all-purpose wipes. Actually, I ordered them twice because the first time the canister arrived broken and I wound up with a free replacement.

Anyway, I use these in my bathroom on every surface you can imagine. They're not overly damp or soapy and they're very mild in scent (this may or may not be something you appreciate). They're a much better alternative to things like Clorox or Lysol wipes, and come in a canister rather than a packet like the Mrs. Meyers do. Wipex wipes also are available in Rosemary/Vinegar floor wipes (I use a weak vinegar solution spray to clean up my dog Mei's floor pees) Lavender/Vinegar glass wipes, and furniture wipes with orange oil.

I had trouble tracking down any real info on this product, except that it's made in Israel and doesn't test on animals.

I scrutinized the ingredients on these products and they look pretty good. It just comes down to how you feel about disposable wipes.

Oooh, new mop head

2008-01-20T17:54:00.000-06:00

You know you're a cleaning nerd when this sort of thing excites you. My trusty Casabella Flex-Neck Scrubber, which I use to scrub my shower stall (glass walls, tile walls, and plastic floor) and my tub (plastic?) now has a new replacement head available for it. The heads last forever, and the sponge can be removed to let it dry out.

Anyway, the new head is called the "TNT" head because it's extra scrubby and claims "The abrasive synthetic fibers work well on mildew."

Can I hear an "Ooooooh!" ;) ?

$14.99 for a two-pack. I like to get them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Whole Foods.

Mrs Meyer's Surface Wipes

2008-01-20T17:42:00.000-06:00

I am still using up my gingerbread Mrs Meyer's products from last Christmas (I overstocked), but if you haven't tried them they're on 50% off clearance on Mrs Meyer's site!

Anyway, this is about the surface wipes, which sadly are no longer stocked by my Whole Foods. I guess they're trying to encourage people not to use disposable wipes, which is admirable. For me, they're a bathroom product. I know I could simply clean with water and microfiber cloths in the b-room but my current microfiber cloths seem to leave more lint and dirt behind than they pick up. That's a problem for another entry. They might be ready to be replaced. :)

Anyway, while I have often found Method's disposable wipes to be too soapy, Mrs Meyer's have just the right amount of cleaning-product-to-wipe ratio. They work equally well on my laminate bathroom countertops and the toilet seat. I've been known to wipe up messes on the floor with them as well. The wipes come in Lemon Verbena (I like this one), Geranium (so-so) and Lavender (when I am going through a lavender phase). Alas, the seasonal gingerbread and honeysuckle offerings haven't made it to disposable wipe form.

I know someone with a young kid who used to keep these in the glove compartment of her car. She used them to clean all sorts of car messes up, because they don't leave sticky residue behind.

I think of disposable wipes as the lazy-person's cleaning product, and I am definitely inclined to be lazy when I clean if I can.

These are made with essential oils, but I don't know if they're biodegradable like Method's claim to be. They aren't flushable like the Method bathroom wipes, but I really don't mind. Aprox. $4.99 for 24 in a resealable pack that really does keep them moist.

Twist Euro Cloths

2007-12-28T14:26:00.000-06:00

I was really excited when my nearest Whole Foods (I'm in Chicago, so when I say nearest, I mean it) responded to my request to stock Twist products. I'd been reading a lot of great reviews in eco-blogs, and while I have plenty of microfiber cloths and the Trader Joe's kitchen cloths, I couldn't resist the allure of a new product. So, I bought a pack. (You probably guessed that when I mentioned building birdhouses out of the packages per the directions written there.)

I was a bit confused to pull a few little hard squares out of the box. Trying to clean anything on my counters with these by using sprays was like trying to use a cracker.[1] These thin, stiff "cloths" are really only useful for one thing- wiping up wet messes. Even then, it had better be really wet to turn the cloth from crispy to soggy. Sprays, as I mentioned, aren't enough. It's hard to clean with something that just isn't flexible.

I actually have run a couple of these through the wash, just for kicks. I skipped the dryer, and they came out in the same state they went in. Arghh. Somehow I was hoping they'd soften.

To conclude, I don't really know what to do with these now. They're too stiff to make paper airplanes out of. Maybe bookmarks. I feel like I'm missing some important aspect of how to use this product. I think I'm supposed to be using them like a sponge (the whole stiff/soggy factor), and just cleaning with water, but I'm not positive. I'll try that.

[1] My first metaphor choice was a shoe. I revised it after spending a few minutes trying to think of a more appropriate, actually helpful comparison to make.

p.s. I have a new approach to cleaning my hardwood floors.
Step 1:
Vacuum when I vacuum my carpets (I have a 650 square foot apartment; it's not a big chore.)
Step 2: Mop infrequently using a damp mop (not wet!) and a weak white vinegar/water solution. Anything else, and I mean anything I've tried so far, makes the floors dull. My parents almost never, ever mop their hardwood floors. I need to ask what their secret is. I have two dogs and one is sporadic with her toilet habits.

Seventh Generation Natural Citrus Shower Cleaner

2007-12-17T12:36:00.000-06:00

Before getting into the shower cleaner I have to post how disappointed I am in Burts Bees for selling to Clorox. It seems eco-friendly, natural cosmetics companies drop like flies as soon as they get profitable enough. I have been a Burts customer forever. I filled out their survey when they asked whether existing customers thought a proposal to sell in drugstores was problematic. (I said no, so long as nothing changed in their quality and ethics.) Alas, just like Tom's of Maine, they were tempted by money and sold out to a company whose products do great damage to the environment. I won't be reviewing their hand soap as planned for this reason. Treehugger wrote about the whole issue here.

On another hand, Seventh Generation's Natural Citrus Scent Shower Cleaner is the best planet lovin' shower cleaner I've used in a really long time. I use it for daily maintenance, not for thorough scrubbings (I usually keep two different products for the two different needs.) My shower doors have been so much cleaner than usual, almost as clean as if I'd just done a tough scrub. The orange smell is a little bit barfy (seriously, though this might be me), but the actual spray bottle is the best I've used in a while too. It produces these mighty, lush sprays that cover a lot of ground. I'm glad Seventh Gen is updating its scents, and I hope their new products work as well regardless. As I've mentioned before in this blog, I've only ever used one Seventh Gen product that wasn't great, and that was the toilet paper.

Method's Christmas Products

2007-12-10T14:52:00.000-06:00

While I am still using up my Method all-purpose spray in last year's discontinued "Spiced Pear" scent, Method has launched an updated holiday line. Instead of spiced pear there is "Cinnamon bark", which sounds pretty appealing if it avoids being reminiscent of holiday potpourri. Peppermint vanilla is back, and hollyberry is an update on the "frosted cranberry" of last year (although if you still want this scent, drugstore.com oddly still has some). Each product is available in a hand soap, all-purpose spray, aroma ring (which I blogged this summer) disc, candle, aroma sticks, and a new aroma beads pot.

The aroma beads kind of intrigue me. Not because of the beads themselves, actually (I can get soy wax melts in a greater variety of scents), but because the burner is lovely and I'd like to use it to simmer essential oils. I have one that looks somewhat similarly minimal, but my days of paraffin wax tealight use turned it sooty all over. I admit that if I do buy one it is decidedly an inessential purchase, but one I'd probably enjoy.

The party prep kit isn't a bad price. Plus you get two reusable shopping bags for free with your order!

You know, I still haven't tried their toiletries (the body wash, soap, shaving cream etc.) I haven't been to a Target in ages, and would prefer to smell them before committing. Also still haven't tried the aroma sticks, because my wee apartment doesn't really have a surface to put them on. (That may be, but I can't say for sure, because I have 3 tart burners and one oil burner in a 650 sq. foot space.)

Twist Clean Boxes = birdfeeders

2007-12-01T20:44:00.000-06:00

A while back I bought a couple of Twist sponges/euro cloths. The boxes had directions printed on them for how to turn the box into a birdfeeder. I made two little birdfeeders. I do wish the pattern had used up more of the box, and the resultant birdfeeder was a little bit bigger, but it's definitely a unique idea on Twist's part.

The two birdfeeders in action (note the annoying construction behind my building):

Twist lets you upload photos of birdfeeders to their gallery so I just submitted mine :) There's...er.. only one up there right now so hopefully they'll post mine.

When it's not as Green as it seems

2007-11-29T13:54:00.000-06:00

I'm a Consumer Reports website subscriber, so when I saw this article investigating the "green claims" of household cleaning product manufacturers, I was intrigued.

I'm a bit surprised at Seventh Generation's having a questionable ingredient in its dishwasher gel. I've used that stuff happily in the past. I'm not sure what to make of the Biokleen laundry powder finding, considering the company's statement that a questionable ingredient was accidentally listed in their disclosure statement and is therefore presumably not used.

It's a pretty short article without a lot of information in it. I'm glad Earth Friendly Products got a nod, and I'm wondering now about Ecover. Consumer Reports is sending people to its green cleaning website (which has been on my links list for a while) for more information.

Seventh Generation has some new scents

2007-11-29T09:24:00.000-06:00

So, Seventh Generation has revamped the scents of some of its products! They all sound wonderful. I was a little tired of the citrus, so this is good news.

The new scents are:

-White Flower & Bergamot Citrus (in their laundry products)
-Blue Eucalyptus & Lavender (in laundry): We just bought this one and I'm sure I'll be reviewing it soon.
-Lemongrass & Clementine Zest (dish soap) : I'd try this one for sure.
-Lavender Floral & Mint (dish soap): I'd also try this. Lavender and mint together is always a good combination.
-Emerald Cypress & Fir (Tub&Tile / Toilet) : Yum!
-Green Mandarin & Leaf (Shower/ All Purpose) : By "leaf", they mean petitgrain and spearmint leaves. I tried to find this one at Whole Foods the other day but it wasn't in yet.
-Ruby Grapefruit & Herb (Glass & Surface) : Also delicious sounding

They kind of had to change their scents. Seventh Generation products have always worked very well for me (except the toilet paper! Ow.), but with other companies (Caldrea always comes to mind, and Earth Friendly Products' Spa line) releasing decadent scent combinations, SG was going to lose customers who are scent junkies. *cough, me* The new products are starting to appear in stores, and I believe drugstore.com has a couple in stock.

You can get coupons for their products here. I think I printed those out eons ago and forgot about them.

Earth Friendly Products Natural Spa Dish Soap (and Junk Mail)

2007-11-21T15:57:00.000-06:00

Ugh, the holiday catalog influx has begun! I have been getting 3-4 new catalogs each day, many from companies I've never shopped with. Victoria's Secret is the worst in terms of frequency, but Pottery Barn's is the thickest. Treehuger has a great post on removing yourself from junk mailing lists, but I also sat down and wrote to each company individually. (I was procrastinating other work.)

I just finished a bottle of Earth Friendly Products' Black Currant dish soap. I have never before used a dish soap that smelled this strongly. Every time I used it a wonderful tart berry scented wafted from the sink. I suppose the strong aroma could bother some people, but I loved it. Nice change from most shyly scented products.

Of course, scent is nothing without performance, and the soap worked very well. It didn't make my hands feel as dry as most soaps, but it cut through grease effectively. In the interest of full disclosure, I throw anything that can possibly fit into my dishwasher, so I may not have put this to as tough a challenge as it deserves. It did help me make work of some serious baked pasta dish pans, and it made me hate doing the dishes slightly less... it's definitely still one of my least favorite chores.

Black Currant is one of several scents. Click through to check them out. I want to try rosemary, lemongrass, and cucumber mint the most. Maybe they'll read this and send me a Christmas present ;)

I am currently using EFP's almond scented dish soap from their general product line. Review forthcoming.

Caldrea Daily Shower Cleanser

2007-11-11T12:12:00.000-06:00

Huh, I am looking on Caldrea's website right now, and I don't see any shower sprays listed. Perhaps they have been discontinued! That's a shame, the one I tried worked quite well. I nabbed the "Basil Blue Sage" scent from drugstore.com, and it did cut down on the amount of shower cleaning I had to do while using it. My major qualm about it was that the package was too small and we went through it super fast. I am already done the bottle and I feel like we just got started! I felt guilty trying to cover my full shower each time I used it. Considering the price, I'd have preferred the bottle last longer.

Caldrea is Mrs. Meyer's more upscale brand, and they tend to have pretty good, largely essential-oil based scents. I've never been disappointed by anything of theirs I've tried (but that's admittedly limited to hand soap and shower sprays.)

Hey, maybe they're re-doing the package and it'll be back! In the meantime, drugstore.com has the Citrus Mint scent left.

I want to try Caldrea's dishwashing powder (I love powders), hand balm, and laundry detergent. I'm also wondering if their linen spray would be nice before clothes go in the dryer (or to freshen up bed sheets mid-week.)

p.s. Now that I am between store-bought products, I am using a homemade daily shower spray: 50/50 mixture of white vinegar, water, and maybe 6 drops each of tea tree and lemon essential oils. I haven't been using it long enough to gauge its success yet.

Bio Pac Toilet Tabs

2007-11-02T10:53:00.000-05:00

I've tried a few things to keep my toilets from getting a brown ring in the bottom. I've tried homemade soaks, pouring Ecover bleach into them and letting it sit, and of course, lots of scrubbing. Even when I did make a dent, they'd be back two days later. (Is the water in Chicago really that hard?)

When I spotted some eco-friendly septic-system safe, biodegradable, chlorine free tabs at Whole Foods the other day, I had two in my cart before I'd even blinked. The downside is that they're the blue kind of toilet tabs, and while I do enjoy making the water turn green every time I go to the bathroom *cough*, I prefer the "Oh, I have no idea why my toilets are so shiny and clean. Elbow grease, I guess!" deniability of the white kind. According to the packaging, the blue is to let you know when to replace the thing. No blue water = new tab. Believe me, with my toilets, I'd know.

Anyway, they work! I don't know how deodorizing they are, but they do make a dent in my stains. I slacked and didn't clean the toilets before dropping them in either. You're supposed to start fresh, as it were.

Bio Pac definitely needs a website redesign, but I am so grateful someone makes an eco-friendly toilet tablet.

Nature's Miracle- because my dogs still have accidents

2007-10-26T15:58:00.001-05:00

Those of you with pets have probably heard of Nature's Miracle (made by "Eight in One Pet") before. If not, it's a fantastic product to have around the house. I first encountered the "original formula" when I had four house rabbits, and found myself needing to clean up their crates and the room I let them hop around without adding toxins to their environment. Who wants to see a bunny suffer? They've got sensitive (cute, wiggly) noses![1]

Fast forward to Weeble, my beloved handicapped dog. He had so many accidents on the carpet, this stuff was a lifesaver. It really does work well to take the stink out of pet messes, as long as you are able to attack the problem promptly (if your pet messes on your floor while you're out, God help you ;).

The original scent is fairly inoffensive, but the company's come out with an "Orange Oxy" version as well. Functionally, I don't notice a difference. In terms of scent, well, I'm usually so annoyed when I happen to be breaking out the Nature's Miracle, that scent isn't the first thing on my mind. We actually use the orange version on our hardwood floors (spray, wipe) and it works nicely.

The company makes the product available in 1 gallon jugs, so you can refill your spray bottles with a little less waste. If you're a "dribbler" not a "sprayer" (heehee), you can buy the 32oz bottle version as well.

My current dogs are fairly housebroken these days (well, one is completely, the other is a stubborn little girl), but when we first got them we used the Nature's Miracle training pads a lot. Not very eco-friendly of us, and I've found some reusable solutions since then. Thankfully, we don't need them anymore.

1. By the way, if you ever need a home for your bunnies, I cannot recommend these "bunny condos" highly enough. Wire floors are too hard on bunny feet- give them a break! (rabbit.org is an excellent resource in general).

Bi-O-Kleen Automatic Dish Gel

2007-10-23T12:50:00.000-05:00

I reviewed the Biokleen automatic dish powder back in August, and when I finished the package just a few days ago I was eager to try the dish gel.

Unfortunately, my experience with the gel hasn't been good so far. Since I began using it, many things are coming out of the dishwasher crusty. I do rinse my dishes before putting them in, but if they have the slightest bit of grime on them it seems to solidify when washed with this product. My dishes seem to have a film on them. I love the convenience of a liquid, but this is definitely one of the worst performing dishwasher soaps I've tried in a long time. I actually feel badly writing this, too, because I love all of my other biokleen products. This one doesn't seem to have any reviews on drugstore.com, so I'll have to nose around and see if other people were as disappointed. In the meantime, I feel obligated to use up this big jug, but yikes!
I'll update this review if things improve at any point.

Meanwhile, I am relegated to re-washing some dishes and utensils by hand.

Carpet shampooing doesn't have to be toxic!

2007-10-18T21:38:00.000-05:00

I'm still here! :) School got busy and then I got sick. I'm too picky to let my apartment go much, but I definitely wasn't up to trying and reviewing anything new.

So I finally saved a bit and got myself a carpet shampooer. To be precise, I got a
"Hoover F5914-900 SteamVac with Clean Surge". My desire for one was so great because the carpeting in our apartment's bedroom has looked filthy since we moved in, and the rental shampooer I got from the grocery store actually made it worse (I think the thing was broken). I did a lot of research before choosing this model, and I have to say, I'm pretty happy with it.

Many years ago I shared an apartment with a mentally handicapped dog. Before we discovered "doggie diapers", our carpets suffered mightily. This was an apartment with carpeting throughout the unit as well. The poor little dog couldn't reason out even to use a puppy training pad, and after the stink got a certain amount lethal, we bought a Bissell. It worked... okay. Nothing like a professional job or the unit we once rented from a hardware shop.

The Hoover seems somewhere between professional and the Bissell so far, but it's very hard to tell because the carpet is a very mottled multi-colored job. I'm amazed at the filth in the water it pulls out though.

But let me get to the eco part!

So of course the thing came with a bottle of Hoover brand cleaning solution. This little bottle had no marked ingredients, which always irks me.
For the sake of science (you hear that, readers? I sacrificed my sense of smell for you! ;) ) I used it on part of my bedroom carpet. It worked quite well, but it smelled absolutely horrid and caustic. I wanted to crick a window, but it was a bit late and cool out.

Thankfully, I have an alternative- Earth Friendly Products' Carpet Shampoo! It smells like bergamot and sage (yum!), and it works just as well as the Hoover brand. I saved half of my bedroom carpet to do a comparison on, and the two products are functionally interchangeable. The Hoover machine comes with a bunch of caveats about only using Hoover liquid (they all do that), because other products may foam too much or somehow ruin the machine. I love the carpet shampooer, but I definitely am not buying the cross-branding hype. Just for "assault on my nose" reasons alone, I'd rather use the EFP. My dogs, my husband and I have to walk on this carpet too!

Dust from on high

2007-10-08T15:36:00.000-05:00

On Saturday I tackled one of my least favorite chores- dusting places that rarely get dusted. This mostly meant the ceiling fan in our bedroom, which I suspected of being covered in dust and thereby triggering my allergies every time I am in there. I was right. I got out my handy Swiffer Duster with the extendable handle and went to town. It took three duster cloths to get all the dust off that fan, and a fourth to get up above our closets half-heartedly. The dust raining down on me and our bed despite my best efforts was so grim that I had to vacuum afterwards. What a fun chore indeed.

So I was thinking about the waste of all of those cloths, and about Swiffer's being owned by Proctor and Gamble, who test on animals. Properly humbled, I decided to look for a solution to my distance dusting needs. Sure I could use my vacuum extentions, but I actually haven't found that to be a very good solution. Despite the sucking power, I feel like I'm blowing around more than I'm removing.

I already replaced my Swiffer cloths with microfiber ones so hmmmm... one of my favorite cleaning product companies, Casabella, makes a special ceiling fan duster, and although I secretly want one, it is a bit of a monotasker. (Still, look at it! I may actually dust my fans more often with that thing). Their extendable wool duster looks good, but is only hand-washable. (And still, it does look good).

Essentially, Casabella makes a large variety of dusting tools.

Hodgepodge Saturday

2007-10-06T15:12:00.001-05:00

I have a few cleaning things on my mind, so here's a potpourri of a post.

1. My current favorite company for wax tart melts is Gramma Frans Fixins. Beware the jumbo tarts! They really are huge, the size of a big muffin perhaps. My favorite are the soy tart cups. Soy wax is much better for the environment than petroleum-based paraffin wax, burns cleaner, and cleans up easier when spilled (with soap and water most of the time!) They have some great autumny scents.

2. I noticed today when I was in Whole Foods that Real Simple has come out with an entire book on cleaning techniques. I must admit, I am curious although I suspect that most of my cleaning techniques are just fine. It has no reviews yet, so who knows!

3. As per my last post about wanting a giant moo-shoo dog on the front of babyganics' packaging, they mentioned that they also have a line called "petganics". It's basically the same products, but with wee little hundchens on the front. So there you have it ;)

BabyGanics

2007-10-01T08:32:00.000-05:00

I just finished up a bottle of toxic Windex-like stuff (generic version) that was purchased years ago. I couldn't pour it out, and as it was decanted into a small spray bottle of mine I didn't want to bring it to the household chemical people. Basically, I forced myself to carefully use it up. Much to my glee, BabyGanics' Glass and Surface Cleaner arrived at my house just as I was ready for something new. I just automatically feel better about glass cleaners that aren't dyed blue, and while I was on the verge of just using white vinegar and water, this product was a nice treat (I do wish I had the lavender-scented one though. As regular readers know, I am nothing if not a scent junkie.) I wonder if I could drop some lavender EO into it.

Anyway, this spray worked much better than the generic-Windex. I didn't even know that was possible, but my glass table shined. I stood back from it, looking at it curiously. Huh, I thought. I'd used white vinegar on it and that hadn't created this level of gleam either.

I'm new to Babyganics. Having no kids of my own, there was something about the picture of a baby on the front of the packaging that made me instinctively think "not for me". What they need to do, I think, is Photoshop in a small dog. If the woman were smooching a small dog I'd probably have found them sooner ;) (And if the products came in a bacon-scent perhaps my dogs would help me clean.)

So, you know that I'm a former design professor, right? With that out of the way, prepare for slightly tangential critique. I'm not sure about the photos of people used on packaging at all. I haven't seen studies about whether consumers respond to that- certainly if I did have a child it might catch my eye as I look for cleaning products. On the other hand, I have a sense of products featuring photographs as part of their design as being somewhat less sophisticated. I'm not entirely sold on babyganics' design, and I think I'd add a couple more scents to capture the new aromatherapy cleaning market. Can I pick the scents? Someone needs a "spicy kitchen" cleaning product scent.. something that smells like clove and cinnamon and ginger. Or maybe a "log cabin" scent that's somehow woodsy and smokey and crisp.

So, what do YOU think of the package design?

Trader Joe's cloths part II

2007-09-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I have to revise my opinion on the TJs cloths. I do like their texture more for wiping around my kitchen than I did my furry microfiber cloths, but after using one to wipe my trashcan lid I figured I'd better toss it into the washing machine. I washed it on cold and dried it on low heat. The thing shrunk to half its size! I think I may have to supplement these with a couple of Twist Euro Cloths. I've been wanting to try Twist's products anyway. The boxes their sponges come in can be made into birdfeeders. My neighborhood has feral parakeets who survive on birdseed in the winter, so I definitely want to have a birdfeeder out soon. Somehow the "killing two birds with one stone" metaphor seems wrong here.

In other news, I got a box of babyganics' products today in the mail. I can't wait to try them! They look and sound quite good.

Pet Hair Magnet

2007-09-25T19:05:00.001-05:00

Seen in Apartment Therapy: Green, the "Pet Hair Magnet".

I want to try that! I use the tape-roller all the time and this looks like a better solution. I wonder if it works on people hair/ lint as well.

Method's omop

2007-09-25T18:36:00.000-05:00

When Method's omop first came out, it caused a stir on a forum I was (then) active on. People were gleefully saying that it was a more eco-friendly version of products like the Swiffer wet-jet. At the time I was mopping my floors a lot. I had a wood veneer floored kitchen in an apartment, and my dogs were having a lot of accidents. The way the light from the porch doors reflected onto the floor, you could see every smudge. Filling a bucket with water and going to town just wasn't happening, not with my insanely busy teaching
schedule.

The omop promised speed. It explained that I could merely dribble the mop liquid on the floor, then run the mop over it with a microfiber cloth. There are two kinds of omop liquid: "all floor" (lemon ginger) and "wood for good" (almond). I bought the all floor starter kit in the beginning. The lemon ginger liquid smelled wonderful, and actually reminded me of Thai food. The liquid and the mop worked well in my bathroom. On my veneer kitchen floor I noticed the floor becoming sticky and the mop not gliding well at all. Actually, it kinda skipped around, and no matter how much or little liquid I used, that didn't change. It drove me crazy.

Well, the folks at Method told me to try the wood mop liquid because, as they put it, "veneer is tricky". I loved the almond smell of that version of the liquid as well, but my floor remained a bit sticky. I wound up doing a plain-water with a touch of white vinegar wash, and everything was stick-free and even shiny (why didn't I just stick to white vinegar? I'm a sucker for a gadget.)

In my new place, I'm on the fence about whether the wood for good liquid helps my wood floors or whether it adds a dull sheen to them. I honestly can't decide, which I know is odd. I don't use the omop on my wood floors though, just its liquid with my handy Magnet Mop. The omop does't glide at all smoothly on the floors unless you dampen the microfiber cloth, so I just stopped bothering.

Here's what I do like about the omop:

-use on bathroom floors (I use the microfiber cloth plus the all-surface cleaner, and my bathroom smells nicely of ginger)
-the dry cloths.

Compostable and corn-derived or not, the latter isn't as eco-friendly as I could be. However, when I dry mop with my magnet mop, I want to chuck the head in the laundry machine when I'm done, and even assuming an otherwise full load, that may be a greater waste of resources.

I like the dry cloths. They help me catch all the dust balls and dirt on my floor. I also vacuum, but occasionally I need, well, a quick solution. I'm not any less busy, after all.

Trader Joe's Super Amazing Kitchen Cloths

2007-09-23T20:49:00.000-05:00

In my endless quest to waste less I sought out Trader Joe's Super Amazing Kitchen Cloths as paper-towel replacers. (Well, I at least wanted to use fewer of them. I still prefer paper towels to clean up doggie accidents.)

I use my sponges plenty, but mostly to scrub tough goo off the stove or for a preliminary counter swipe. When I'm using spray cleaner, as eco-friendly as it may be, I don't want it on my sponge. My dish towels are meant for drying dishes and hands, so ditto there. My solution had been to use microfiber cleaning cloths with my countertrop spray, but they were a bit heavy and seemed like overkill.

The TJs cloths (which come 2 to a pack for $3.99) are made of vicose, a super-absorbent synthetic material that's somewhat related to rayon. They're around the size of a standard 8.5x11" piece of paper, and feel a bit like felt to me. I hear vicose can absorb 10 times its weight in water? This reminds me of those special swimming towels a friend of mine had in the '80s. (They were tiny and came in a tube. I wanted one.)

The SAKCs apparently come in many colors- ours are a chocolate brown (j. picked them out). I haven't actually washed mine yet, as ringing it out after use has sufficed. It dries really quickly. I am starting to feel badly for its unused buddy.

I wasn't relying very much on paper towels, as I said, but this is an improvement over my microfiber cloths (and I was thinking of going to disposable wipes from those, so the Trader Joe's cloths prevented that transition.)

Caldrea's Holiday Scents part II

2007-09-20T20:03:00.000-05:00

I got my Caldrea holiday sample kit today! (The one I mentioned in this post.
The envelope said "let the season begin", which kinda made me snark because, y'know, it's September. Thankfully we have Halloween as a buffer between us and the Christmas madness.

Inside were three little soap samples, whose names and descriptions sound amazing (if not a bit pretentious), and whose smell I'd love to report to you. Alas, I am allergic to everything today and cannot smell a thing without a fit of sneezing. Reviews of the scents soon to come, then!

So we have:

Seville Orange Amber
Italian Cypress Pear
and
Cognac Vanilla Limon

Now, Caldrea seems to target a fairly bourgeois, earth conscious but high income consumer. They also have some of the best scented products on the market, but I _still_ can't speak to their effectiveness because I haven't tried them. What a reporter I am, eh? Seriously though, it may seem like I have a lot of cleaning products in my home, but I still haven't tried Caldrea! *hangs head*

Ok, ok... so, my urge to have a bit of fun at the expense of the scent names aside, the orange/amber one sounds goooood: "succulent orange mixed with spicy notes of clove, cardamom, and vanilla". Yum.... well, they do seem to sell it as a candle and hand lotion too, so perhaps if I love it, I won't be limited to standing around waiting for my hands to get dirty. The pear has cypress and cedarwood in it, and the vanilla one contains butterscotch, cognac, and lime. I swear, these sounds more like perfumes than cleaning products.

I really need to get my sense of smell back here.

In other news, the toilet concoction failed to remove the stains from inside my toilet bowl, even when left to soak overnight. Stronger measures must be taken! I'll be back. (Did it work for anyone?) Maybe I'll try the pine essential oil over the lavender.

Method vs. Caldrea

2007-09-19T20:05:00.000-05:00

I just got an email about the new Caldrea holiday scent "Italian Cypress Pear". I wonder how that compares to the Method spiced pear (which I am currently still using.) Hey, who knew by buying too many cleaning products I could do the whole "stopped clock right twice a day idea" but with Christmas items. Hey, they're in season again eventually ;)

I'm kind of annoyed though- I wanted to do an ingredients quality comparison between the Method all-purpose spray and the Caldrea, and Caldrea's site doesn't list ingredients. Method's claims that the ingredients on the all-purpose spray "include":

"corn and coconut derived surfactants
soda ash
potassium hydrate
biodegradable surfactant
fragrance oil blend
color
purified water"

When I get a bottle of the Caldrea I'll make note of the ingredients.

Am currently waiting on my replacement Kenmore allergen vacuum filter bags. While permanent filters are more eco-friendly, I do love my Kenmore Intelli-clean vacuum (Consumer Reports rated it above the Dysons in their vacuum roundup, and I haven't been disappointed.) People keep telling me if I want my hardwood floors to truly be clean I ought to vacuum them. I'm going to try that as soon as my bags are here (I was vacuuming the other day and then I heard a BAM. Suddenly my vacuum bag light, the "check engine" of the vacuum came on.)

Cleaning the ol' laptop

2007-09-18T18:54:00.001-05:00

As I sit typing this I cannot help but be distracted by the smears all across my poor Macbook's screen. It's time the poor gal got a cleaning. So, how best to do it?

I solicited opinions on eco-friendly laptop cleaning from a natural living community *waves to members* and received the following tips:

1. Clean the screen with a damp microfiber cloth. (This is good advice, and it's worked well in the past.)

2. "For the keyboard, take a toothpick and wrap the cloth around it to get the sides of the keys. To get gunk out of the keyboard (crumbs and things), vacuum it." --sierra81 (who runs a green cleaning company)

3. Use iKlear. (Actually, I have a kit of theirs that I ought to break out and try.)

Apparently, their packaging states: "environmentally friendly, non-toxic, non-flammable, chemically and physically inert, and cannot be absorbed by skin." It's also ammonia and alcohol-free.
ladyceleste added:

"You need to turn it off and let the screen cool or you'll end up with streakyness."'

Oops. Well, therein lies my problem.

4. Of course, if you just want to clean off the keyboard without shutting down your machine (i.e. if shutting down your machine falls under "annoyance" for you as it does for me), there's a cute little donation-ware app for the Mac that temporarily disables your laptop while you clean.

5. Use a touch of diluted white vinegar (from multiple sources). I haven't confirmed this one through testing, but white vinegar is one of my buddies.

I'm sure it'll be a lot nicer to use my laptop in natural lighting after I give it a bath.

Toilet Stains

2007-09-17T14:15:00.000-05:00

I am so sick of my toilets having rings inside of them (hard water type-stains, not for lack of cleaning.)

I think I'm going to try this recipe overnight tonight and see if it works. It promises no scrubbing is necessary, so that's tough to argue with considering I still don't feel overly great.

1 cup borax
+
1 cup white vinegar
+
10 drops pine or lavender essential oil
+
5 drops lemon or lime essential oil

(Combine first in a plastic bowl, then add to toilet and leave overnight.)

I tend to trust Aura Cacia for my essential oils, as I've been using them forever and they work well. Anyone have a different preferred brand? There's so much crap out there.

If anyone else decides to try this toilet soak, let me know if/how it works!

Bathroom scrubbies and laundry whites

2007-09-14T22:07:00.000-05:00

There's a new-to-me product I really want to try: Bon Ami's 1886 Formula Cleaning Powder. I want to use it in my bathroom, on the tub and tiles and grout. As an avid bath-taker, my tub needs to be clean. I kind of admire the Japanese custom of rinsing and cleaning before climbing into the bath. I don't like the idea of sitting in dirty water, in other words. A product that's been around this long may just have something going for it. Anyone tried it?

Today was a day for doing a load of laundry whites. I wasn't feeling particularly well, and was looking for mindless chores to do instead of getting academic work done. Among the culprits was my husband's bathrobe, which looked pretty scary before I tossed it in.

I have a habit that I picked up from ... somewhere? of using borax in loads of white. I'll combine something like 1/4 cup of borax and white vinegar plus 10 drops of lemon essential oil with loads of whites, and it brightens them up nicely. I wish the lemon scent really stuck around, but citrus oils are great for brightening so it's worth keeping them in the mix.

Casabella Magnet Mop 2

2007-09-13T15:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, I really really love my mop, so it's about time I gave it it's own shrine...er post. Every time I use it I think what a smart purchase it was. It's not like one of those products where each use merits reflection on whether it's really working well and whether you should continue using it. I've gone through so many mops that were just meh, it was high time for a shining star.

I got the magnet mop when I moved into a place with hardwood floors. It's essentially a wringable sponge with a microfiber top. It dry-mops nicely, trapping most of the stray carpet fluff and hair that accumulates on our floor (we have a natural wool area rug that sheds like crazy.) The thing works well with just water, though of late I have been using it with just Method's "Wood For Good" omop liquid (which works so much better with the Casabella than the actual omop.) How I feel about the W4G I'll leave for another time.
If you've tried the omop, it really handles the same "dry/just with Method liquid" mopping, but it doesn't "skip" as much on the floor.

However I choose to mop, the sponge head comes off and is easily tossed in my washing machine to clean it thoroughly (no more germ-infested mop head, yay!)

I did have to pay more for it than the last mop I got at Target, but considering how much I love the thing (and that I can get replacement heads when this one expires), it was worth it. I lugged Mr. Mop from halfway across Chicago on the El/Bus, and it earned its keep on the first use.

Oh Magnet Mop, I heart thee.

(Ed. note- though the picture is blue and yellow, my mop is red and silver.)

Burts Bees Citrus and Ginger Root Hand Soap

2007-09-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

We've finally reached the end of the Method hand soap in our house (except for the recently reviewed Almond Flower.) This past weekend, therefore I was able to nab some of the Burts Bees hand soap that I've been wanting to try. I mean, it's been out for a while now. I was disappointed to sniff the Green Tea Lemongrass, as it ended up having a bit of a generic soapy-detergent aroma. I asked my scent-picky husband to try sniffing both that one and the Citrus and Ginger, and he picked the latter. I wasn't entirely surprised, as he has a slew of Orangey-Ginger products.

The Burts in our master bathroom soap dispenser now, and I really like sniffing my hands after using it. I have also noticed that it's the only hand soap we have in our house that doesn't dry out my hands. I don't rush to moisturize right after using it. Between the smell, and the the better skin reaction, I am happy.

Burts was really the first natural company I got into. Like most people, I was introduced to them when I tried their lip balm. Later on, I nabbed one of their head-to-toe starter kits for a ski trip. I have a great memory of using the lettuce complexion soap in the motel. I loved the way that bar smelled. A while back when I was about to buy the Burts Lavender toothpaste at my Whole Foods, one of the clerks commented that Burts was great, but their quality had gone downhill since Burt and his wife got a divorce and the wife took over the company. Honestly, I haven't noticed much of a difference. I'm glad they have hand soaps, and a new hand sanitizer out. (Of course, now that I'm not teaching, I'm not as paranoid. Well, except for when I ride public transit.)

p.s. if you support the idea of setting a standard for the use of "natural" on personal care products, sign their "bill" here. Their values, as summarized here, are laudable.

Household staples

2007-09-10T15:28:00.000-05:00

As a bit of a detour, here are some great things you can do with items that may already be in your house. Not all are about cleaning your home, but they're about cleaning something!

Olive Oil
-Shine stainless steel
-Cleanse your skin- combine 50/50 with caster oil to use the "oil cleansing method". (Read more) (It's also great for removing eye makeup.)
-Prevent wax from sticking to a candle holder (rub a thin coat on your holder before lighting a candle.)
-Unstick a zipper
-Moisturize your cuticles
-Dust wooden furniture (apply to a microfiber cloth and rub gently.)
-Reduce door squeaking (apply a little to a cloth and wipe the top of the hinges so that oil runs down the sides.)

Baking soda
-Erase crayon, pencil, ink, and scuffs from painted surfaces (sprinkle a bit on a damp sponge, rub the stain, then rinse.)
-Unclog a drain (1/2-1 cup baking soda down the drain, then 1/2-1 cup white vinegar after it. Let sit for 5 minutes, covered if possible, and then follow with a gallon of boiling water.)
-Exfoliate skin and "wash" hair (try mixing with water beforehand for a kind-of-shampoo, follow with a rinse of appple cider vinegar. Otherwise known as the "no 'poo method." Google it, seriously.)
-Scrub pans
-Remove stains from enameled cast iron and "stainless" steel (For the cast iron, create a thick paste of baking soda and water, then scrub with a soft nylon brush. For stainless steel clean with a soft cloth and 4 tbsp of baking soda dissolved in 1 quart of water. Dry with clean cloth.)

White Vinegar
-Remove coffee and tea stains from cups (Soak for lengthy periods of time if the stain is bad, otherwise switch 2 tbsp vinegar in the cup and then wash as usual.)
-Clean your dishwasher (once/month run white vinegar through an empty dishwasher. You can do this less often if you're worried about the water waste, or you can think of it as a way to keep your dishwasher in good shape, which is eco-friendly.)
-Clean a teakettle or coffee maker (warning, tell your significant other or roommate first. My poor husband made himself tea while I was soaking the teakettle once. Mmmm vinegar green tea. Anyway, boil a mixture of water and vinegar in a teakettle, then wipe away any grime. Some folks advise you to then let the w.v. mixture sit overnight. To clean a coffeemaker, create a mixture of water and vinegar and run it through a brewing cycle. Follow with as many plain water cycles as you need to remove the vinegar taste. It only took one water cycle the last time I did this.)
-Remove price tags or stickers (let the sticker soak in the vinegar for at least 5 minutes.)
-Deodorize a garbage disposal (make vinegar ice cubes and feed them to your disposal. Run plain water down the drain after this. I also throw lemon and lime pieces down there whenever I can.)
-Replace Jet Dry in your dishwasher (*nod* to the reader who pointed this out.)
-Mix 50/50 with water and use to clean glass and mirrors
-Apply via spray bottle to bathroom faucets and scrub with a toothbrush (not your own or the brush of anyone you like.)

Hey, I baked amazing lemon-zest frosted coffee spice muffins last night. For the recipe (which is vegan if you use the proper margarine), check here (my personal blog.)

Autumn Potpourri

2007-09-08T16:30:00.000-05:00

So I am making a homemade autumnal potpourri this weekend. Poor potpourri, it has such a bad reputation. All of those awful bags of prepackaged potpourri left out in grandma's house with their weird perfume that gets up your nose. I actually love the word potpourri. I like to sprinkle it about in conversation- i.e. "that was a strange potpourri of sounds." I also seem to recall from French class that it means "rotten pot."

Anyway, I am using a recipe from Naturally Clean Home again:

2 cups dried apple slices (I simply bought these)
1 cup bay leaves
1 cup sage
1/2 cup chopped (not peeled) gingerroot
1/2 cup whole cloves
8 1-inch cinnamon sticks

and am combining them in a glass jar. Basically, you shake the jar daily for about a month until it smells right to you, and then either display it nicely or simmer it in water. It also is lovely added to pillows or sachets.
I found an apple wood bowl on etsy to display it in. I'll have extra so I can think up other crazy things to do with it. I may work on a holiday mix to give to friends come this winter, but I suspect most of my friends and family aren't as scent-driven as I am.

(I don't have the glass jar yet. Sadly, I was just at Home Depot and Target today and I forgot.)

EFP's Natural Spa Dish Soap

2007-09-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

Earth Friendly Products has a line of "Personal Care Products." These are deluxe essential-oil scented hand and dish soaps, hand lotion, and linen "water" (aka product you spray on fabrics before ironing them.) I recently scooped up the dish soap in "Black Currant". I've used a lot of scented dish soaps recently, but this is the one that smells the strongest and is the most pleasant. I haven't gotten to scrub any really tough items (no over-microwaved tamales this week), but I did notice that my hands were less dry after using this.

I kind of like their caddy, actually. You know how water collects around your soap dispensers by the sink and you get dirt under there and bottle-marks? Er... I use "you" generously here. I could perhaps be assuming too much. Ahem. Anyway, if I could take for granted that most hand and soap bottles would fit nicely next to each other in that thing, I'd get it. I kinda wonder if Earth Friendly Products' standard dish soap bottles will fit.

I like the essential oil descriptions featured on the left column of the site. I'm a big enough aromatherapy nerd that I knew all of these (heck, I have half of the EO bottles mentioned in my house), but it's fun to think about lemongrass dish soap helping to revive me on a daily basis.

(They sure need to redesign their website however. Were I in the design business any longer I'd offer. It doesn't do them justice.)

Anyone tried the hand lotion? I'm using Desert Essence's Spicy Orange hand lotion right now, but as it smells nothing like oranges (or spice, for that matter), it won't be a repeat buy. (On a total tangent, their pistachio foot cream is lovely, however.)

Caldrea Holiday Samples

2007-09-06T14:09:00.000-05:00

Reader Twynk wrote in (I just had to say that. It makes me feel like I have more than two readers ;) ) to tell me that Caldrea has an offer right now whereby if you sign up for their holiday email list they'll send you three free scent-samples.

I love that eco-friendly products have been on top of the aromatherapeutic cleaning concept. I'm sure I've mentioned that before. I am definitely motivated by scent, so this is a good thing. If you walk down the isles of your drugstore or standard supermarket, most mainstream products are barely even there yet. Indeed, I'm sure my parents (for example) would find the idea of cleaning with something that smelled of pomegranate unnecessarily decadent. What's more, I'm sure they'd suspect it of being ineffective. The trininty in their house has always been "Soft Scrub-Comet-Windex", with every kitchen surface cleaned by sponge and water (my mind recoils at the germs... but I'm odd.)

The whole "holiday scent kit" is something I've covered before. Both Method and Mrs. Meyers have been on top of that. It looks like Caldrea has rolled up its sleeves and is getting in on the action (considering Mrs. Meyers gingerbread cleaning kits were sold out everywhere last winter, it's a safe experiment.)

Anyway, some of my favorite scent concoctions come from Caldrea (at least in name, I haven't tried many) so we'll see what they come up with.

Earth Friendly Products Wave Jet

2007-09-06T12:29:00.000-05:00

Hello green cleaners! Every time I log in I see a notice asking me if I'd like to place targeted google ads in my blog. I have to admit, I'm curious (for my sake) what they'd turn up. So, if you are at some point subjected to ads upon visiting me, my curiosity got the better of me.

Onward, Earth Friendly Products makes a dishwasher product called Wave Jet that's essentially just like Jet Dry. The idea is to eliminate spots and residue and make your glasses sparkle (it goes with your sparkly TV commercial teeth. What, you don't have those? Me neither.) All dishwashers I've been blessed with since my second apartment (prior to 2002 I lived only in apartments with dishwashers that led me to hand wash my dishes) have had a reservoir for this product, labeled conveniently with the Jet Dry™ brand name. Are there no other rinse aid brands?

I used Jet Dry in one apartment where the water was particularly hard and liked the results. When I switched to natural cleaning products I was going to indifferently do without, when I spied this product. I've used it for a couple of years and it's always lived up to its claims. One thing I'm never quite sure about is when to stop pouring the Wave Jet into the reservoir (I go with- when it starts to overflow) and how to know when to refill it (I go with- when I remember.)

I've never had London-hard water, but I'd still advise those looking for sparklier dishes with little effort to give this a shot. Sometimes I toss some borax in with my dishwasher detergent (in one of the additional cups) for fun too. Yes, for fun. ;)

If you've tried this, I'd love to know how it's worked for you. I've used it in two dishwashers, in two states, but these things can be subjective.

Method hand soaps

2007-09-04T16:53:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm going to cover a bunch of Method hand soaps in one post because I've tried several on my own, and at friends' houses. I haven't tried the foaming hand washes at all, actually, but I've got the others covered.

My most recent Method hand soap purchase was the creamy hand wash in "almond flower". I've mentioned my scent junkie status before, so I'll just say that I was hoping this would be kind of a pale marzipan scent. Alas, it smells rather of dryer sheets and/or nondescript flowers. I have really dry skin, so much so that when I wash my hands I almost immediately have to run for the lotion. I was hoping something touted as creamy and moisturizing would end my unlucky streak. Alas, it seems even more drying on my skin than even the regular method hand soaps. I'm confused. I'm also annoyed that I didn't order the "olive leaf" version instead.

The texture of this soap is admittedly really nice. It's almost like a lotion. The little square bottle almost makes me forget my plans to get a soap dispenser for the guest bathroom (the plastic label cover comes off and is recyclable.)

The regular hand washes have been a staple in my home since I bought that holiday three-pack reviewed earlier. I've tried green tea, pink grapefruit, cucumber, and the holiday trilogy. They're just okay... essentially not much better in my experience from a more pleasantly scented SoftSoap (what my family used when I was growing up.) I am curious to try the "Sea Minerals" scent, as it's gotten many good reviews, but most of Method's scents are pale and overly synthetic to this nitpicky nose. "Green Tea" scented products never smell like green tea to me- and if they did most people would probably wrinkle their nose and complain that they'd accidentally bought a "lawn clippings" scented product. Sounds good to me. Anyway, it's nice when companies actually manage to work tea into their products for functional or scent reasons, but the method green tea is just synthetic, and a weird interpretation at that.

(I must try the Burts Bees "Green Tea and Lemongrass" hand soap to see how it compares. That actually contains green tea "oil".)

I might be persuaded to buy one of the foaming hand soaps, or even to give the olive leaf creamy one a try, but for the most part I'm pretty soured on method's hand soaps. Actually, I'm falling out of like with the company in general. I'm just not impressed with the formulas compared to other brands/my own homemade goods.

Heather's Concentrated Oxygen Bleach Cleanser

2007-09-02T13:03:00.000-05:00

Before leaving our last apartment, I really wanted to try to tackle some of the stains we'd created that I hadn't been able to remove with my arsenal of products. Nothing took them out, and I didn't want to resort to buying Clorox or Soft Scrub. After buying and returning a couple of products, I saw a slim canister tucked among the offerings at my local Whole Foods. "Heather's Concentrated Oxygen Bleach Cleanser" it said on the label, and promised to be chlorine-free, natural (oh that vague term), and "safer around kids, pets, and the environment." I nabbed the can and rushed home to try it.

First was the kitchen counter- my husband's iron teapot had left stains on it that wouldn't budge. I dampened the spots and sprinkled the powder onto them ("Comet" style), and then ran upstairs to do the same for the bath tub stains (too many fancy bath bombs, not enough prompt cleaning.) By the time I came back down to the kitchen to wipe away the cleaner, it had worked! Goodbye stains! Perhaps I used a bit too much in both cases, but I didn't care. The bath tub was a little more difficult, but the stains at least faded.

In my new apartment I have used this stuff on the stall shower floor. I wait until post-shower so the floor is damp, and then go to town. I have noticed the floor is whiter after I apply this stuff, but I think nothing can help that shower floor (god I hate it. My bathrooms need to be pristine or I get severely grossed out.)

Um, my nuttiness aside, this is a great product. It doesn't remove everything, but it tackles plenty of stains that other eco-friendly products don't even make a dent in.
I want to try the Basin, Tub & Tile Cleaner, and they offer a "trial size" pack so you can sample their product offerings without a big commitment.

Bike-Blended Soap

2007-08-31T18:24:00.000-05:00

I recently saw something pretty cool on Gaiam (where I often find fun household goods. I've been known to read their catalog for fun.) This time, it was "Bike-Blended Soap." Curious (and, *cough*, a soap junkie) I clicked on it to find out more.

"A unique invention that pairs a bicycle power train with a soap-mixing vat lets our soap makers literally pedal their way through every batch without electricity..."

Now, high quality organic cold-process essential-oil made soaps are a dime a dozen around the internet (as specific as that is, heh), which makes me supremely happy. However, how many are made by bike power?! The scent list for this pack is pretty yummy as well: "Lavender Rosemary, Lemongrass Ginger, Cinnamon Clove, Oatmeal Honey and Lavender Avocado". Oatmeal Honey is pretty common, but the others just sound too good to pass up. I may need to try a pack of these, although the last time I took the plunge and bought a bunch of soaps from a manufacturer without trying a single one first I was burned. It was The Body Shop, and I wound up giving those glycerin bars away as I became a Lush junkie.

Method Aroma Ring

2007-08-31T15:45:00.001-05:00

I was tempted to title this post "Method Stink Ring", because I'm feeling a bit lazy, and I couldn't remember what it was called. Turns out, I was pretty close. Anyway, my need to stick one of everything scented in my apartment (sorry jhimm), prompted me to bring one of these home as soon as I saw them. I also nabbed one for my sister's birthday, as she likes the Method "Cut Grass" scent. (She claims it reminds her of the old Gap "Grass" perfume.)

So, two grass aroma rings later, I was home and placing the white plastic ring on my bathroom shelf. I was impressed to actually be catching whiffs of the thing when I walked into our tiny bathroom as well.

Basically, you get two foil-wrapped scent disks per pack, and then you can buy refill 2-packs in any scent as often as you want. (They claim a single disc lasts at least 2 weeks.) You peel off the foil, revealing a thin membrane. It's tempting to poke at the thing, but will probably lead to alien mutations (so I've refrained thus far.) The white ring takes two aroma disks for maximum scent, but I've never used two (seems too wasteful, even to get more scent.)

In our new apartment the thing sits on the back of my toilet, and I swear I've never caught even the faintest whiff of it. I tried the second grass disk and then moved onto a "Eucalyptus Mint" one. (It was the only kind that passed the husband-sniff test at Target.) For some reason, the EM scent isn't on Method's site. Mine is blue like their "Sweet Water" version, but perhaps it's been replaced.

I am honestly about ready to give up on the aroma ring. It reminds me of the "diffuser sticks" I bought at Whole Foods a couple of years ago. Never smelled those either.
I'm willing to concede that my small nose (seriously) might be keeping me from properly whiffing the aroma ring. I just put the last EM disk in today... the ring is on its last chance before it gets replaced with some home made potpourri or a cute nicknack. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't chuck it (I may have a change of heart and want to refill it), but it's becoming a waste of space.

I'll have to track down my sister and ask her what she thinks.

Anyone tried this? Do their aroma sticks work better? I like the look of the little white vase.

Biokleen Automatic Dish Powder

2007-08-30T12:58:00.000-05:00

Biokleen's "Automatic Dish Powder with Grapefruilt Seed & Orange Peel Extract" is my current favorite dishwasher soap, and it's on sale from drugstore.com right now (I sure wish I got kickbacks for these referrals ;) ) I love it because, as mentioned yesterday, I can get 64 dishwasher loads from it for generally around $5.50. (It's on sale often.) It also smells amazing, but if the citrus scent bothers you, it does come in a "free and clear" version.

My only annoyance with this product is that it does not include a scoop. I was lucky that I had a spare plastic scoop from another product that I could devote to the canister. It's not as though I'd want to leave my baking tablespoon sitting in the dishwasher powder all the time. The biokleen laundry powder includes a scoop, so I wish they'd port that feature to all of the other powdered products (I do understand it's more eco friendly not to include one, however.)

As mentioned yesterday, I don't do a particularly thorough job rinsing my dishes before putting them haphazardly into the dishwasher. I hate dishes, and I suppose I ask a lot from my dish washing soap. Biokleen delivers- I don't end up with streaks or spots, just clean and happy dishes. It works better than some toxic brands I've used in the past, and it definitely smells the best thanks to that grapefruit seed and orange peel extract. (The scent does not transfer to your dishes, fear not.)

I've run the gamut of powdered dishwasher soaps, so this is the first to impress me. (The Ecover cubes did too, but they're, um, cubes, not powder.) The canister is also a lot smaller than most boxes, so you'll have more room under your sink to store extra Casabella cute fish shaped biodegradable sponges.

Ecover Dishwasher Tablets

2007-08-29T14:26:00.002-05:00

When I first saw these in the store, I thought "how inefficient." Individually wrapped dishwasher tablets? Silly. Somehow I decided to try them anyway, and I was really glad that I did. Like all of Ecover's products I've tried thus far, they do a fantastic job. My dishes come out of our crappy dishwasher sparkling clean. The individually wrapped plastic sleeves are recylable too (here in Chicago anyway. In Providence we could only recycle plastic 1-3 and these are a #4). I'm not the most thorough rinser of dishes, and often stuff the dishes into the washer rather haphazardly.

My only beef with these is that a box does only 25 dishwasher loads (25 tablets) for $5.79. The Biokleen dishwasher powder does 64 loads for $8.19 but it is usually on sale for less than the Ecover. Still, these are very convenient and effective

A trashcan that takes a beating

2007-08-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

I need a new office trash can. My last one had a big hole in it, so when we moved halfway across the country, it didn't make the packing cut.

The Thrashcan may be expensive, but it'll last forever. Anything made out of recycled tires is guaranteed to be pretty durable (we have a recycled tire doormat from gaiam.)

Pretty nifty. I'm turning over whether I want one. They're made by a Chicago design group as well.

Stainless Steel Cleaner

2007-08-28T09:40:00.000-05:00

Stainless steel kind of pisses me off. It seems that no matter what I do, it looks a bit streaky and fingerprints easily. My first purchase to try to keep my Simplehuman trash cans looking shiny was a Casabella stainless steel microfiber cloth. I was super excited by the claim that all I need is a touch of water and my steel will shine! (This was my first microfiber cloth purchase.)

Well, it never really worked. For a few weeks I attempted this on my microwave and the trash cans, and then harumphed and gave up on the cloth. When I saw Method's Stainless Steel spray I thought "Hallelujah! Maybe this will help."

The Method spray smells deliciously fruity, and that's nice when cleaning. Using the dual power of my microfiber cloth and the spray, I feel like my trash cans get pretty shiny, but as I mentioned, they end up streaky a lot of the time as well. (I often try to pretend the sides of the can don't exist and just do the top.)

I am thinking that when the Casabella cloth reaches the end of its life, I'll try the Simplehuman microfiber mit. I'm really intrigued. Anyone tried this product? Someone on Amazon gave it 5 stars.

As a parting note, I don't think I'll replace the Method spray when it runs out. It doesn't make enough of a difference to warrant the extra clutter, and I am the queen of simplifying whenever possible.

Don't eat the sink cleaner

2007-08-27T11:26:00.000-05:00

So, there's a story floating around about how if germ-sensing aliens came to our world and based their sense of where to go potty purely on germ presence, they would eliminate in our kitchen sinks and wash in our toilets. I don't know if that's true or whether it's a story meant to trigger frantic rounds of sink-scrubbing around the world, but I haven't looked at my kitchen sink the same way since. I mean... it seems plausible.

Anyway, I actually have a preferred way to scrub the ol' sink, from The Naturally Clean Home:

-1 cup baking soda
-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-3 drops cedar or sweet orange essential oil

Combine the ingredients in an air-tight container and shake well to combine.
Sprinkle a small amount of the powder into your sink and wipe up with a damp sponge.
Rinse well.

I almost want to scrub the sink just to sniff this stuff. Almost.

Mrs Meyer's Gingerbread Holiday Clean-Up Kit

2007-08-25T12:16:00.000-05:00

So I won't even pretend that I am capable of resisting the allure of gingerbread-scented cleaning products. When I saw this clean-up kit reviewed in one magazine or another I raced to Mrs Meyers' website to order one. Alas, they were sold out! When I saw them two weeks later in Whole Foods, I nabbed two of them (one for my mother-in-law's Christmas gift.)

So, the dish soap. My MIL uses your standard chemical products, and even she was impressed with the ability of this stuff to tackle grease (must be the soap bark extract.)

The funny thing about Mrs Meyers is that they sell their products to Williams Sonoma for the latter's own home line of cleaning goods... which are then marked up. Oh Williams Sonoma, how I'd like to like you.

Anyway, so my MIL likes this stuff, and so do I. The gingerbread scent is really pleasant, though I'd like it a bit more bitingly gingery. Who knows what they'll come up with this winter. Did you see the Honeysuckle "Spring Cleaning" kit in the spring? (I refrained, file under "still using the freaking Winter kit!" It's 25% off now if you missed it.)

I'm still using the gingerbread hand soap too. (I wish the winter kit had come with glass cleaner like the spring kit did.)

I love that eco cleaning companies have gotten so creative with the scents. Aromatherapy makes cleaning more tolerable.

100% Corn Plastic Travel Mug

2007-08-25T12:02:00.001-05:00

Ok, so this isn't quite cleaning related, but it is home-geek. I was looking around online this week for eco-travel mugs. My dear j. takes tea to work sometimes, and our trusty free Tim Horton's travel mug has been his buddy for a while. Well, with all of the talk of such containers leaching chemicals into our drinks, my paranoia kicked in and I thought I'd scope around for a solution. I already use a stainless steel mug, but, I thought, surely there's something more fun!

Voila- The Eco Travel Mugs from I'm Organic. You can order them with your company's logo on them, in addition to the cute designs they offer (we ordered the ladybug.)

"Made entirely out of corn, with a bit of oatmeal thrown in for strength, they will disappear in your compost pile in two months." Thankfully, they'll carry your green tea (or my decaf coffee) for years, first.

P.S. I really want their "Healthy Crops, Healthy Craps" t-shirt for my dog Mei.

Method Cranberry All Purpose Spray

2007-08-24T12:30:00.000-05:00

Last Winter, Method introduced a line of products in three limited edition scents- Frosted Cranberry, Spiced Pear, and my favorite, Peppermint Vanilla. Completely giddy at the idea of these non-traditional cleaning scents, I stocked up. I bought dish soap in the Spiced Pear, candles in the Peppermint Vaniller, and a three pack of both the hand soaps and the all-purpose spray. (On a tangent, I also discovered Mrs Meyers Gingerbread LE Holiday cleaning kit, and had to get one of those as well.)

Well, it's the end of August and I just finished the Cranberry all purpose spray and the Cranberry hand soap is still in my bathroom. I'll talk about the hand soap some other time. For now, the All Purpose spray.

It's essentially the same formula as Method's other a-p sprays, which typically come in Lavender, Cucumber, Pink Grapefruit, and Unscented (raise your hand if you think it's sad I knew that from memory yet can't remember when in Sept. my mother's birthday is.)These sprays work fine. Really. Maybe even well. With the help of a good microfiber cleaning cloth they've taken off some of the goopiest grime from my stove top. They've battled crusty things on my counters. I used these to clean my last apartment before moving out. I use the wipe form (in Pink Grapefruit), in my bathrooms after growing tired of Eucalyptus Mint.

The real interest here is the scent, and well, it's synthetic cranberry. This smells quite a bit like synthetic raspberry, pomegranate, and any other red fruit you can think of. By the time I finished this mini-size bottle (12 oz), I was pretty well sick of it. I like Method's holiday line both in design (you know someone used stamps in Illustrator) and novelty of aroma, but I think I'll shy away from multi-packs this winter. I didn't want the cranberry on its own. We'll leave alone whether I would have had to "just try it" if I hadn't fallen prey to the three-pack.

Eco-friendly bleach

2007-08-23T20:33:00.001-05:00

Does anyone know of an eco-friendly bleach that actually makes whites whiter? I am currently using Ecover's Non-Chlorine Liquid Bleach, but I don't think it actually does anything much when added to my white laundry. Maybe the powder is better?

I'll have to try this stuff as a bathroom cleaner. Apparently 1/2 cup added to a gallon of water cleans bathroom surfaces. I'm thinking shower tiles and my good old Casabella shower brush.

Earth Friendly Products Shower Kleener

2007-08-23T18:23:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm going to confess something to you here. I shied away from Earth Friendly Products for a while because their packaging isn't as nicely designed (exception- their spa line) as some of the others out there.

I was curious after reading this though:
"The only non petroleum based, naturally derived shower cleaner on the market. This unique and revolutionary product uses tea tree oil, lavender oil, purified water, a plant derived surfactant, and ethanol derived from corn to clean your shower and bath areas."

I always love the "plant derived surfactant" in descriptions. Anyway, EFP is an Illinois company, so as soon as I moved here I found that I could buy their products almost anywhere. It was my inability to get to a hippie store for a while that led me to snatch this up. And may I say, I am properly shamed.

It's actually really lovely.
In the past, I've tried Method and Mrs. Meyers shower cleaners, but the scent bothered my husband (particularly the Method, but it kinda smells like bum, if bum smelled like bad ylang ylang.) The EFP version hardly smells at all, and better yet, when I spray it in our stall shower I can see it chasing away the soap drips from the glass. It's kept me from having to do a thorough scrubbing in the nearly two months that we've lived here.

I've actually... repurchased, which for me is something. I'm a fickle gal. What's your favorite shower cleaner? I don't mind the Mrs. Meyers Lemon Verbana either.

Biokleen Citrus Laundry Powder

2007-08-23T18:12:00.000-05:00

I used to be really skeptical of laundry powders. They seemed old fashioned somehow. This was before I began using borax/white vinegar/lemon essential oil to improve the results I got on my white towels. I've been more friendly with laundry powder lately. For one, the package doesn't get sticky when I inevitably dribble soap down its side. For another, it seems to really work. I love Biokleen's products in general. They all smell faintly grapefruity and fresh. The citrus laundry powder is no different. I feel like it really gets my laundry clean, and the wonderful scent doesn't carry over into the final product (which is a positive, because my husband doesn't like scented things as much as I do.)

The box comes with a handy little scoop. For my tiny apartment-sized top-loading washer it takes 3/4 of a scoop per large load. (It's fine for HE washers too.) It seems so far as though the box'll last a good long time too.

If you notice a lot of biokleen reviews here in the near future, it's because I'm on a biokleen kick. Not only can I get them at Whole Foods, my local natural foods store (Bonne Sante), and drugstore.com, but they rock.

Method Tub + Tile Spray

2007-08-23T17:17:00.000-05:00

The Tub + Tile spray is in Method's Eucalyptus Mint scent, which I typically like. However, I honestly don't think this stuff gives off much of an odor beyond "soap". I used this to tackle the green stains left behind by my Enviro-Magic Grout Cleaner. I appreciate that you don't need to rinse after using this stuff, but I almost found myself doing it anyway in hopes that it'd help. I'd say this particular product does an okay job of dealing with cleaning tile, and general bathroom surfaces. Grout, not so much. It's never really been great at removing the soap-scum my Lush baths can leave behind in the tub.

I know many eco-nerds are wary of method. It's sold in Target, and many drugstores. Most complaints are about the vagueness of the ingredients list, and honestly, I've found this to be the case on many eco-cleaning products. The "corn/coconut-derived and biodegradable surfactant blend" is probably SLS/SLES (sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate), which should be ok if you don't let it sit on your skin forever. Method leans towards fragrance, rather than essential oils as well, which doesn't particularly bother me, but makes me feel less romantic about the products.