Earth Friendly Products ECOS Lemongrass Laundry Detergent

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

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...

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?

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

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

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

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.