House Of Horrors
While re-organizing the kitchen in preparation for our renovations, I moved a box of household cleaners from its former home under the sink to the laundry room, where the rest of our cleaners live. It wasn't until this consolidation that I realized just HOW MANY scary chemicals we've been keeping in our home. We have bottles of stuff for stoves, for sinks, for toilets, for windows, for carpets, for drains -- and most of them are chemical overkill. I cleaned my kitchen -- the place I prepare food in -- with substances that I don't even want to breathe. I'd felt dubious about normal household cleansers for quite a while, but figured I would just use up the ones we had and then replace them with more environmental options. Now, though, I've started to feel more immediate about it. I want these things GONE. There's no need to have them in the same house as me and my husband and my dog. I'm ready to switch to safer and more environmentally responsible cleaners... but... umm... the question is, how? What do I do with these, and what do I replace them with? This is me officially soliciting recommendations.
Comments and faves
brendanmoloney314 (50 months ago | reply)
Looks like the make'ns of a real strong cocktail to me!
brendanmoloney314 added this photo to his favorites. (50 months ago)
emily ann (50 months ago | reply)
i like household cleaners that use hydrogen peroxide as the active ingredient (and are listed on them as biodegradable)... you can also use vinegar, lemon juice, salt and/or baking soda.
cfivince (50 months ago | reply)
Simple Green works wonders for nearly everything! Keep 2 spray bottles, one diluted to 5 to 1 and another for full strength cleaning. 5 to 1 works well for nearly everything... Plus it is biodegradable nontoxic..
Johnny Adams (50 months ago | reply)
I would 2nd Simple Green. It works well for everyday cleaning. I still use Windex for the windows. For pet stains..Natures Miracle works very well. I would keep a small bottle of it around in case of an accident.
As far as getting rid of the stuff...check to see if there is a recycling center nearby. Here the recycling centers will shelve cleaners for those who cant afford them, or if they are not usable they will properly dispose of them.
gapey (50 months ago | reply)
What about for pet stains?
linn92 added this photo to his favorites. (50 months ago)
Call Me Bob. (50 months ago | reply)
North Recycling and Disposal Station (NRDS)
1350 N. 34th Street
Seattle, WA
NRDS is located in the Fremont/Wallingford area at N. 34th Street and Carr Place N.
Directions to NRDS (external) from Interstate 5
Close to your area. Call Seattle Public Utilities to see what you can dump down the drain and what they will recycle at the above location or other locations.
harpy (50 months ago | reply)
vinegar. plain old white vinegar - floors, counters, appliances.
baking soda for sinks and tubs. bon ami for scrubbing if you have something stubborn that needs removing. murphy's oil soap. i still use that hopefully it's not horrible.
i still use windex on my windows but feel weird everytime i spray it and see the little particles come flying out. and i am sure i have clorox in the garage even though i think it's evil.
Yogi (50 months ago | reply)
Elbow grease. :D
Yogi (50 months ago | reply)
Vinegar wiped off with an old newspaper works great on windows, too, harpy.
harpy (50 months ago | reply)
Thanks Yog!
nickteong added this photo to their favorites. (50 months ago)
paulmcaleer (50 months ago | reply)
For the new stuff: I highly, highly, highly recommend method products. Highly.
Sanctu (50 months ago | reply)
Wait for an alien invasion?
ReeBeckiSupergirl (50 months ago | reply)
I think the dump accepts hazardous waste! What I did was use up the bad cleaners and then as they were gone, I replaced them with earth friendly cleaners (I love Method). I also have researched using baking soda and vinegar for cleaning. I do loe those things!
Method has a detox kit! www.methodhome.com/products.php?cat=type& type=kit&...
BrittneyBush (50 months ago | reply)
Thanks everyone... I'll be doing some more research on this over the next couple of days.
The problem with using up the bad cleaners is that, well, I don't really clean much... so it could take YEARS.
I might try to find a domestic violence shelter or some other organization that can use them, and donate them.
tamelyn (50 months ago | reply)
mrs. meyers clean day products.
environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and they smell divine.
Puff Dragon (50 months ago | reply)
I use simple green, it smells good.
Melaleuca products are great, but it's to much of a hassle to get them. It's like Amway but they won't just sell you the products, they make you sign up for a bunch of bullshit.
emily ann (50 months ago | reply)
Blegh -- I was actually going to come back to comment that I can't use Simple Green because the smell makes me ill. To each their own, I guess :)
Puff Dragon (50 months ago | reply)
My husband hates the smell too emily ann ;-)
BrittneyBush (50 months ago | reply)
I /have/ been looking for an excuse to try some of that mrs. meyers stuff.
Lady_Barbara added this photo to her favorites. (50 months ago)
Mayr (50 months ago | reply)
Ok, I'm late to the conversation, but I second the rec for "method" products if you need to have some bottled cleaners on hand for the everyday kind of cleaning. Naturally-derived, biodegradable, made with a focus on the environment, and they actually work (and their scented things aren't too overpowering). Target stores carry a great variety of method products. Their eucalyptus-mint window cleaner and reusable lint-free microfiber window wipe thingy (it's amazing) is my favorite product. (Although, vinegar/water works just as well with it). And their laundry products are very concentrated (3x, so less packaging used over time) and earth-friendly, too. No phosphates.
But I also agree with harps-- white vinegar is magic and baking soda is a miracle-worker for scrubbing. I have huge Costco-size quantities of both that I use. I just this morning cleaned my stovetop with baking soda and hot water, mixed with a couple drops of method dish soap, and then rinsed with vinegar/water and dried to a shine. It takes a little more elbow grease, but in the end, it works better than any 409-type stuff and, um, I can breathe.
I scour my sink with the same kind of baking soda-soap-water technique and finish with fresh lemon juice... actually, I like to rub cut lemons all over my sink when it's clean. LOL, I'm weird. But it smells soooo good.
For tubs/showers, I've been using method's eucalyptus-mint tub/tile scrub... It's an alternative to cleanser, and probably works based on the same idea as baking soda or Bon Ami. It has no bleach or any other icky stuff, but it works really well.
Another rec: check out Dr. Bronner's liquid castille soaps. I like the lavender and the peppermint. I mix them with water to clean my wood floors (similar to using Murphy's) and then rinse with vinegar/water, which gets rid of any soap film or streaks. I also use the liquid soap to clean baseboards and walls.
I have used a Mrs Meyer's product for carpet cleaning, and have been happy with it. I'm also a fan of oxygen-powered cleaners like Oxo-Brite (I got it at Trader Joe's, I believe) for carpet stains and laundry stains.
And I bought a huge bundle of microfiber towels from the auto dept at Target and I use them for dusting and 'swiffering', then wash and reuse them, because I can't stand the thought of all my dusty swiffer sheets in landfill or even taking up all the energy to recycle them. However, method now makes earth-friendly compostable (they're made from corn) 'swiffer'-type sheets, too. For someone like me who has to swiffer doghair and dustbunnies off of 1,200+ square feet of hardwood floors each day, that's mighty nice.
I think it's great that you feel immediacy with this. Clean and Green. Both are good. And good luck with the disposal and/or donations. :)
(Holy crap, I wrote a novel.)
BrittneyBush (50 months ago | reply)
And I am totally okay with that! :D
harpy (50 months ago | reply)
i thought of this subject today as i cleaned my sink with fresh lemon
haha
sgwizdak (50 months ago | reply)
Getting rid of common household cleaners,
homemanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/dispo se_of_househ...
getthebubbles (50 months ago | reply)
i can second (or third or fourth) the recommendations for method, simple green, dr. bronners, vinegar, and baking soda. That pretty much covers most cleaning needs. I would also recommend looking for dish washer detergent/clothes detergents with no phosphate, as that doesn't come out in the water treatment process and ends up in lakes, rivers, and oceans leading to harmful algal blooms. I also really like seventh generation dishwashing fluid- it smells great and doesn't leave your hands dry.
btw, when i lived in long beach the simple green corporate offices were on a wetlands, and they tested and showed that none of the ingredients used in the making or byproducts damaged the environment there.
organicaj (49 months ago | reply)
Simple Green contains the same toxic ingredients as Windex. All you need to clean is distilled white vinegar and distilled water and baking soda for scouring action. Thieves Household cleaner from Young Living ROCKS, too.
check out the facts here.
organicajane.blogspot.com/
go_greener_oz, CScottRunx, kijacob, and ashlimaree added this photo to their favorites.
Paul McRandle (27 months ago | reply)
This is a great image. We used it for a spring cleaning quiz at NRDC's's Simple Steps site.
thiswaynext (22 months ago | reply)
Great image. Used here
Maker Mama and joelucas33 added this photo to their favorites.