Twist & Shout about How Clean your House is
Date: December 31, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
Cleaning has us dancing to a new tune. We’re twirling and shaking all over the kitchen because of Twist, a company dedicated to paying attention to what goes into their products and what happens to them when they’re tossed away (because there is no “away”). Twist reuses 99.7% of their waste in production and their cellulose is sourced from renewable tree farms. Each of their products has been designed to be as ecologically sound as possible from production to packaging. We must warn that their scrubbing sponge tends to separate, so until they fix that problem, you may want to stick to the other basics. (more…)
Reverse World - Gardens that Eat Insects!
Date: November 12, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Featured, Kitchen, The Home
Managing pests like flies in the kitchen has been a challenge for more than one eco-minded housekeeper. If you have a fruit bowl, at some point you will likely have fruit flies buzzing around your kitchen. The flies are harmless but, frankly, watching them land on your beautiful farmer’s market finds can be a minor bummer.
The Insect Eating Garden from Gifts that Bloom is a Venus fly trap that makes a meal out of the little buggers. For just $12.99 it is about the same price as bug spray but without any harmful chemicals. Just add water and sunshine and at least one problem will be history. (more…)
DuraBantastic!
Date: October 2, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, The Home
It’s one of the less fabulous facts of life: Sharing an office bathroom can sometimes be a little bit gross. We here at ecofabulous are very neat, naturally, but with a whole staff using one bathroom we felt that a little something extra was in order to keep germs and mildew at bay. But what is a green gal to use?
Now there is a new eco-conscious solution for preventing a microbe invasion. DuraBan’s line of antibacterial sprays and laundry rinse create a protective barrier that lasts for months and the product is said to kill 99.9 percent of bacteria. In addition, the products annihilate common viruses, like Salmonella, Staph, E-Coli and the flu virus.
We have sprayed down the office bathroom and let DuraBan go to work. The spray is odorless and doesn’t leave a sticky residue. But, more importantly, our bathroom feels cleaner than ever, which is actually pretty darn fabulous.
Green Goes with Everything
Date: October 1, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Garden, Green Building, Home Furnishings, Kitchen, Office, Pets, The Home
For any person who is interested in creating a more pure environment for his or her family, a new book has hit stores that offers some solid guidance for achieving your eco goals.
“Green Goes With Everything,” by Sloan Barnett, is seven chapters packed with information and tips aimed at helping you clean up your act and your environment.
Like me, Sloan’s environmental quest was fueled by the desire to find a cure for her children’s asthma. And amazingly, like me, she was able to cure it by eliminating the toxins in her house and by switching to natural cleaning supplies. Makes you wonder how many people have had a comparable experience. My guess is that there are many of us out there with similar stories. But if you are a parent of a child still suffering from asthma, you might need this framework.
Sloan is the Green Editor for KNTV in San Francisco and she knows her stuff; the book provides simple, well-researched solutions to creating a safe environment for you and your family. It is available in stores and online now. I only wish this was out when I was embarking upon my initial environmental journey!
For the Love of Laundry
Date: September 18, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
Many people actually enjoy doing laundry (no, seriously) because of the joy clean smelling garments can bring. Yet once you become aware of how toxic most commercial products are to the environment…and your personal health, your love affair with might be sullied.
We’d like to introduce you to Greening the Cleaning’s laundry detergent. Warning: you may get hooked. GTC’s entire line-–which includes a glass and window cleaner, an all-purpose spray cleaner and a dish soap-–is formulated using only naturally-derived ingredients. GTC was created by Deirdre Imus (wife of radio personality Don Imus) when she learned of the damaging health effects attributed to many traditional cleaning products.
The GTC line, all of which is scented with fragrant citrus and sage essential oils, is made using only water and a biodegradable surfactant. And it’s a great deal: for $19.95 you can order a GTC Variety Pack, which contains full-size bottles of all four of the company’s products, allowing you to revamp your whole cleaning routine in one fell swoop.
To make the deal even sweeter, 100 percent of the profits go to the Imus Ranch for Kids with Cancer, the non-profit working cattle ranch that hosts sick children and their families each year. Now you can clean your clothes and your conscience.
Simple and Sudsy
Date: September 4, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, The Home
Back in the early days of the eco-movement you used do a load of laundry only to pull it out to find that it wasn’t really clean and then you’d have to run it again, which kind of negates the eco-friendliness of it all, no? Times have certainly changed, evidenced by the great cleaning products that we frequently feature. A new contender has entered the world of green cleaning. Solay Simple makes a multitude of cruelty-free, biodegradable, unscented, and non-toxic cleaning products. Our favorite is the laundry soap. It’s 100% free of petroleum bases or ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrances, phosphates, animal by products, dyes and other common triggers for respiratory or skin irritations. Instead it uses purified water, a coconut-derived surfactant blend, a soy based fabric softener, and a cellulose-derived optical brightener, with an extra kick of cleaning power attributed to Himalayan salt. No disappointments here.
Charlie Is So Helpful Around the House
Date: August 28, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Featured, Kitchen, The Home
Conventional household cleaners often contain chemicals (surfactants) which don’t easily biodegrade in sewage treatment plants (thus contaminating our waterways) and have been identified by the EPA as endocrine disrupters (hormone trickers). Not the All-Purpose Cleaner from Charlie’s Soap company, which quite frankly is one of the best cleaning agents we’ve ever used. (more…)
Through the Looking Glass
Date: August 22, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
While scrubbing and scouring are not inherently fabulous, dirty windows can obscure even the most majestic of views. Yet most commercial household cleaners are loaded with VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) that are damaging to you and the planet. Linked to respiratory ailments, these toxins also contaminate our estuaries. Renowned home design expert Isabella Smith has created a beautiful line of natural cleaning products that combine powerful cleansing abilities with environmental sensitivity.
Non-toxic and biodegradable, Maison Belle’s glass and countertop cleaners come in kitchen complimenting lemon vanilla, lavender mint and grapefruit bergamot. Packaged in recycled materials (so chic, you’ll want to display them not hide them behind the cupboards), they’re as gentle on the ecosystem as they are on your olfactory system.
Spores No More
Date: July 21, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
Besides being unsightly, mildew is downright unhealthy and can cause all sorts of allergic reactions, like headaches, fatigue and difficulty breathing. Unfortunately, the best way to avoid an outgrowth is by keeping things dry; a little hard to do in one’s bathroom and kitchen. Second best is to keep things tightly sealed. Now, we’ve got just the solution!
MildewFree Sealant is low in VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) and cleans up with water, eliminating the need for toxic solvents and providing long durability and less waste. It’s also free of dangerous isocyanates, which can cause dermatitis and asthma when touched or inhaled . Given the areas where mildew is likely to grow, this is definitely a hazard we’re eager to live without.
Want more facts? Check out this article from Care2 on how to kill mold and mildew without harming other green things, like the earth.
Dust Bunnies
Date: June 19, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
Some five years ago I was having my house cleaned when it struck me that I always had chest pains on cleaning day and that the chemicals in my household detergents and supplies must be contributing to my children’s asthma. The fact that their asthma and my bronchitis instantly improved after changing products is enough empirical evidence for me. Strangely it was not easy to convince my cleaning lady that she needed to use different products - she was set in her ways. Luckily now there are cleaning services devoted exclusively to green cleaning, like Maid Brigade. The Green Clean Certified system guarantees that the products used are kind to the environment and to your health. Products meet criteria such as no carcinogens, no human or aquatic toxins, no reproductive toxins, non-corrosive to eyes and skin, low VOCs, non-flammable and formulated (and packaged!) for a low enviro-impact. When it comes to sweeping up dust bunnies, the Maid Brigade team uses ProTeam 4-stage filtration vacuums, which remove three times more particle matter from the air than their sucky counterparts. Other essential Maid Brigade tools include microfiber cloths and mops. Check out the site’s GREEN TV. If you aren’t in the market for a cleaner, maybe you will get some ideas about how to do it yourself!
