Seeking Green/chemical Free Cleaning

I never use anything even remotely toxic. In the dryer I use tennis balls 3 well washed. Sometimes one falls on the floor and the dog takes it. I wash it in the next wash and it goes back in the dryer.

Fold the laundry immediately. If the clothes look a little grey and faded I put a new pair of blue jeans in with them and that puts blue rather than grey into the clothes.

My laundry soap has no scent. I buy Planet or Ecover liquid and have done laundry this way for more than 25 years while working in a multitude of countries.

I discovered a wonderful company in Idaho that makes a whole bunch of household products without any chemicals. It's Melaleuca. All the cleaners you could use - they work extremely well and smell like fresh herbs! They also have vitamins and supplements that are amazing. Wellness food, bath and body products, and first aid. And, their products are concentrated, so they cost less and use less packaging. If you'd like to know more, I can help you out. Email me at ____@____.com

I too have tried to limit or stop use of any fragrance product and with chemical. One cleaner I have loved is called KC 1000, a product used commercially that is non toxic, http://www.kcproductsinc.com/ I have picked it up in NE Portland. It comes with three spray bottles and you dilute according to the needs, it cleans everything from grease to glass.

I learned recently for stainless steal a fabulous cleaner is club soda! Shines it up like new!

I seriously cannot believe the amount of people that put fabric softener in their clothes. That stuff clogs up the material and also absorbs in the skin, it is terribly toxic. I have not used fragrance detergent for years and it really makes me aware of being around people who do. I held a 5 mth old baby at a party this weekend that the smell of fabric softener coming from her and the clothes was so strong I had to hand her off, of course did not say anything. Why can't we let babies smell like babies? We have not idea what that is doing to that baby. I cannot walk down the cleaner and detergent isle in the store without getting a headache. I am pretty passionate about this so good for you for finding green solutions.

I use an all purpose cleaner called Clean and Simple that works great, especially on wood and cork floors.
My laundry detergent is homemade from Lever soap, borax, and washing soda. I just skip the fabric softener. If you don't overdry your clothes, you don't really need it.

I don't know about some of the other things, but I've had great success with the dryer balls (blue bumpy ones). I use 4 balls per dryer load and I haven't had any problems with static, and the clothes feel softer than they did when I used dryer sheets. The only drawback is that they are noisy. My 2 year old girl also likes playing with them when not in use in the dryer :-)

We use a non-toxic scrub called Bon-Ami that works great for our tub/shower and sinks. It's been around for a LONG time and is very mild.

Buy the book Gorgeously Green. Awesome guidebook on going green from personal care to cleaning your home. Also gives great websites.

Sprinkle baking soda on your carpet and vacuum up after 15 minutes to freshen your carpet. You can try Natures Source cleaners too, they work GREAT. I was so happy with the one for the bathroom. Vinegar can also be used with boiling water to clear a slow drain =)

I'm surprised you haven't had good results reducing static in the dryer with aluminum foil! That's all we use and have had no problem making the switch at all! do you crumple it in a ball and then toss it in or is there another method I'm not familiar with? Another idea would be to get a Dryer ball. There are many kinds...I know of one made of wool and you can even opt to get it "scented" with essential oils. (here's one: http://www.buddhabunz.com/store/Default.asp)
I would encourage you to stay away from artificial scents and perfumes as they are being recognized more and more as toxic and possibly carcinogenic in the long term. You an visit the EWG Skin Deep database for help in finding healthy products (especially body care of any kind since anything that goes on your skin is absorbed into your blood stream).
EWG Database: http://www.ewg.org/ (look on the right hand side for the words: skin Deep cosmetic safety database)

For laundry, we use soapnuts which are a natural "nut" that contains saponins (which is what cleans). They are very cost effective and do a good job on our laundry (even our cloth diapers). I usually add a bit of Washing Soda as a booster along with the soap nuts. I put vinegar in the "fabric softener" hole since it naturally softens and brighten's colors. I also usually put 7-10 drops of Tea Tree Oil to help disinfect if necessary. Here is a site I have bought from (I found it to be cheaper-especially in bulk- than many other sites):http://www.buysoapnuts.com/.

I'm sure other people will have many great suggestions!
Best of luck!

S.
www.hazelaid.com
All natural, organic, handmade hazelwood necklaces for the relief of eczema, acid reflux, & teething pain for children and their families. We now offer Baltic amber too! Great for arthritis, headaches, & teething!

I absolutely adore my laundry detergent that's made from something called the soap nut. It makes the laundry fresh and soft, and it works in all temperatures and levels of water hardness. This is a big plus for me since we have very hard water. I live in Switzerland, but I know it's also available in the US because I looked it up once for my mom. Just google "Soap nuts" and you should find something. It's totally natural and environmentally friendly and works great!

http://www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/cleaning-with...

I dilute the vinegar for cleaning the bathroom. An hour later, I can't smell it at all (and I hate the smell of vinegar!). For mirrors, I mix up 1 cup of water, 1 cup of rubbing alcohol, and about a tablespoon or 2 of vinegar. It works much better than plain water.

I saw on Martha Stewart that you can use olive oil and lemon juice to polish your furniture. The lemon gives it a nice smell, and the oil is good for the wood.

If you want a nice smell, try putting a drop or two of essential oils into your mop water. I've never tried it, but I'll bet that would give a nice smell without chemicals.

You might also want to look into making your own laundry detergent. If you google Fels Naptha soap, you can find a pretty easy (15 minutes) recipe that will make enough to wash about 64 loads. It's not totally chemical free, however, but much more natural and WAY cheaper than anything you can buy commercially. I'm experimenting with other ways of making the soap.

As for the dryer, I don't know that I can give you a really good solution. I use dryer sheets occasionally--the free and clear ones. I find that loads only get clingy if I seriously overdry them, or if they have synthetics in them. Cotton has to be VERY dry to get static. Synthetics will stick to each other once they have dried (and they dry faster than cotton, generally), so maybe set the dryer to less dry and take out the synthetics before the cotton is dry. If you iron, you could take things out 95% dry and let them finish air drying, which would eliminate most of the static problem. But I'm sure someone else has a better solution. I use very little synthetic, so it's usually not a problem.

Hope that helps!

Hi L.,
I love your question! I haven't attempted chemical free laundry, but I'm trying to use less chemicals when I clean the house. I use just a wet rag when I dust - we also have an 'Ionic Pro Air Purifier' which does chatch a lot of dust, etc. in the air. Lately, I've been cleaning floors (linolium) and bathrooms with a mix of dish soap and warm water. I really don't know how 'sanitizing' it is, but I figure if we can eat off of something that is washed in dish soap and water, then it's ok for anyting. I haven't done any research on it, but it 's a suggestion. I have heard a lot about a vinegar / water mix that is good for just about anything you want to clean - windows / floors / etc. without chemicals.
~J.

Hi L.,
I applaud your efforts toward a green household. A couple of things I"ve learned with the laundry, put the vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser (I think all washers have them now). A good laundry booster is 20Mule Team borax, a natural product available in most grocery stores in the laundry section. If you make your own handsoap, there is a "recipe" for making your own detergent from the scrap pieces and a few other ingredients.
Orange oil is a great cleaner for any wood, it's a bit pricy, but can be diluted in a spray bottle with water, U just have to keep shaking it to keep it mixed. A carpet fresh type product can be made by mixing borax and baking soda, add a little essential oil in a fragrance you like let it sit in a big bowl for 24 hrs or so stirring occasionly to distribute the oil. Then put into a shaker can and use as you would a store bought product. I recycled a parmesian cheese shaker for this.
Hope these ideas help
Vicki

Shaklee Products have a line of chemical free cleaners...I've used them, and they work really well. Check 'em out online!

If you're still in need of info on this, send me a message back and I'll give you the link to my blog post that I did all about this. I did all the research on substitute products and pulled from tons of different websites to compile one big list of cleaner recipes and uses for them.

I successfully use aluminum foil balls to prevent static electricity. When I used just one there was still a small amount of static. I now use 3 balls, each about 3-4" in diameter.

The best non-toxic cleaners out there is Shaklee. Actually they have been proven to be better than the toxic ones as well and less expensive. They are non-toxic - safe for kids, animals and adults. It is NOT on the poison control list - it works - it is less expensive then any other cleaners - works better. They have corn and coconut surfactants in them. The research and science behind these products are phenomenal.

The best way is to try it out. If you are in the Portland area I would be happy to give you a cleaning bucket to try for two weeks just so you can see the difference. It is really hard to believe it works so good but it does. They are so concentrated you hardly use a bottle up - maybe every six months to a year depending on how you clean. People have been using these products for over 50 years and once they try them they won't stop using them.

You can also go to http://nontoxiccleaners.myshaklee.com

N.
Mom, Grandma and Wellness coach and I love my green Shaklee cleaners

I have been using Arm and Hammer for over 35 years. I am ultra sensitive to chemicals and perfumes. I always used the sent free kind. It has never bothered me.

For a good smelling house open the windows once a day to air it out. You could try cleaning with diluted lemon and water when you clean. It smells much better than vinegar. Try cleaning windows with vinegar.

You can temperately stop static cling with water.