Is your home "CLEAN"?

Have you ever thought about all the chemical cleaning products you allow in your home?  Really - try and do this - you will be amazed at what you come up with.  Here's my list I found after thinking this through (and this in only the list for inside the house - I haven't made it to the garage yet):

• Windex Glass Cleaner
• Kirkland Countertop Cleaner
• Kirkland Dishwashing Detergent
• Kirkland Laundry Detergent
• Comet Abrasive Cleaner
• Leather Cleaner
• Pledge Wood Polish
• Kirkland Antibacterial Dish Soap
• Kirkland Antibacterial Hand Soap
• Pinesol Floor and Tile Cleaner
• Bissel Carpet Cleaner
• Clorox Bleach
• Tilex Mildew and Mold Cleaner
• Tilex Soap Scum Cleaner
• Scrubbing Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner
• Tons of Clorox Sanitizing Wipes
• Drop in Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner
• Draino Drain Cleaner

Wow, with all this cleaner, it seems like my house should be sparkling, right?  I wish.

I know my New Year's resolution centers around becoming more green, and I am going to get to that, but just analyzing this from a simplicity point of view leads me to the question - "Why so many cleaners?".  Do I really have seventeen different types of grime to clean up in my home?  The quantity of chemical products is shocking.

I am guessing that most families (who have not made it through a green revolution yet) have a similar spread of cleaners in their cabinets as well.  Why so many?  The answer is remarkably simple: we are slaves to marketing.  The TV, magazine, computer, etc. promotes a product as having the capability to make our home more desirable, so we purchase it.  We all want to have a lovely, fresh, clean home and the media sells the easy solution.  But, is it easy?  Is having to use seven different chemicals to clean my bathroom an easy task? 

Elevated concern arises when you look at this issue from a health perspective.  Ask yourself: "Do I know what chemicals I am bringing in my house?  Am I aware of the effects these items could have on my family?"  Most individuals would answer these questions "no".  There is a general confidence in cleaning products and the promotional claims they tout.  The average consumer believes that if the product was deemed unsafe  companies wouldn't be able to sell it.  Sadly, this is usually not the case.  Many of the chemicals we allow in our homes are classified as volatile, caustic, carcinogenic, and teratogenic.  Some of these cleaners can have deleterious effects to individuals in your home, as well the environment, as they do not simply disappear from the ecosystem when you wash them down the drain.

So, what to do?  Go green and feel better about your home.  Below I have detailed how to make a change from those nasty, dangerous cleaners to more healthy, environmentally sound alternatives. 

First, simplify. 
Get all your chemicals out and set them on the counter for review.  Save the dishwashing detergent and laundry detergent (if they are chlorine-free).  Dispose of the rest.  Notice I said "dispose", not trash.  You cannot throw these things in the normal garbage, otherwise they will leech into the soil.  Take them to a chemical depository site in your neighborhood.  You will begin to feel better about your home environment by just removing these items.

Second, replenish.
You really only need a few products to have a clean, green, and healthy home.  Go to the store and purchase a gallon jug of white grain vinegar, a large box of baking soda, Murphy's Oil Soap, and Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap.  The great thing about these items are they are really inexpensive.  The largest sizes of vinegar and baking soda only cost a couple dollars each.  Murphy's oil is about average for a soap product.  Dr. Bronner's is more expensive, but you end up diluting the soap, so a little goes a long way. 

Third, mix and clean.
These three items in different combinations, quantities, etc. can be used to clean almost your entire home.  Purchase a couple spray bottles, a bucket, and you are ready to go.  Follow the recipes below to mix up your own healthy, natural cleaners.

Multi Purpose Cleaner1 ½ ts. castile soap
3 ts. white vinegar
4 c. water

Drain Cleaner
½ c. baking soda
1 c. vinegar
allow to sit in drain until bubbling stops
follow with one kettle of boiling water

Mopping Solution
1 bucket of hot water
1 drop of Murphy's Oil Soap
1 c. vinegar
optional: 1 pinch of borax (if you have ants that enter the home)

Sink and Countertop Scrubbing Cleaner (Comet replacement)
Rub baking soda on surface with a wet cloth

Mineral Deposit Removal/Soap Scum
Spray surface with vinegar, let sit, then remove with scrub brush and water

Toilet Cleaner (removing deposits)
Plunge water from bowl
Fill with vinegar and allow to sit for a few hours
Scrub with brush and flush

Dusting Formula
3-5 drops of olive oil
1/4 c. vinegar

Dusting and Cleaning Formula
1 gallon water
1/4 c. Murphy's Oil Soap

Try it out and let me know what you think.  Happy Eco-Cleaning!

Farm Fresh in Cypress

I have been bummed for years that I don't have a local farmer's market in the area.  As a child, I remember my mother always taking me to the gigantic farmer's market up in the Dallas area.  It was amazing.  There were literally 4 or 5 huge open warehouses full of produce vendors.  Pretty much anything you could every want in the way of fresh food was there. We would buys tons of fresh fruit and veggies that seemed to taste so much better than the produce purchased in the grocery store.  What made it even better was that I got to spend some great time with my mom.

When I moved to suburbia-Houston I wanted to take my own kiddos to a farmer's market, so I started investigating.  Houston-proper has a few big farmer's markets which are noteworthy.  There are also several country farmer's markets located in some of the surrounding towns, like Hempstead and Brenham.  While these did sound appealing at first I soon found that these farmer's markets are just a little too "out-of-the-way" for my busy life.  So, for many years I have resorted to shopping at the local HEB grocery store. 

However, through my efforts to become more green I have found a small, local gem - a farmer's market located about five miles from my own house!  Amazing, huh?  I must have been blind all these years.  Regardless, I am thoroughly impressed with my find.  The market is called, Debbie's Garden & Farmer's Market.  It is a very small operation run near the intersection of highway 290 and Huffmeister Road.  The shop offers fresh local produce, farm-fresh eggs, as well as some honey and jar-goods that are local as well.

I am most impressed with their fresh local produce CO-OP offer, which I have taken advantage of 3 times so far.  For $20, you get 10 produce items in quantities for a family of four.  So, for example, I have ordered apples and oranges from Debbie's and received a total of four apples and four oranges.  Or, I have ordered lettuce and received one over sized stalk of lettuce which feeds my family salad for more then three nights.  The best part about this CO-OP is there is no contractual obligation!  You just arrive and order by Sunday evening, then pick up you items the following Friday.  Voila!

You might be wondering how this supports the "green" movement.  Well from a individual perspective, you are minimizing your plastic usage.  While the CO-OP packaging comes in a box and plastic produce bags, you can request on your order forms that your items not be bagged.  I have been bringing my own reusable grocery bags to pick up orders, and I recently purchased some breathable, reusable 3B Bags produce sacks to store my items in once I return home if they happen to need refrigeration.   From a global perspective, buying produce local means you are reducing transportation pollution.  If a farm can sell their items local, then there is no need to ship them elsewhere.  Less transportation = less environmental pollution from truck, etc. that would otherwise have to haul the produce to another, farther location.  Plus, less transportation equals cost savings for the final consumer, as well, since the farmers' price to produce produce (ha, ha!) is less.  So, it is a win-win situation for all parties. 

In case you are interested in other farmer's markets in the Houston area, I have located several others through a Houston Chronicle article written in 2008.

Kitchen Disposable Waste

I never really realized the quantity of disposable products in my house until now.  A brief scan of the kitchen and pantry has revealed the following: paper towels, paper napkins, disinfectant wipes, plastic cutlery, paper lunch bags, Ziploc baggies (quart-sized and gallon-sized), wax paper, parchment paper, plastic wrap, disposable Tupperware, grocery bags, and there are probably even more I didn't find!  Wow...there's way too much.

The plan is to reduce my consumption of these items.  Notice I said "reduce" - this will be gradual.  Some of these items I may find alternatives for, others I might need to use every once and a while.  My hope is that eventually I will be able to live without any of these, but for now it is wishful thinking. 

As I mentioned in my last post, the first thing I wanted to remove from my life were paper towels.  I am here to tell you that for the last 2 weeks I have successfully done so.  Paper towels were a staple used in my house for things like drying hands, cleaning counters, carrying snacks, etc.  We still do all these same activities, but now we are more responsible about how we do it.  Since we have been successful in this endeavor, I have made additional changes to our use of "disposables" which my family has surprisingly not complained about yet.  I've summarize these below...

Paper Towels - For cleaning counters and drying hands we have switches to microfiber towels.  They are amazing!  Microfiber is super absorbent and extremely soft to the touch.  We try and use only one towel per day to wipe down counters to minimize our laundry.  Hand towels are used for an entire week.

Ziploc Bags- Baggie usage for food storage has been replaced with BPA-free Tupperware.  For children's lunches, we have purchased some reusable cloth/Velcro snack bags and sandwich circles that are machine washable.  Wet lunch snacks are kept in stainless steel containers (i.e. cut apples, soup, etc). 

Plastic Wrap - Plastic wrap is still a battle for me - I am occasionally using it to cover bowls of food that go in the refrigerator, with the understanding that eventually is will "go away" some day.  I am still looking for an alternative...

Wax/Parchment Paper - These items are primarily used for baking in my house.  I plan on replacing these with non-disposable silpat liners.

Disposable Tupperware - I stopped purchasing this years ago, but some how these items have still "hung around".  Last weekend I went through and pulled them all from the cabinet and threw them in the plastic recycling can.  Bye, Bye!

Disinfectant Wipes - I have a bunch of these from when I was a classroom teacher.  I think I might donate them to my kiddo's school, because we rarely use these at home.

Plastic Cutlery - There is a giant open box of this in the pantry that is not getting used...wanna know why?  We actually wash our plastic cutlery in the dish washer.  So, the forks, spoons, and knives I originally took from this empty box have hung around for quite a while.  I think I will eventually phase this product too, but for now I think we are pretty conservative with this one.  One note: if you decide to eat "take out" decline the plastic ware...it just starts collecting in your house over time and makes clutter.

Paper Lunch Bags - We do not use these at all.  My kiddos carry their lunches in reusable cloth lunch bags.  I think I purchased them for the one time my son had a field trip...maybe the art teacher at school could use them?? 

Grocery Bags - I got rid of these and they keep coming back!!!  Why??  Because I forget to put my cloth grocery sacks in the car.  Always keep them in the car...AND...you don't just have to use them for groceries.  Bring reusable sacks with you any time you shop!

Welcome!

Well it's 2011 and this year I have decided to make a life changing resolution.  This year's goal is to gradually make my home and my family more ecologically conscious.  I know this is not going to be an easy task.  Houston (and Texas in general) are not quite as proactive on the "green initiative" as some of the other states in the US.  Don't get me wrong, there are pockets of "green" areas in Texas - but I assure you the Houston suburb I live in is not one of them.  Just to give you an idea - we have no curb side recycling in my neighborhood (the community I live in actually voted down this service when it was proposed).  We do not have the "green" grocery stores - Whole Foods, Central Market, etc.  Public transportation is not the best out here, and I'm not going to even start on the school lunches around here.  So, trying to take my family from the waste-loving bunch we are now is going to be a challenge. 

I will be documenting my move to the "green"side of life in this blog.  I know I am not going to be 100% unwasteful, nor 100% ecologically conscious, but I figure any small changes I make will have an impact.  The first move is too rid my life of my one wasteful additction: Paper Towels!  I will write more about this and it's impacts on my next post.