by Marissa Lenting

Cleaning green.

These days everyone is cutting back on extra costs in their lifestyles. Keeping your home clean shouldn’t cause a pain in your wallet, but the cleanliness of your home shouldn’t suffer either.

A great new way to clean your home is through these handmade recipes, and there is no chemistry set needed! Just mix a few simple ingredients together and you’ve got your very own green-clean team! It is a great way to look out for the environment and your family, as they are kid and pet friendly! These homemade recipes are also a lot more cost effective than your typical chemical-based cleaners.

Try using vinegar for many of your home cleaning remedies. Don’t worry about your home smelling like vinegar, the smell disappears when it dries. A bottle of vinegar will cost around $3.80 for 128 oz. and a 26 oz. bottle of window cleaner can cost $4.79! That’s more than a $20.00 difference! Some simple and common uses for vinegar are:

Bathroom - Clean the bathtub, toilet, sink, and countertops. Use pure vinegar in the toilet bowl to get rid of rings. Flush the toilet to allow the water level to go down. Pour the undiluted vinegar around the inside of the rim. Scrub down the bowl. Mop the floor in the bathroom with a vinegar/water solution. The substance will also eat away the soap scum and hard water stains on your fixtures and tile. Make sure it is safe to use with your tile.

Kitchen - Clean the stovetop, appliances, countertops, and floor.

Laundry Room – Use as a natural fabric softener. This can be especially helpful for families who have sensitive skin. Add cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle in place of store bought fabric softener. Vinegar has the added benefit of breaking down laundry detergent more effectively.

Use lemon juice to clean your surfaces and rid of smells. Lemon juice can be mixed with vinegar and or baking soda to make all sorts of cleaning pastes. A bunch of 5 lemons will cost you around $2.50 and one lemon can cover an entire house! A 12.5 oz. bottle of furniture polish will cost you $3.99 the savings are simple. Simple and common uses for lemons are:

Bathroom – Lemon juice can dissolve soap scum and hard water deposits. Soak your showerhead in a bowl of lemon juice or rub a mixture of lemon juice and water on your sink or bathtub.

Kitchen – A great way to shine brass and copper. Cut a lemon in half and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section and scrub dishes or pans. Put a few slices of lemon in a bowl of water and place in microwave. Cook for 2 minutes and remove bowl. Then easily wipe off any food particles or grease from microwaves surfaces. Put a whole lemon peel through the garbage disposal, it freshens the drain and the kitchen.

Baking soda can also be used in an all-purpose way of cleaning. Mix it with vinegar or lemon for an abrasive super cleaner! An all-purpose cleaner can cost around $3.00 for only 32 oz., while a 48 oz. box of baking soda costs $2.25 and will last you a lot longer!
If you really want a great way to freshen up your home, add a few drops of lavender essential oil to your cleaning mixture, a 10ml bottle goes for $5 – $10, and can last you a year.

Here are some more really great recipes and ideas for all your homemade cleaning needs!

Furniture Polish: Combine 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of distilled vinegar, and 2 tsp. lemon juice and shake well. Dip a clean and dry cloth into polish and rub wood in the direction of the grain. Refrigerate any remaining polish.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner: Sprinkle bowl with baking soda and drizzle with white vinegar. Let soak 30 minutes, and scrub with toilet brush. For tough stains, let soak overnight.

All Purpose Cleaner: Combine 2 cups of white distilled vinegar and 2 cups of water. Use on counter tops, kitchen floors, windows, mirrors, and any other hard surfaces. For tough jobs, warm the cleaner in the microwave.

Happy Cleaning!

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION!

Original Article:  http://earthorganization.com/clean-green

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This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit Cheap, Clean and Green! is a post from:

Ten Simple Steps to Greener Living

As awareness of the civilization’s impact on the environment increases, people are becoming more willing than ever before, to accept clean lifestyles. But some aren’t exactly sure where to begin.

One doesn’t have to start out with leaps and bounds.  Installing a full solar power system on one’s home or switching to a hybrid car would be great. But large steps require planning and financing.  Small steps can be taken right now.

In some cases, your choices might depend on several factors: where you live, the natural resources available to you, your lifestyle, and others. Therefore there is probably no “one-size-fits-all” solution to going green (or at least, greener).

But there are many simple things you can do to live a greener life, through your day-to-day activities, and most of these apply to just about anyone.

1. Learn more about sustainable living

This is the first and most important step in going green. You should read up on the subject of environmentalism, and how your personal carbon footprint can affect global pollution levels. There are plenty of resources available online, and you can visit your local library for books on related topics.

2. Save energy

The most effective way to cut down on your carbon emissions is to conserve on energy in your home. Install energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs, turn off the lights when they aren’t in use, ensure your house is properly insulated and windows are properly sealed, and keep your energy consumption to a minimum. You will save energy and money at the same time.

3. Conserve water

Every drop of tap water you use consumes energy – for transport, filtering, and purification. It might just be water, but a lot of fossil fuel is consumed in processing it. In some places, water itself is scarce. You can turn the tap off while brushing your teeth, switch to more efficient washers and dryers, and collect rain water for use in your garden.

4. Use less fuel for transport

If a hybrid car is not an option at the moment, you can take other steps; walking or biking to work, or whenever you have to travel a short distance. If your work place is too far for a daily bicycle commute, consider using mass transit. You can carpool with a friend or coworker if that works. For long trips, consider the fuel efficiency of your different options.

5. Eat greener food

Eating is one thing everyone has in common. But did you know that eating the type of food can make an impact in the environment? The food industry contributes substantial carbon emissions in the process of shipping their products around the world. When you eat seasonal, local, and organic food, you help to conserve the environment – as well as improve your own health.

6. Buy smart

Instead of buying brand new wooden furniture for your home, you can search for good used furniture online, or even visit garage sales to find what you’re looking for. Think before making a purchase, no matter how big or small it is. Buying grocery items in bulk can save money and conserve on energy and packing materials. Also, be sure to buy high-quality products that will last for a long time and not just wind up in a landfill a year from now.

7. Shop Online

Shopping online is another good way to conserve on fuel. When you receive a purchase by post, the amount of fuel used to ship that purchase is no where near the amount of fuel you would have used to drive to a store and buy it offline. Furthermore, you can also save a considerable amount of time and money by shopping online, and many online stores offer free shipping.

8. Proper waste management

Years ago, many considered waste management to be the main environmental issue of concern. As long as you reduced, reused, and recycled, you were a friend of the environment. Things are not that simple these days, but waste conservation is still a big part of living green. It takes a lot of energy to process and dispose of waste, whether it’s recycled or dumped in a landfill. So conserving on waste is important, even if you do recycle. You should also compost your biodegradable waste materials.

9. Wear the right clothing

Your choice of clothing can make a big impact on the environment. One of the most heavily sprayed crops across the globe is cotton. Chemicals which are used as insecticides harm the environment, and harm people’s health. Fortunately, there are other alternative fabrics available in the market; such as organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, and flax. Try to find and purchase clothing that uses these natural and nontoxic materials. Wearing such clothing is also better for your health.

10. Avoid toxins and chemicals

If you look carefully at many of the products you use every day, such as cleaning and personal care products, you might be quite surprised at the harmful chemicals they are made from. Use products made from natural and nontoxic ingredients.

They aren’t hard to find – even Amazon has an entire section dedicated to green products. This section is called Amazon Green and it includes many household, personal care, home improvement, office, clothing, and grocery items. By shopping at Amazon Green you can find nontoxic and environmentally friendly products more easily, while also saving money and conserving resources by doing your shopping online.

This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit How to Go Green in Your Day-to-Day Life is a post from:

- a guest post by Zachary Slovin

Get ready Washington, the babies are coming (and they are angry!).  Thousands of babies are crawling towards D.C. to "say no" to toxic chemicals found in our homes.

The Million Baby Crawl is an online effort by Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF) coalition, Autism Society of America, Breast Cancer Fund, the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Seventh Generation (a leading brand of non-toxic and environmentally safe household and personal care products).

Creating a baby on the site takes only seconds and they’re trying to reach a goal of 1 million "crawlers" before January 2010.

Creating a crawler is essentially signing an online petition aimed at overhauling the outdated Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has no real authority over the TSCA and in the past 33 years, has required testing on just 200 of the more than 80,000 chemical compounds developed for products used in the homes.

So make a crawler, tell everyone you know, and help create some safe barriers between us and the toxic chemicals in our homes.

To find out more, please visit:

Million Baby Crawl

This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit The Million Baby Crawl – for Nontoxic Homes is a post from:

What’s round like an orange, textured like a porcupine and green like a lime? It’s the green wash ball. This ball works by bouncing around natural ceramics inside the ball that raise the ph level of the water. This process is much like how traditional detergent works but instead of friction they use chemicals to raise the ph level. Also the texturing on the ball helps loosen dirt and at the same time softens clothes without the use of chemical fabric softeners.

To use, simply place ball in washer without detergent or fabric softener and wash as usual. The green ball can be used 7 times per week and then refreshed by place in the sun for 1 hour. Following this pattern of use will give you enough cleaning power to last 1,000 washes or 3 years worth of laundry. The green ball safeguards clothes, activates water’s natural cleaning power, eliminates odors, cleans with an antibacterial effect, removes dirt without chemical detergents and avoids allergic reactions to clothing detergents and fabric softeners. The green ball is safe for septic tanks and in the production of gray water. Also with college starting the green ball is an easy way for students to do their laundry with one simple ball. So the next time you’re in the detergent aisle think about trying the green wash ball.

Also, while laundry is on your mind think about the art of clothes drying. While fall is quickly approaching, the art of hanging your clothes on the line to dry is liberating and nostalgic. One can hang clothes on the line and enjoy the sun and breeze of the day. This enjoyment continues when the clothes are taken down in their crispness and the scent lingers in your closet and drawers. But if you cannot hang your clothes out or, have allergies, using a dryer to dry your clothes is your only option. However, you can save money, soften your clothes naturally, and save time by using dryer balls. These balls placed as pairs in your dryer beats one’s clothes to soften and speed up drying time.

So even the art of doing laundry can be green. Green wash balls reduce the use of plastic, cut down on unplanned trips to the store when you run out unexpectedly and soften one’s clothes by the tumbling of the ball in the washer much like what has been done for centuries with beating clothes on rocks. The green wash ball can also be used in the refrigerator to help keep fruits and vegetables fresh. The final task on laundry day is drying and it can be the most enjoyable. Mother Earth has provided the most wonderful dryer for clothes, the outdoors. But if you cannot take advantage of Mother Earth’s dryer the dryer balls in the dryer are the next best thing. While this act uses energy the beating of the ball softens clothes, cuts drying time which saves energy and if nothing else creates rhythmic music that spices up a mundane task.

This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit Laundry Day: Try Green Wash Ball is a post from:

I, personally, love to clean. I love the look of a sparkling kitchen and a tidy bathroom. However, I am not as fond of the toxic smell of chemicals, which is usually a side effect of having a clean home. So, I was thrilled when I finally tried Method’s line of soaps, surface cleaners and detergents. They are ‘people against dirty’ (read, people after my own heart) and they stand for great design, sustainability, safety and good-smelling cleaning products.

Method offsets their carbon from all of their employees’ commutes and the energy it takes to run their office buildings. They also offset the energy consumed by the manufacture of products through renewable energy credits. They work to reduce their energy consumption from making, shipping and using their products. One of the ways they can do this is by manufacturing concentrated soaps and detergents. Oftentimes, soap contains a large percent of water, but Method makes more concentrated products which allow less packaging materials and less weight. This results in fewer carbon emissions during the shipping and distribution of products.

In terms of safety, Method has followed the ideas of Michael Braungart, co-author of Cradle to Cradle, in using completely natural, biodegradable and harmless ingredients in their products. They were recognized at the ‘champions’ level of Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative, as part of the EPA’s Design for the Environment program. The program works to reduce chemical risk and improve energy efficiency to be better for both people and the planet. The EPA now has 1,034 products and counting as part of this program, which have eliminated more than 270 million pounds of harmful chemicals. Method currently has 50 products in compliance with the DfE program.

Method also prominently displays their ingredient lists on their website, breaking each product down ingredient by ingredient. You can feel good about knowing exactly what’s in every product you use. The people at Method work with Michael’s Braungart’s team at the Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency (EPEA) to carefully consider every material that goes into their final products, and to make sure that the products won’t pollute any of our water systems with harmful chemicals.

Method makes Cradle to Cradle certified products, which is a huge achievement in itself, but they also became endorsed as a Cradle to Cradle company recently, which means that they are environmentally sustainable not only in their products, but in all aspects of their business.

Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, the founders of Method, have also figured out how to capture the market (and my gratitude) with their sleek designs. I no longer feel the need to stuff cleaning products under the sink or put them in non-descript containers; my dish soap stands proudly out on the counter. The bottles are 100% recycled plastic and Method uses labels that won’t jam up recycling systems. And did I mention they are pretty?

I knew I loved Method’s products the moment I read the bottles and discovered scents like ‘pink grapefruit, cucumber, ginger yuzu’ among others. Thankfully, we finally have another choice for scents in the cleaning aisle besides lemon.

Method has revolutionized a market which has historically been seen as environmentally unsound. They have made effective cleaning products that can be washed down drain without the subsequent environmental guilt pains. They have made it so we can take off the rubber gloves, and we can keep our cleaning products on display. Above all, they have set a standard of sustainability.

This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit Clean and Green: Method’s Home and Personal Care Products is a post from:

I, personally, love to clean. I love the look of a sparkling kitchen and a tidy bathroom. However, I am not as fond of the toxic smell of chemicals, which is usually a side effect of having a clean home. So, I was thrilled when I finally tried Method’s line of soaps, surface cleaners and detergents. They are ‘people against dirty’ (read, people after my own heart) and they stand for great design, sustainability, safety and good-smelling cleaning products.

Method offsets their carbon from all of their employees’ commutes and the energy it takes to run their office buildings. They also offset the energy consumed by the manufacturer of products through renewable energy credits. They work to reduce their energy consumption from making, shipping and using their products. One of the ways they can do this is by manufacturing concentrated soaps and detergents. Oftentimes, soap contains a large percent of water, but Method makes more concentrated products which allow less packaging materials and less weight. This results in fewer carbon emissions during the shipping and distribution of products.

In terms of safety, Method has followed the ideas of Michael Braungart, co-author of Cradle to Cradle, in using completely natural, biodegradable and harmless ingredients in their products. They were recognized at the ‘champions’ level of Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative, as part of the EPA’s Design for the Environment program. The program works to reduce chemical risk and improve energy efficiency to be better for both people and the planet. The EPA now has 1,034 products and counting as part of this program, which have eliminated more than 270 million pounds of harmful chemicals. Method currently has 50 products in compliance with the DfE program.

Method also prominently displays their ingredient lists on their website, breaking each product down ingredient by ingredient. You can feel good about knowing exactly what’s in every product you use. The people at Method work with Michael Braungart’s team at the Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency (EPEA) to carefully consider every material that goes into their final products, and to make sure that the products won’t pollute any of our water systems with harmful chemicals.

Method makes Cradle to Cradle certified products, which is a huge achievement in itself. They also became endorsed as a Cradle to Cradle company recently, which means that they are environmentally sustainable not only in their products, but in all aspects of their business.

Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, the founders of Method, have also figured out how to capture the market (and my gratitude) with their sleek designs. I no longer feel the need to stuff cleaning products under the sink or put them in non-descript containers; my dish soap stands proudly out on the counter. The bottles are 100% recycled plastic and Method uses labels that won’t jam up recycling systems. And did I mention they are pretty?

I knew I loved Method’s products the moment I read the bottles and discovered scents like ‘pink grapefruit, cucumber, ginger yuzu’ among others. Thankfully, we finally have another choice for scents in the cleaning aisle besides lemon.

Method has revolutionized a market which has historically been seen as environmentally unsound. They have made effective cleaning products that can be washed down the drain without the subsequent environmental guilt pains. They have made it so we can take off the rubber gloves and keep our cleaning products on display. Above all, they have set a standard of sustainability.

This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit Clean and Green : Method’s Home and Personal Care Products is a post from:

While compost heaps are becoming more mainstream even for tight neighborhoods, many homes and apartments still have the good old-fashioned sink disposal that sometimes stinks like a compost heap.

Simple solution: Instead of using a foaming or chemically laden cleaner for your garbage disposal, cut a lemon and lime into quarters and run it for a few seconds.  Lemon is a natural cleanser, and lime is a natural smelly-goody.

This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit Quick Tip for Stinky Garbage Disposals is a post from: