Discussion: Other Organic?

[lacylu42]

So, seeing everyone's grocery lists today got me to thinking: What else do you buy organic/recycled/good for the planet besides food?

At my house, we've switched to natural cleaners and detergent.  We love Method products (available at Target) as well as Mrs. Meyers.  I use Bon Ami for really tough cleaning (who knew it was better for the planet

Comments

[wesleysgirl]

We LOVE cloth napkins, and I've seen lots of them at secondhand shops like Salvation Army stores, too. I also highly recommend using inexpensive washcloths instead of paper towels in many cases, and cloth diapers are AWESOME for cleaning up more substantial spills like a glass of water being tipped over. There are many kinds of cloth diapers - the best are called 'prefolds' (they have many layers sewn together, so they're nice and thick and very absorbent).

I'll have to try Bon Ami. I recently gave up on the vinegar & baking soda combo for the bathtub, because it was taking an incredibly long time and so much scrubbing that my knuckles were raw, although I find the combo works great most places.

[lacylu42]

Yeah! It's still chemicals, but they are much less harsh and don't contain chlorinated bleach.

I use it wherever I would normally have used Comet in the past.

[sheafrotherdon]

I have a variation on the vinegar and baking soda that might help? Although it also might be too much work for a whole bathtub - I tend to use it on the grout of my kitchen counters which are 1940s tile.

mix half a cup of salt with half a cup of white vinegar, and add a generous squeeze of dish soap. Apply it to whatever needs cleaning and leave it to sit for a couple of hours, then scrub off. The dish soap helps it cling to the surface (important if it's a vertical thing) and the salt helps scrub away the dirt.

[wesleysgirl]

Thanks! I'll give that a try at some point. We seem to get a thick build-up of soap scum and baking soda/vinegar just wasn't cutting it. It seemed like what was actually "working" when cleaning it was the forceful scrubbing with a scrubby-sponge sort of thing, and sheer muscle, and that the cleaning mixture wasn't actually doing anything at all. A couple of weeks ago I broke down and bought one of those squirt bottles of Scrubbing Bubbles (not aerosol, regular pump) and OMG, I was able to clean the tub in five minutes when it had been taking me upwards of forty-five. But I'd rather not use chemicals if I don't have to. I'd be willing to spend 15-20 minutes, I think, with natural products, but not 45!

[sheafrotherdon]

I use [Method] products all over my house - not only are they biodegradable, but they smell great (much gentler than most cleaning products) and, crucially, do the job incredibly well. Their 'swiffer' equivalents are larger and pick up more dust, and their laundry detergent lasts me for an age. I've also been using their dryer sheets, which you can use in two loads of laundry, rather than just one, and which don't have any animal fat on them (which is how most dryer sheets keep clothes soft). Method's manufacturing plants are also zero-carbon footprint, which is awesome

[justhuman]

Vinegar will ultimately save the world.

I love Seventh Gen products. I use their recycled paper products and cleaning products. Well, I buy them when I can find them on sale. One alternative for toilet paper and tissues is Marcal. They've been using post-consumer recycled paper in their products for years and have stepped it up in the last couple of years to make products with 100% recycled material.

I really would love to give up on tissues, but I'm not sure. In allergy season I can go through box in couple of days. I'm not sure there are enough hankies to in the world to take care of my nose. ...but I've got some hankies and I'll give it a shot.

Cloth napkins - yes! I have a huge pile of extra dishtowels for wiping up messes. For those messes that look like they're going to make the towel un-salvageable, I go to the rag bag. Any piece of clothing that's too worn for the charity box goes in there.

I still have some paper towel (7th Gen recycled) in the house but I'm working on it.

[sheafrotherdon]

My favorite cleaning tip! Almost fill a microwavable bowl with water, squeeze in the juice of one lemon, and add one of the lemon halves. Put in the microwave and microwave on high for five minutes. The steam and lemon will make any clogged on food wipe-offable! I've tried this, and it absolutely works - as well as making the microwave smell fantastic.

Make sure you have the half lemon in the water - the water needs something to 'break' against while heating up, or it can get super-heated and cause a nasty accident when you nudge it.

[aphelant]

This is the coolest cleaning tip I have ever seen. Will definitely have to try this. \o/

[rainbow]

7th gen laundry and dish soap. ecover scrubby stuff (i think it's chalk in a creamy base. fragrance free and i dont react to (i'm allergic to a lot and ahve multiple chemical sensitivities). peroxide bleach by 7gen or ecover. recycled paper products and lots of rags. cloth menstrual pads. homemade soap.

i have to strike a balance between cloth and paper stuff -- i use a LOT of tissues and some paper towels, but we have a low well that goes dry regularly in the summer, so june-november is "dont use anything that will need to be washed unless you have to" time, and even in winter i try to not wash extra so the ground water level can raise more. but boy do i hear you on the tissues left in the pockets! oops.

i bought organic sheeting a few years back and have 2 bottomsheets of that, but our top sheets are conventional, and our towels and clothes.

we buy a lot of wheat grass (it goes in the homemade raw cat food we make) and i recycle allthe little plastic pots when i start seeds in the spring.