Category — Dooz safe things

Awhile back, we made a commitment to rid ourselves of cleaning products loaded with chemicals. It seems so simple, and yet we had random individual cleaning stuff hanging around that we didn’t really even give much thought to. Things like Windex or toilet bowl cleaner (I hate the toilet bowl). So, I finally did a big purge of cleaners (most of them were just about done with anyway) and have moved from half using natural products to 100% moving over. If I were smarter (clearly, I’m not) I would have done this a long time ago. Perhaps the feeling that my lungs were bleeding while cleaning the bathtub might have clued me in? Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad … but it was close. And with the allergies that Dooz and I have, it definitely had to happen.

So, I tried Caldrea and loved their products, but they are too damn expensive. $9 for 16 oz. of dish detergent? I can’t spend that much money on something that actually does go down the drain. Back in the two parents working days, maybe it would have been an indulgence. Then again, I prefer my indulgences to keep my feet warm. Anyway, we’ve always used Method and you have to admit, they’re stuff is pretty inexpensive. They even have a new line of kids products that are totally phthalates and paraben free (something I’m constantly looking at in products for the D). Unfortunately, they’re carried at Target and I am broken up with Target right now. Which leaves us with Mrs. Meyers, carried at our local grocery store. It smells nice and their all purpose cleaner does a really nice job without leaving an overpowering smell. Still, I wanted something a bit more inexpensive and even more minimal so I poked around for the basics because though these cleaners were better, it didn’t really fall in to our other commitment … to consume less. And I have to say, why the heck was I using all of that stuff before when all I needed was/is some baking soda, vinegar and lemon? Sheesh. It’s awesome. No weird fumes, no wondering what words on labels mean. The only thing I have to worry about is making sure I don’t confuse spray bottles and shoot the dog in the snout with 1 part vinegar and 1 part water.

Is this a dorky, mom-ish post or what? Don’t get me wrong, I am not great at “keeping a house”. You won’t see posts with clever ways I’ve arranged furniture or hand painted pillows on my Design*Sponge-ish couch. The reality is, my house is the cleanest when someone is coming over (and often only because Mark has insisted even if I don’t care how people see our house, he definitely does). And if you randomly show up, you’re risking a small pile for the compost bin on the kitchen counter, bras hanging in the bathroom and toys strewn over every possible surface. Oh and everything will look slightly fuzzy, because despite vacuuming twice a day, we are losing the battle with the dog fur.

The real driver is consuming less (living on one income and tired of buying crap) and having what we need to consume have the best shot of biodegrading or being recycled. I could almost poke myself in the eye for writing this post because I am a little more than sick of eco-this, eco-that and green-spin. But, still, it’s a change we felt pretty good about.

Oh and p.s. if you need something other than phthalates and parabens to worry about, there are always BPAs.