If you’re anything like me you maybe grew up thinking the house is not clean until it smells like chemicals. And that nothing can get it clean like chemicals can. Bacteria are all bad and they all have to go, and nothing kills bacteria like lysol. When I decided to consciously live greener this is one of the first [ easiest ] changes I made.
The easiest way : Barely change anything
Remember when you bought your Mr Clean at the store? It is becoming more and more common that you can also buy eco-friendly alternatives at your grocer. A couple of my favorites [ because they work well and smell so so good ] –
See that tiny cap on the Method Laundry Detergent? You only have to use half of that to wash a load. Sure it’s a little more pricey than Tide, but you’re going to save the money when you get twice as many loads done.
Once you got the products down, you need to ditch the disposals and embrace ‘UNpaper towel’ [ which just means washable cloth – like the olden days ]. The easiest way to do this one is to
a. Find rags
b. Use them
If you’re stuck on a. Find rags – Zero Waste Memoirs has a great post on their blog about where to start. I love that they make it easy by recommending you start with your own linen closet, moving on to your friend’s linen closet, then your clothing closet …
Basically, if you have a closet [ or reasonable access to someone else’s ], there is no reason you can’t accomplish this step.
If you’re up for some effort : Check out small businesses selling local, organic, eco-friendly and handmade products
I did a little groundwork for you on Etsy this morning [ and you’re welcome – Etsy shopping it like a trap; there are SO MANY amazing vendors to be found! ]
So again, you’ll need the products :
And you’ll need a way to use them :
If you are up for all the effort : Make your own
I’ve been working my way up to this step and I feel like I’m ready [ cue image of me doing a Rocky-style jab-dance move in the kitchen ]. I’ve already tried making un-paper towels and was so pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I used thrifted [ CLEAN ] facecloths as my base and chose a cotton fabric from my scrap stash in a print that I love.
And voila!
I’ve not yet tried making my own cleaning products but I hope to soon. I’ve found some recipes on Pinterest [ they’re EVERYWHERE ] with differing difficulty levels like this one that I’m going to try to start off with :
Have you tried it? Any tips?
saving sarah grace 