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With the record-setting rains and flooding many states have experienced, recently, "removing" and "protecting" your home from mold has become a hot topic in the news and - especially with the recent report of the "top ten states at risk for mold contamination" - though my family and I reside on the east coast in "humidity central," I was concerned to read that living in dryer climates doesn't necessarily mean you're any safer from the damaging effects of mold.
Not to mention finding out that cleaning my house may not be healthy for my family, either!?!?
Most experts believe that if you can control the moisture within your home, you can control mold growth. And short of hiring a cleaning service to do it for me - THE MAIDS, a residential cleaning company that specializes in cleaning for health, offers some terrific tips for fighting mold, - my most reliable (and immediately visible) form of defense over the years has been a variety of cleaning products with a list of contents about a mile long.
Most of which are chemicals - yes, I read the labels and bought them, anyway - because I thought it was the most effective way of scrubbing my house clean and fighting "the creeping crud."
On a good day (and especially when we're expecting visitors) my house looks and smells pretty gosh-darned clean - but at what cost?
I mean, what are other people doing to keep their houses clean and eco-friendly?
I directed my attention towards The Peanut Gallery and her posting on a hot-rainy day and, more specifically, could relate to this paragraph...totally:
and i know that there are some ubergranola folks out there, who make their own dishwasher gel, and grow their own apples, but i'm just not that handy, or motivated, or whatever. but i do think that now that there's a tiny person in my house, i need to be mindful of what we're eating, as well as what we're cleaning with. i just wish being mindful didn't result in dropping 30 bucks every time i go to the effin store.
Anyone who shops, cleans, does laundry, et cetera, knows that good housekeeping has become an expensive proposition, and Boodafli feels as if she's being forced to choose between economy and eco-friendly:
i dunno, maybe i'm sentimental, but i don't want that future to be a polystyrenated, carcenogenic wasteland, with sickly cows, and unrealistically red apples. by the same token, i need to have money for doctors visits, before i need to have money for eco-friendly dishwasher gel. i hate that i'm forced to choose.
I'm with you - but, is there such a thing as a "natural" cleaning product that works and doesn't cost an arm or a leg?
Not necessarily, according to the article written by The Domestic Goddess, "Clean your house without killing yourself and others":
In choosing alternatives, however, consumers need to be alert to greenwashing.
"Just because a product says it's natural doesn't mean it's nontoxic," says Jeffrey Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation, which produces genuinely eco-friendly cleaning supplies and household products.
The word "natural" is undefined and unregulated by the government and can be applied to just about anything under the sun – including plastic, which comes from naturally occurring petroleum. Because no standards exist, claims such as "non-toxic," "eco-safe," and "environmentally friendly" are also meaningless, according to Consumers Union's Eco-labels website.
Currently, only food and herbs can be certified organic, so the word "organic" on the face of a dish or laundry soap also doesn't wash.
Swell.
But, she goes onto encourage readers to the idea of looking at labels for specific, eco-friendly ingredients that also perform effectively:
These include grain alcohol instead of toxic butyl cellosolve as a solvent; coconut or other plant oils rather than petroleum in detergents; and plant-oil disinfectants such as eucalyptus, rosemary, or sage rather than triclosan.
So, how does my beloved bleach rate?
According to Philip Dickey of the Washington Toxics Coalition, the most acutely or immediately hazardous cleaning products are corrosive drain cleaners, oven cleaners, acidic toilet-bowl cleaners, and anything containing chlorine or ammonia...
Crud.
Referring back to Boodafli's post, I checked out Ecover - an international company active in the production of [plant-based] cleaners - and found that they distribute a large variety of cleaning products available for order directly from the internet:
Packaging material: Carton box is made of 95 % recycled cardboard. The wrapper is made of polyethylene and protects the tablets against moisture. Polyethylene is 100% recyclable.
Ingredients: 5-15 %: oxygen chlorine free bleach. Less than