Home Basics Kit Directions Order Kit Booklet Eco-links Contact us

BASIC "NOT-SO-TOXIC" HOUSECLEANING"

Not-so-toxic is a word I came up with after studying "nontoxic" housecleaning products and methods for the last fifteen years. As Paracelsus, the Swiss physician, said in 1567, "What is it that is not poison? All things are poison and nothing is without poison. It is the dose only that makes a thing a poison."

I guess my past degree in Microbiology and work as a Medical Technologist taught me that those liquids and powders were more harmful than they looked.

During the early 80's, research on nontoxic housecleaning products was written by consumers and nonprofit organizations. All literature said the same thing: use as little cleaning products as possible and preferably just use a basic soap (vegetable based), vinegar, baking soda, and less of borax, washing soda, and TSP. There were few alternative "biodegradable" and "nontoxic" cleaning products available then.

In those early years of 1980, I experimented with these chemicals while cleaning houses not-so-toxically as a profession and came up with a few basics that I have used ever since. Before I give you my specific ideas for how to use these basics for different parts of the house, I would like to fill you in with what's happening out there in the market rows as of 2000. Although there are many more alternatives to regular cleaners, the words: "nontoxic", "biodegradable" and "natural" are used often with little meaning. There are no government regulations or legal definitions of these words and only recently have two scientific organizations begun to certify products for a price. (Green Cross is one of them)

The only way you can really tell if a product is safe is to read the ingredients. All ingredients do not have to be listed, only the ones that are considered to be very toxic and are in a concentration above 1%. In order to even get that information on major brands you have to obtain the manufacturer's Material Safety Data Sheets . Luckily the new health food brands usually list all ingredients which is a big step in the right direction. Of course, the next battle is to know what those words mean. If your not interested in researching any farther on this topic, you can just trust that your health food store is only selling great products and doing the research for you. Some stores do, some just buy what is brought to them. Ask them. If you want to look up the ingredients yourself, there are some chemical dictionaries, or you can look up the name of the product in Shoppers Bible (although they only rate on toxicity, not biodegradablity), or you can access my cleaning booklet which will give you some information on some dangerous products and what's in them.

Let's get back to a much easier and less toxic plan of action. We cannot know the consequences of our chemical soup so I stick with substances that are usually made of just one chemical that is not very toxic: a basic soap ( vegetable or semi-synthetic), vinegar, baking soda, and borax and abrasive tools. Of course, when you use these substances, you need to put them in a handy container in order for them to be used easily. For directions on how to make your own kit and clean your whole house see my Cleaning Kit Directions. If you are too lazy to read more than two pages or you are already happy with your cleaning style, just use old shampoo containers and fill them up with vinegar and basic soap and put baking soda and borax in a tea or spice container and put holes in the lids - put all this stuff in a bucket. The following are my basics:

I use Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap ( a pure vegetable soap found in health food stores) for bathroom cleaning. I use a drop of it on a pad right when the bathtub ring is beginning to form. As preventive measure to not use any substance other than water, I would habitually rinse the tub with a rag after each bath. (Other alternatives to Dr. Bronner's are Infinity Heavenly Horsetail, EarthRite, Lifeline, Life Tree, Ecover, Oasis).

And for the toilet which no one likes to clean....I use just the toilet brush, when I first see some stains forming. If they don't come out, I try some Dr. Bronner's or Bon Ami or baking soda. Although Bon Ami Kitchen and Bath Cleanser is what I consider a "compromise" product (made with petroleum based detergent), it has an oxygen bleach, instead of the harmful chlorine bleach, so I have it around for the times when my preventive cleaning didn't happen and I had let the house get too dirty. Now Ecover (a leader in quality cleaning products) makes a very good cream cleaner called Ecover Non-Scratch Cream Cleaner.

I use a biodegradable soap for most of my cleaning these days. I put it into small plastic bottles in the bathroom and kitchen, with green scrubber alongside. In the last five years, many companies make a very good semisynthetic detergent out of coconut oil. A few I would recommend are Heavenly Horse Tail, Earth Rite, Life Tree, Ecover and Oasis. Most of these are only found in health food stores. If you only shop at supermarkets, look for Planet or Murphys. Planet has been given the green cross certification by Scientific Certification Systems (new scientific organization that certifies products for environmental claims). Murphy's Oil Soap is advertised as a soap for wood, although it can be used as an all-purpose soap. It is a vegetable based soap, but does contain preservatives and artificial fragrances.

For windows I use water, but for greasy smears I use a spray bottle of water and vinegar (1/4- 1 1/2 cup).

For floors, I will use my biodegradable soap, but if it is very greasy and dirty and none of the other non-toxic substances will clean it use a little ammonia. It works wonders; and although it is toxic, it is a very simple compound. Look for the generic brand without detergent and dye.

For cleaning the oven, I fill a plastic squirt bottle with hot water, a squirt of soap, and a couple spoonfuls of borax. Then I squirt it all over the oven, wait a few minutes, and scrub with stainless steel scrubber or steel wool. If it is still not all coming off, I use baking soda, Bon Ami or pumice stone as scourer.

For furniture polish, I use oil and vinegar (almond is nice, but olive or vegetable will do). I leave it on for awhile, then rub it off. (1/2 part vinegar to one part oil). If you are lazy, just use oil ( a little on a rag).

One of the hardest problems in ecological cleaning is mold. Prevention is the best answer. Ventilate while taking a shower, with heat, if possible. Keep the heat on or window open for at least 15 minutes. As soon as you see a bit of mold, wipe off with scrubber. If it won't come off, try borax with scrubber. If still not off, put a paste of borax on and let dry. Let dry overnight. Borax also clears up stains on your tile caulking. It can have irritating properties so use with care. Always use disinfectants as a last resort - they kill living things. Other new alternative disinfectants to try: Naturally Yours Mold and Mildew Remover and Life Tree's All Purpose Spray Cleaner.

Laundry has been another hard one to find an answer to. A natural basic soap was always recommended, but hard to find. I used to use White King Natural Laundry Soap, but is only dissolves in warm or hot water. The only thing negative about this product is that it is made out of tallow, animal fat. Now, I use Ecover Laundry Powder. It works good and the cost is reasonable.

Bleach? For laundry use Ecover Non-Chlorine Bleach (just hydrogen peroxide), or use a nonchlorine bleach from the supermarket if that is the only place you shop. Of course, the supermarket brands, such as Clorox 2, have all the extras you might like to get rid of such as fragrance, enzymes, whitener, perfume, and color. Please stop using chlorine bleach or use it rarely. It is very harmful - implicated in cancer and ozone depletion.

Once again, prevention is the answer to cleaning as it is in body health. As soon as I see a spot I try to get it out with water first, then try soap. Water usually does the trick. Try the new citrus solvents at most health food and hardware stores as a last resort.

Accurate Information Needed

For the last few years I have been pondering on the reliability of our education. Every few years I research new products in the supermarkets and health food stores. Many companies have come out with so-called environmental products, but most have many chemicals in them.

I worry that people believe that these new "certified" products have no effect on the environment and solve the problem of pollution. So I ask myself, what has all this education effected in the last 15 years? The largest change I can see in the supermarkets is 50 more feet of the huge plastic variety of laundry detergents, 25 feet of huge plastic fabric softeners, and 25 feet of deodorizers of all kinds - for carpets, animal and the whole house!

And why is that? Cleaning products are a high profit business because they are mostly a bit of chemical with a lot of water. So I can see how boxed in we are on really making a difference - making less products - when our livelihoods rely on making more products! If we want to change the environment, reverse, not just placate the pollution ....... if we want our children to swim in pure waters and not get sick......if we want to survive the next 100 years.....we must figure out how to change our name from consumer to human being.