Green Clean

Description

Save money. Save time. Save the earth! Easy ideas that can change the way you clean the house, wash the laundry, and spruce up the exterior of your home Simple cleaning recipes that take minutes to make from ingredients you already have at home Fast techniques that take the pain out of the battle against grime Mom's Choice Awards (R) - Gold Award Winner Why go green? Author Jill Potvin Schoff's search for a cure for her infant son's eczema resulted in her embracing the green cleaning lifestyle. This practical handbook explains how to eliminate toxic chemical household cleaning agents from your life and replace them with natural, homemade solutions! Inspired by the author's experience as the mother of an allergic child, Green Clean provides practical, comprehensive advice for every household cleaning need from kitchen, bathroom, and laundry to windows, floors, grills, decks, and cars. Jill Potvin Schoff shows you how to green up your chores and reduce your family's exposure to hazardous chemicals in every part of your home. Using safe, effective, and inexpensive ingredients and recipes, she offers simple cleaning methods and smart tips that will keep both you and the environment healthy, including advice for: Bathrooms Showers and Tubs Mold and Mildew Toilets Clearing Drains Kitchen Sinks and Countertops Cabinetry Appliances Kitchenware Laundry Washing Strategies Drying Strategies Clothing Care Green Alternatives Stains Around the House Making Widows Sparkle Walls and Ceilings Cleaning Metal Dusting Floors Hardwood, Laminate, Bamboo, and Linoleum Tile, Stone, Rubber, Vinyl, and Concrete Rug and Carpet Care Furnishings Wood Furniture Upholstery Window Treatments Outside the House Siding Masonry Roofing Exterior Metalwork Decks Driveways, Walkways, and Patios Outdoor Furniture and Fabrics Backyard Grill Garage, Workshop, and Basement Garage Floors Cars Workshop Tools Paint Problems Lawn Mowers Pesticides Basements "Give your home a good, green scrubbing, and you, your cats and your home will be sparkling, happy and healthy." —Lisa Hanks, PETCHA Review: Superlative - This is definitely a five star book. I love it. I've never been a very good housekeeper, but I feel like someone just gave me the tools I've always needed to be one. I've always thought that a lot of the chemicals we use are bad for us. Even as a child, I would hold my nose in the presence of strong chemical smells, such as the smell of paint. On a fourth grade field trip from Houston to Galveston, I tried to hold my breath the whole way through the ship channel area (no EPA back then). BUT, and here's the surprise, these non-toxic cleaning agents actually work better! Yesterday, I used her baking soda paste recipe to clean my fiberglass tub and surround. It was practically beyond help. My husband had cleaned it with a scratchy pad and it was much better, but he was still unable to get all the soap scum and stains that my neglect had allowed to build up. The baking soda paste and vinegar rinse worked wonderfully, and I really didn't have to use that much elbow grease, though she warned that it might be necessary. My tub and surround look practically new! There are a few spots I need to work on, but I know that with this paste I can get it sparkling. The other general cleaners work just as well. I find I can spray on and wipe off the vinegar solution on my commode and lavatory every day in about 30 seconds and keep both fresh and disinfected. Everything in my house smells better, too. I bought a bottle of liquid Castilian soap and it was fragranced with lavender, but lightly, not too strong. This liquid soap figures into many of her 'recipes' and so my whole house has this light scent. I am still reading and rereading this book. I'm learning. At 62 years old, I've been cleaning my houses all my life, but never has it been this easy before, and without all the harsh, toxic chemicals. This book is worth the investment. Oh, and I forgot to mention the glass cleaner - club soda! Who'd a thunk it? I always wondered how other people could always get their glass so clean. I've never been able to with commercial glass cleaners, and some of them smell horrible. This stuff really works. She tells you in the book that you have to 'strip' the old cleaner off first with a vinegar/liquid soap mixture because commercial glass cleaners have wax added to them to repel dirt after you've cleaned the glass, but after one cleaning, you should be able to just use club soda. Wow! I needed this in my life. Review: Simple cleaning products - I love this book! In an effort to reduce plastics, I've switched to using glass bottles for houshould sprays (or reusing my existing plastic bottles). I also wanted to switch to more natural cleaning products. This book has simple cleaning recipes and instructions for cleaning all parts of your house, inside and out. I was surprised to find out, but it made sense, that many cleaning products, especially window cleaners contain waxy substances that actually attract dust and grim,which increases the need for more cleaning products! After stripping away the wax with the natual soap based glass cleaner recipe, all it takes to keep glass surfaces clean and sparkling is club soda, so simple! Club soda also cleans stainless steel. I also did a thorough cleaning of our tiled showers with another recipe that removed all the grim, making it easier to keep those surfaces clean. Two other major changes were just using microfiber clothes for dusting (which I already did), but rather than use furniture polish, just add a few drops of essential oil to the cloth for a fresh scent, no chemicals needed. And a huge revelation was adding a few drops of essential oil, lavendar my choice, to my wool dryer balls, which replaces the need for fabric softening sheets. I really like making my own cleaning products, too. Makes me feel like a chemist!