a peek inside the fishbowl

1 | a grrl with a blog

February 6th, 2008 at 10:48 am

I’ve been using natural-based produces for about 2 years now. Until recently, for some weird reason I would not switch my bathroom cleaner (I would buy Kaboom…the worst stuff out there). Recently I found Bio-Vert products at Wal-mart. The price is excellent, and you know what? They work REALLY well. I have everything: surface cleaners, dish liquid, laundry detergent, everything.

I agree with what you said about being brand loyal, but if people just try it once, I think they will be converted.

2 | Psychgrad

February 6th, 2008 at 11:21 am

Once my current products are finished, I’m ready to switch over. I’ve already got a bottle of Nature Clean dishsoap lined up for once I’ve finished my last inch of Sunlight. I’ll be switching the rest over within the next couple of months.

3 | porter

February 6th, 2008 at 11:27 am

I’m game to try but like Psychgrad I want to finish what I have…I am nearly out. Here is something I want to ask however, do these products kill germs? I know it sounds a bit odd considering it’s a toilet cleaner but honestly…there are cloths on the market that work with simply water but don’t kill germs! I don’t want a false sense of something being clean. I have eliminated ALOT of my cleaners, like I no longer use windex on glass surfaces I use a fantastic cloth that doesn’t streak and I actually find that it works better than paper towels and windex and my house still feels/smells/looks clean. I’m interested in all natural germ fighters! So I’m in…I need to find out if a store in my area carrries that particular brand. I will let you know and hopefully remember to post about it once I do.

4 | Tiana

February 6th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

your first link does not work

5 | mel

February 6th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

Porter, I don’t know about the particular cleaner Andrea’s recommending, but anything with tea tree oil would have antibacterial and antiseptic properties. You’ll have to check into it!

6 | scatteredmom

February 6th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

Sure, I’m game to try one. I need to buy some stuff anyway.

My concern with the chemical filled stuff is that we’re a house with asthma and allergies, so the more natural the better.

Sometimes though I think that some things are listed as “natural” but really aren’t so much, kwim?

7 | Mar

February 6th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

Like a previous poster, I plan to replace all my old cleaning products, when finished with greener products. I have a family member who sells Melaleuca (sp?) and I have been buying their proudcts instead of harsh chemical filled ones.

8 | Marla

February 6th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

The Ecoholic column in NOW (and Vasil’s book) are fantastic sources too:

http://www.nowtoronto.com/columns/ecoholic.cfm

However, you can’t count on me as convinced by you, though that’s because I already use more earth-friendly toilet cleaning products. In fact, more earth-friendly than buying a product like Nature Clean: baking soda to scrub. Sometimes salt and a lemon. Vinegar and water for a fresh swipe. Sometimes Borax powder if I have it. Hey! Baking soda and vinegar are also what I use to freshen and rinse my laundry! And my carpet! It’s the frequency and thoroughness of cleaning that makes things clean, not the product in many cases. And I try to buy them in bulk, from the neighbourhood store, and consolidate my errands so I only use the car one or two days each week. I’m really trying…really. But it’s never enough.

In fact, I would consider myself a woman on a mission: If ten women would just use common household items bought in bulk with minimal packaging and a little elbow grease to clean instead of buying a product marketed at them as being a feel-good environmentally friendly option, I would consider this a successful comment. This is why I watch the Brit version of “How Clean is Your House!” (That, and for the delicious shiver I get when they scrape their fingernails along someone’s bath scum!)

Really, this is more of a reaction to the cropping up of so many places like “The Big Green Purse”, which appears to collectively encourage women to make an ecological difference with their spending power – but really collects them in a nice neat group to market enviro -friendly products to them:
http://www.theworldwomenwant.com/marketplace/
Though they also have great tips – it’s also just a lot of common sense and folk wisdom packaged for modern times. Why can’t women trust themselves? Why does it always have to be a collective? If we each exercised the power of one, we’d do as much. Or more.

The Happiness Project (thanks for that source, Andrea!) is one of my favourite places, and once they had an article to the effect that those who feel most virtuous often commit more crimes, because they believed that their morals were so high that that excused the means to which things were achieved. I have to find that… Anyway – though it’s a step to use better cleaning products, but in establishing an easily met cherished ideal – it sets up a “robbing Peter to pay Paul” situation. And it’s not enough. We’ve all really got to do more than just switch one toilet bowl cleaner, and then sit back on those laurels.

Sometimes the “earth-friendly” cleaning products cause other problems. They fulfill a need to feel like people are making a difference, when they still have packaging and shipping and disposal problems that need solving. As well, though they may indeed cost more to produce for various reasons, we’re still not paying the real cost of them – but more, they charge people a premium which the virtuous feeling can help overcome and teaches retailers where the bar is set. That means that the products will not likely be affordable enough that underprivileged people will use them, where the biggest difference would be made. Those who live in large apartment buildings and projects where recycling isn’t collected need more help than people like us, and those of a certain income don’t shop at the stores that carry these products. For example, if I want to buy Nature’s Choice, it’s at Loblaws, not No Frills.

I’m not a modern-day Luddite – and you’ll sometimes find Tide and Nature Clean products in my house too. I’ve Swiffered, though now I just tie rags around the mop head and use Orange Apeel ore whatever it’s caused instead of their products. I’m just saying that if I’m worried about the water, I’m going to also urge people to stop peeing birth control into it – and also, to minimize the amount of plastic (which includes the use of products that come in single-use plastic containers whenever possible):

http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/travel-leisure/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we.shtml

Though, hypocritically – mini yogurts for kids are something I’m glad come in single-servings, and the guilt I carry around for that ensure I try to make smart choices elsewhere.

But I’m saying – conversely, the mission shouldn’t be to just buy one product, That’s just not enough. It’s like buying a carbon emission credit too – that good deed will just get squandered elsewhere. The change really has to be more radical. We’re all better than just changing one toilet cleaner!

9 | Laurie

February 6th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

I’m with Marla. I’ve switched to using vinegar for general cleaning and for heavy duty stuff, like our oven – vinegar and baking soda. The sound of it fizzing brings me right back to grade five science experiments… and the added bonus, it totally works!

10 | ciaochow

February 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

Great post. I recommend Method cleaning products and handsoaps… good stuff and can be found at SDM and Loblaws. I like Seventh Generation too. And just this week I bought a new detergent at Costco… I forget the name (sorry, useless) but it’s in a light green container and is biodegradable/not tested on animals and it’s great!

It’s been years since I’ve bought those old skool cleaning products that my mom still buys. And I don’t see any good reason to own a bottle of bleach.

I hope your post is a success and switches ten people over!

11 | BeachMama

February 6th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

I recently picked up “Pink Solution”. Not only is it all natural and totally multi-purpose (it cleans everything, and I mean everything) but it is also Canadian!!! My Mom was having trouble with some of the not so friendly cleaners so we split on a tub (which will probobly outlast the both of us). I love it. And their laundry bar is to die for. http://www.pinksolution.ca Now, what to do with some lingering products I have around here. I hate waste and it is just as bad to throw them away… will have to contemplate this for a bit.

12 | andrea

February 7th, 2008 at 8:37 am

Porter: this particular product contains Tree Tree Oil, which has antiseptic properties.

Marla: but you have to start somewhere, right? You said the mission shouldn’t be to just buy one product. Ultimately, you’re right – and I thought of that too – but it’s not realistic to ask everyone to suddenly sweep all of their cleaners into a box (to be brought to the toxic waste dump later!) and swtich to baking soda and elbow grease. It’d be akin to asking women to give up their vaccuum cleaners and washing machines because there isn’t enough electricity to go around. ;)

As I said in the introduction of my post, the reason more people aren’t adopting natural cleansers is because they don’t think they’ll work. The only way we can tackle the big issues is by asking people to take the small steps first and explaining why natural is better. For sure, there are a lot of problems that need solving, but there still has to be one starting point.

Anyway, I don’t think I’ll get my ten people to switch over. It’s clear I’m preaching to the converted here at the Fishbowl!

13 | andrea

February 7th, 2008 at 8:40 am

I meant to add: you know what has cut down on a whole whack of time/cleaning product? Microfibre cloths. Porter, you mentioned it, I just wanted to reiterate. THEY ARE FABULOUS.

We keep one underneath the bathroom sink. I have respectfullly asked each member of the family to wipe the sink/faucet/mirror when they’re done. The sink always looks shiny and new clean, the cloth gets a weekly washing, and mummy is happy.

14 | Chantal

February 7th, 2008 at 9:52 am

You don’t need to convince me, I am already on that band wagon. I also use Pink Solution (as mentioned by Beachmama) and love it. Also, to clean my toilet I simply use baking soda and vinegar. I keep a box of baking soda in each bathroom as well as a spray bottle of vinegar. I take the old baking soda out of the fridge and put a new one in, the old one is then used for cleaning. Dump a bucket of water into your toilet to bring the water level down, sprinkle with baking soda, spray with vinegar. Go away and do something else for a few minutes, come back and scrub. Works perfectly. No chemicals at all. Chemicals are on ongoing concern for me and I watch labels and read up on this almost constantly. It is a bit of an obsession actually.

15 | BeachMama

February 7th, 2008 at 9:54 am

Andrea, I also wanted to add that I recently switched to dryer balls from fabric softener. I was skeptical until I used them at my sister’s place. Not only are our clothes static free but, the towels are fluffier!! They are available at Linens N Things for $14.99.

And those microfibre cloths, not my fave, they feel funny on my hands, so I just went with white cotton facecloth cheapies :).

16 | alison

February 17th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

I’ve been using Nature Clean dish liquid or Heavenly Horsetail for over 25 years, and Nature Clean laundry detergent for about 15. When I ran out of bubble bath I used the dish stuff in the bath. Murphy Oil soap is a very old and natural product for wood floors. For a disinfectant, one of the most effect is thymol, which is essentially the oil of the herb thyme. A Spanish friend and her mother have been using it forever (her mother is 96). About 10 drops in a bucket of hot water will do it. Thymol is recognized to kill staphylococcus bacteria. Tea tree oil is also, as others have mentioned, an effective disinfectant. For the stove, just soap pad work fine. My old porcelain sink needs bleaching, so I stop the sink, run hot water and put in Ecover oxygen bleach. Works fine.

17 | a peek inside the fish bowl

June 1st, 2008 at 8:13 pm

[…] You already know what I use for the toilet. […]

18 | Maurice Harting

January 20th, 2010 at 1:08 am

I have used a whole bottle of Natureclean dishwashing liquid (19 fl oz) on one load of dishes, pots and pans and the result was that the dishes, pots and pans still had a greasy and oily film on them. My overall rating for this Natureclean product is a minus 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best).
If one has to use the whole bottle with very limited results how can that be good for the environment???
The product I used was Natureclean Lavender and Tea Tree Dishwashing Liquid and it sucks!!!

19 | Maurice Harting

January 20th, 2010 at 1:14 am

My experience with so called “natural” and “environmentally” friendly cleaning products is that they don’t clean and smell horrible. If you get a toilet bowl cleaner it should disinfect, if you get a dishwashing soap it should degrease, if you get a car polish it should make your car shine and keep it lustre for a while. None of the environmental products are up for the job they were designed for. And you need to use more to get less done at a higher purchase price. Nope I am not sold on these products at all.