Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
7 Goals for 2014
I'm not a big resolution person but here are some of my goals for this year. I share these with you lovely readers so that you can help keep me accountable! We've moved into our lovely new house and soon we will have our second little boy here with us. With all the change and transition, it just feels like a good time to start building up some new, better habits. Without further ado, here are some of my goals for 2014:
- Keep the house clean enough. I'm not shooting for Martha Stewart, picture-perfect every day here. I just want to keep the cleaning manageable and not feel like I need to apologize if someone stops by unexpectedly. I'll be posting a cleaning schedule later. I wrote it out today and will start enforcing it tonight!
- No more medical debt. With all of Alex's health issues from last year and having two babies in two years, we've got more doctor's bills than I would like. We've been paying them off as we can, but I hope to have them all paid off by the end of the year! (Alex's pediatrician was paid off this month!)
- Try new recipes. I'm in a rut. I cook the same 7-10 meals over and over again. Once new baby is here and we get a decent rhythm down, I want to try one new recipe each week. Each recipe will be a whole foods recipe and will hopefully help expand my culinary skills (I'm getting better!) as well as increase our dietary variety.
- Make fitness a priority. This will be hard with two littles and a full time job, but it's very important to me! Yes, I'd like to lose some weight (maybe a lot of weight), but I really want to focus on helping my body to function better.
- Decorate the house. I am not a big decorator. Home decor is one thing that just kinda didn't get downloaded into my programming. However, I want to decorate our little house and have it looking good. I'm giving myself a year here and it's gonna take me some time.
- Build up a garden. I'm so excited to have a yard! Not only will the boys have a place to run and play, which Alex already enjoys, but we can have a garden! I want to grow many of our own fruits and veggies and herbs. Be watching for details as our plan unfolds!
- Make our lifestyle more sustainable. While our lifestyle is already pretty "green" in some respects, I'd really like to make even more improvements. One area I really want to focus on this year is eliminating one-time-use products and extra plastics. I don't think this will be a difficult goal, but it will take some time to build up a stash of reusable items to replace our commonly used disposable stuffs.
Alrighty, that's quite a bit! Check in with me and keep me honest! I'll be posting about each of these goals through out the year and hopefully we can inspire and motivate one another along the way!
What goals do you have for this year?
What goals do you have for this year?
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
7th Step towards Sustainability: Cloth Cleaning Towels
In keeping on theme of green cleaning, let's work on reducing paper waste in the cleaning process. Often when you go about your routine cleaning, you'll use paper towels to wipe down your counters, your fixtures, your bathroom mirror... Just about everything. How many paper towels does that add up to? Well, I haven't done the math, but it's a lot! Even the most absorbent paper towels get used up and tossed out for new ones. Cloth cleaning towels solve that problem!
By switching to cloth towels for your cleaning tasks, you can stop the never ending cycle of using and throwing away paper towels, saving countless amounts of paper waste and tress! Back in the "old days" before paper towels, cloth towels were used for all cleaning tasks. That's just what you had. We invent paper towels and out go the cleaning rags.
How It Helps: Paper towels might be convenient but they require many tress to die and are really only usable once. Then, they go to that ever-so-hated place, the landfill. By using cloth towels, you reduce the needs for paper, and therefore trees, while also keeping our landfills a little bit more empty.
How To Do It: Use old washcloths or buy some cheap towels and set them aside to use for your chores. Once they've gotten all yucky toss them in the wash and do it all over again. We have a stack of towels in the linen closet reserved just for cleaning. Now, in all honesty, we do still have some paper towels in the kitchen, but I go through a roll maybe every two months, probably closer to three or more. (I'm considering going to un-paper towels, but that's for another day...)
Cost: If you want to just use some old washcloths that you have lying around, they've already been paid for so there's no new cost! If you want/need to buy some towels for cleaning, you can get a good bundle at Wal-mart or any other store for $5 or less. Remember: you're using these towels to dust your furniture and clean your toilet, they don't need to be anything fancy.
There you have it. Another very simple and easy step to help make your life a little bit more sustainable.
By switching to cloth towels for your cleaning tasks, you can stop the never ending cycle of using and throwing away paper towels, saving countless amounts of paper waste and tress! Back in the "old days" before paper towels, cloth towels were used for all cleaning tasks. That's just what you had. We invent paper towels and out go the cleaning rags.
How It Helps: Paper towels might be convenient but they require many tress to die and are really only usable once. Then, they go to that ever-so-hated place, the landfill. By using cloth towels, you reduce the needs for paper, and therefore trees, while also keeping our landfills a little bit more empty.
How To Do It: Use old washcloths or buy some cheap towels and set them aside to use for your chores. Once they've gotten all yucky toss them in the wash and do it all over again. We have a stack of towels in the linen closet reserved just for cleaning. Now, in all honesty, we do still have some paper towels in the kitchen, but I go through a roll maybe every two months, probably closer to three or more. (I'm considering going to un-paper towels, but that's for another day...)
Cost: If you want to just use some old washcloths that you have lying around, they've already been paid for so there's no new cost! If you want/need to buy some towels for cleaning, you can get a good bundle at Wal-mart or any other store for $5 or less. Remember: you're using these towels to dust your furniture and clean your toilet, they don't need to be anything fancy.
There you have it. Another very simple and easy step to help make your life a little bit more sustainable.
Monday, April 9, 2012
6th Step towards Sustainability: Phosphate-Free Dishwasher Detergent
To follow up on step five, step six applies the same concept to your dishwasher routine. Phosphates in our cleaning products wreck havoc on the water-based ecosystems, especially amphibians. Those cute little frog legs suck up the chemicals in the water and create all sorts of trouble for their little froggie bodies.
Phosphate free dishwashing detergents are becoming more popular and common. The above pictured product is what I use. Palmolive's phosphate free is available at Wal-mart and other national stores and costs the same as regular dishwasher detergents. That being said, this is just what I use, there are many other options available. Seventh Generation also makes a dishwasher detergent. I'm sure there are plenty others out there as well. Look around the next time you need dishwasher detergent, most phosphate-free brands advertise it pretty loudly.
How It Helps: Phosphates in the water are linked to major issues with our amphibian populations. Not only do they create issues with amphibian reproduction but can create all sorts of deformities in other amphibians. Phosphates also effect the plant life in the water ways which then changes the entire ecosystem and not for the best. Changing just one cleaning product to phosphate-free can help reduce the amount of phosphate put into our water ways dramatically and can help make the world a little more froggy-friendly.
How To Do It: This is another really simple one. Just buy the phosphate-free. Whenever your dishwasher detergent runs out, just take a little more time to choose your dishwasher detergent.
Cost: Some phosphate-free versions cost the same as their chemically loaded counterparts. Others can be a bit more costly. If you can afford dishwasher detergent, you can afford to go phosphate-free.
Once again, another really simply change to make that can make a huge difference!
Phosphate free dishwashing detergents are becoming more popular and common. The above pictured product is what I use. Palmolive's phosphate free is available at Wal-mart and other national stores and costs the same as regular dishwasher detergents. That being said, this is just what I use, there are many other options available. Seventh Generation also makes a dishwasher detergent. I'm sure there are plenty others out there as well. Look around the next time you need dishwasher detergent, most phosphate-free brands advertise it pretty loudly.
How It Helps: Phosphates in the water are linked to major issues with our amphibian populations. Not only do they create issues with amphibian reproduction but can create all sorts of deformities in other amphibians. Phosphates also effect the plant life in the water ways which then changes the entire ecosystem and not for the best. Changing just one cleaning product to phosphate-free can help reduce the amount of phosphate put into our water ways dramatically and can help make the world a little more froggy-friendly.
How To Do It: This is another really simple one. Just buy the phosphate-free. Whenever your dishwasher detergent runs out, just take a little more time to choose your dishwasher detergent.
Cost: Some phosphate-free versions cost the same as their chemically loaded counterparts. Others can be a bit more costly. If you can afford dishwasher detergent, you can afford to go phosphate-free.
Once again, another really simply change to make that can make a huge difference!
5th Step towards Sustainability: Scent and Dye Free
Ok so... it was a great, but long weekend. The kids had a great time at LTC. Then I got sick. But, I'm feeling better and catching up on the Sustainability Series. We'll continue today with step five: switching to scent and dye free laundry products. Homemade and "green" laundry detergents and softeners are great options, but often they're expensive and hard to find. However, scent and dye free versions of national brands like Tide and All can be great middle grounds.
The dyes and scents in traditional products get washed out with the wash water and seep into the ground and our water supplies and reservoirs. By using products that don't have these additional chemicals, you can make a great environmental impact without having to make a huge change in your laundry routine.
How It Helps: The dyes and scents added to laundry products, like I said above, end up in our water supplies and reservoirs. This includes many lakes and rivers. The impact of these and other chemicals on our waterways is tremendous. These chemicals change the pH balance of the water creating a hostile environment for many water dwellers. While an all natural "green" detergent is likely to have a smaller impact on our water ways, going dye and scent free is a great start!
How You Do It: Buy your favorite laundry products in the dye and scent free version. Pretty much all of the major national brands offer a dye or scent free version. If you can find and afford a phosphate-free or green product, that would be an even better option.
Cost: The "green" detergents can be pricy. Making your own detergent can be cost saving. However, if you just go with the dye/scent free products, they cost the same as the scented and dyed version.
Don't worry about products that don't have scent leaving your clothes "smelly." When properly washed, your clothes will be clean and therefore won't smell. I was worried about clothes (particularly husband socks) being smelly when I switched over, but it's never been an issue. Further, the scent and dye free products are less likely to create allergic reactions! All around, a great option!
The dyes and scents in traditional products get washed out with the wash water and seep into the ground and our water supplies and reservoirs. By using products that don't have these additional chemicals, you can make a great environmental impact without having to make a huge change in your laundry routine.
How It Helps: The dyes and scents added to laundry products, like I said above, end up in our water supplies and reservoirs. This includes many lakes and rivers. The impact of these and other chemicals on our waterways is tremendous. These chemicals change the pH balance of the water creating a hostile environment for many water dwellers. While an all natural "green" detergent is likely to have a smaller impact on our water ways, going dye and scent free is a great start!
How You Do It: Buy your favorite laundry products in the dye and scent free version. Pretty much all of the major national brands offer a dye or scent free version. If you can find and afford a phosphate-free or green product, that would be an even better option.
Cost: The "green" detergents can be pricy. Making your own detergent can be cost saving. However, if you just go with the dye/scent free products, they cost the same as the scented and dyed version.
Don't worry about products that don't have scent leaving your clothes "smelly." When properly washed, your clothes will be clean and therefore won't smell. I was worried about clothes (particularly husband socks) being smelly when I switched over, but it's never been an issue. Further, the scent and dye free products are less likely to create allergic reactions! All around, a great option!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
8th Simple Step to Sustainability: Reusable Swiffer Pads
We've all got to clean, and that glorious invention The Swiffer makes the chore of cleaning the floors much simpler and easier. But what about all those Swiffer pads? You use them once (twice if you flip them) and then what happens? Like so many other things in our American life, you throw them in the trash and they make their way to the landfills. Well, no more of that!
Reusable Swiffer pads are often knit or crocheted pads that you use just like normal Swiffer pads but instead of throwing them away you wash them! It really is that simple.
I currently only have one Swiffer pad, but plan to buy more soon. Last time I bought disposable pads I bought them in bulk, so I've been using the one pad that I have and then using disposable ones while it waits to be washed. It really doesn't add much to my laundry and works great!
How It Helps: It's very simple. When you replace a disposable product with a reusable one, you save the landfills from pilling up, reduce the need to destroy our natural resources, and reduce pollution from production and shipping.
How to do it: If you use a Swiffer, start with one or two reusable pads. Once you see how easy they are, you can add more to your stash if needed to meet your Swiffering needs. If you only have a few hard surfaces and only Swiffer occasionally, you might be able to get away with just one or two.
Cost: These reusable pads cost about $3-8 a piece. Most are handmade and therefore take more man power to make. However, not only are you helping to be more sustainable in your life, you are supporting an individual craftsperson!
If you Swiffer, this is an easy and great option! Give it a try!
Reusable Swiffer pads are often knit or crocheted pads that you use just like normal Swiffer pads but instead of throwing them away you wash them! It really is that simple.
I currently only have one Swiffer pad, but plan to buy more soon. Last time I bought disposable pads I bought them in bulk, so I've been using the one pad that I have and then using disposable ones while it waits to be washed. It really doesn't add much to my laundry and works great!
How It Helps: It's very simple. When you replace a disposable product with a reusable one, you save the landfills from pilling up, reduce the need to destroy our natural resources, and reduce pollution from production and shipping.
How to do it: If you use a Swiffer, start with one or two reusable pads. Once you see how easy they are, you can add more to your stash if needed to meet your Swiffering needs. If you only have a few hard surfaces and only Swiffer occasionally, you might be able to get away with just one or two.
Cost: These reusable pads cost about $3-8 a piece. Most are handmade and therefore take more man power to make. However, not only are you helping to be more sustainable in your life, you are supporting an individual craftsperson!
If you Swiffer, this is an easy and great option! Give it a try!
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