Green Clean

We recently had a good friend jokingly tell us we are turning into West Seattle hippies...I think she might be right. Well, not really about being hippies, but we are becoming more and more aware of the environment and what we can do to be better stewards of the earth God blessed us with. That's why we've become interested in gardening and growing our own vegetables, raising chickens, and I've recently started making my own cleaning products.

I'm certainly not planning to preach at anyone, but I was pretty amazed to learn how many hazardous chemicals I was using in our home and how easy (and cheap!) it is to use less hazardous products. I was really surprised to learn how few regulations there are around household cleaning products and how many of them are highly toxic.

In making this transition to green cleaners, I'm not planning to throw away the cleaners I already have, but to use them up and not replace them. I've found a number of books at the library full of recipes for all-purpose cleaners, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and more. It is kind of like the real food movement, which is all about eating like our grandparents ate. In thinking about "green clean" it is really about cleaning like our grandparents cleaned.

A couple of resources that have been very helpful for me are:

• The West Seattle blog did an article on a local group that had a make your own cleaning products class. Click HERE to read the article and have access to their recipes.
• Keeper of the Home: Non Toxic Cleaners You Can Make at Home
• I also checked out a few books from the library. One that was quite helpful was: Do It Gorgeously: How to Make Less Toxic, Less Expensive, and More Beautiful Products

I'm just starting slowly, but am intrigued at how easy it is to make these products and how well they work. The dishwasher detergent is so inexpensive and works so well! Give it a try. Let me know what you think!