Ah, springtime! It’s the time of year where we can rip off our plastic window coverings with great satisfaction, open the windows, air out the house and start planning our little gardens. All that extra sunlight and air might bring some attention to four months of winter mess, which usually brings on a splurge of cleaning or ”Spring” cleaning.
But what’s the point?
If this is part of an annual ritual in which you partake, you might be making the inside of your home spring fresh, but not the rest of everyone else”s home, i.e. the Earth.
What do you use to clean your home? Most of us might not take the time to research and find the most ecologially responsible products. Many stores now carry ecological home cleaning supplies. Many might claim to be biodegradable, ecological, and other “green” claims, but here is the only way to check if it is good down to the core, in Canada:
These three little birds will set you flying straight into greener pastures. Products that carry this logo include Bionature, Natureclean and Biovert and can be found at the two environmental co-ops in Montreal, as well as other outlets.
Of course, having new products created, even certified eco-logo ones, has a huge impact on the earth and I bet that you already have everything you would need for a top to bottom clean without having to fork out more cash. These include wonderfully accessible things like baking soda, vinegar, lemons and if you feel like splurging, some essential oils.
So, what I’m saying is that you can use the same stuff you use for baking as a cleaning force to be reckoned with that won’t stretch your budget. Baking soda scours. Cleaning your stove, microwave and even bathtub with a mix of this and some hot water and lemon squirts will get the job done.
Mix up some vinegar and hot water in a spray bottle and clean hard to reach places, like that spot behind the toilet that you’ve been neglecting. Vinegar deodorizes and gets rid of pet smells. This is where the essential oils can come in handy. Take some of your favorite scents, mix it with a base oil, like almond or sesame oil and spray it to give your rooms a fresh, non-toxic odor.
Some of the origins of today’s’ highly processed cleaning products stem from these easy ingredients, same as how alot of our pain medication comes from plants and trees.
So, unless you go the easy route – that is, using what you already have at home rather than buying that deceivingly “quick fix” from wally-mart, like the abominable swiffer, what’s the point of cleaning at all if the rest of the world has to suck up all of the chemicals that are in that cleaner? Not to mention the fossil fuels and plastic (also from fossil fuels) needed to create and transport the containers, printed labels and advertising that went into it and the waste created when it’s all over.
Not only will you be going “green”, you will be returning to the old, vintage style of taking care of your home…how sweet it is!
