green cleaning Archives - simple.green.organic.happy.

Get a FREE Mrs. Meyer’s Everyday Luxury Set from Grove Collective

April 26, 2016 By Robin Strong Elton 2 Comments

Keep reading to find out how you can get this Mrs. Meyer set for free.

As rosemary is to the Spirit, so lavender is to the Soul.

I’m a sucker for monthly subscriptions. One of my favorite sites is Grove Collaborative (formerly ePantry), which stocks natural cleaning and beauty products. Basically, you create your “pantry” of products and the schedule you’d like it shipped on; before the order is sent, you’re emailed a reminder and you can decide if you need to add or remove anything. Or, if you realize that you’re about to run out of something, you can go ahead and opt for “send now.”

Right now, I’m scheduled to get a delivery every two months of Mrs. Meyer’s laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap and dryer sheets, along with a set of Grove Collaborative sponges, which works out just about perfectly in terms of our usage. I am OBSESSED with the basil and rosemary scents. I LOVE THEM. As I’ve mentioned a million times on this site, I’m really sensitive to scent. Mrs. Meyer’s scents are not at all overpowering, I don’t associate cleaning with the smell of chemicals and just in general the fragrance of herbs is something that makes me happy.

I’ve also ordered Mrs. Meyer’s toilet bowl cleaner and multi-surface cleaner, and I love those too. The concentrated refill of the multi-surface cleaner lasts a really long time. Everything I’ve tried from that brand has been effective and gentle and great smelling. Plus: the pretty vintage-esque packaging. (Dang, I hadn’t realized how strong my Mrs. Meyer’s love was until I wrote this.)

Of course, Grove Collaborative carries more than Mrs. Meyer’s. The usual suspects of green cleaning products are represented— Dr. Bronners, Seventh Generation, Method etc. They have a nice selection of lotions and body washes and facial cleansers. There’s shaving lotions and feminine products and dental care, along with household stuff like sponges and paper towels and sandwich bags. Everything I’ve purchased has been competitively priced, often the best price I’ve found online. AND! It ships really fast too.

…the Grove Standard:

Uncompromisingly healthy.
Beautifully effective.
Sustainably minded.
Amazingly affordable.

OK. HERE COMES THE PART WHERE I TELL YOU HOW YOU CAN GET A FREE MRS. MEYER’S EVERYDAY LUXURY SET.

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I’m not sure if it happens with every order or if it just seems like it, but Grove Collaborative often runs these offers where they’ll add a freebie to your delivery— so you get to try a bonus item for free. And until Sunday May 1st, if you’re a new customer you get an awesome freebie with your first order, the Mrs. Meyer’s Everyday Luxury Set. That includes:

a Mrs. Meyer’s candle: made from vegetable waxes, with a lead free cotton wick
a Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap
a Mrs. Meyer’s dish soap
Grove Collaborative walnut scrubber sponges, which are made from crushed walnuts: tough on messes, gentle on pots and pans
shipped for free.

To claim your free luxury set, click right here on my affiliate link.

(If you’re already a Grove Collaborative customer, you can still claim a Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap for free with your next order when you use this link.)

You do need to spend at least $20 on that first order to get your free luxury set. As I’ve said, I highly recommend just about everything in the Mrs. Meyer’s line. Here’s what Grove Collaborative suggests as a possible first order:

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That’s a lot of good stuff for 26 bucks.

Other products I’ve liked and will order again: Method body wash in White Tea, Seventh Generation dishwasher soap and glass cleaner, Acure Organics Facial Cleansing Gel Superfruit + Chlorella Growth Factor, the Yes To line in general but especially the face cleaning towelettes, the Grove Collaborative hand sanitizer, and of course Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds.

There are a limited number of sets available and this offer ends Sunday May 1, so grab yours now. Here’s the official walkthrough:

Sign up for Grove Collaborative here. You’ll receive the Mrs. Meyer’s Everyday Luxury Set for free when you sign up.
Answer 4 quick questions about your home. Grove Collaborative will use this to customize your first basket (this takes under 30 seconds!).
Once you’ve answered the questions, you can finalize your basket of products to suit your household needs by adding or removing items.
To receive this offer, your order needs to total at least $20. Choose the combination of products and scents you love and receive in your first box (this is the hardest part— I agonize over this every time).
Click “Finish & Pay” and place your order.

Let me know what you order and if you love it!

Green Cleaning: Shaklee #GetClean Review and Giveaway

April 14, 2012 By Robin Strong Elton 29 Comments

I’m sorry.

I didn’t know you were coming or I’d have cleaned up a little more.

My life, I mean, not just the apartment.

―Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife

What does it mean to lead a clean life?

I’ll admit, I’m no housekeeper. I can deal with a little mess, it means our house is being lived in.

I do generally try to lead a clean life. To me this means:

keeping chemicals and artificial ingredients out of my food, beauty products, and anything else I can cut them from.
not making any more of a mess on our planet than I have to: in the air, the water, the earth.
keeping toxic thoughts and people at bay.
trying to ensure my money supports companies that help, not harm.

The first step for me, as I suspect it is for many, was our cleaning products. After all, these products are coating all the surfaces we and our kids touch (especially important to think about with young kids, who are just as likely to eat off our floors as crawl on them, and stick everything in their mouths like it’s their job, which really it is).

What is being absorbed into our skin and breathed into our lungs when we clean? What residue is polluting our indoor air?

If you’re using conventional cleaners, the answer may well be kerosene, phenols, cresol, lye, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, sulfuric acid, petroleum distillates, ammonia, sodium hydroxide, butyl cellosolve, phosphoric acid, formaldehyde, chlorine bleach, morpholine, phthalates.

None of those are good things.

Since we stopped buying commercial cleaners, I use white vinegar for the bulk of our cleaning; borax for scrubbing. I do buy dishwasher soap and laundry detergent, whatever earth-friendly brands I can find at our grocery store (not a wide selection).

I also like to keep a non-toxic all-purpose cleaner on hand for when we need to give the house a quick wipedown before guests arrive; while I don’t mind the sting of vinegar it’s not the most welcoming scent. I’ve tried many different brands and I will say that some definitely are more effective than others.

Shaklee’s Get Clean line of products definitely fall into the category of “actually works. Really well.” Which is important, because I hate to think of people trying out a new cleaner, buying it because it’s not full of chemicals, and then having it not perform!

Over the past few weeks we’ve been using the cleaners found in the Get Clean Starter Kit.

Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate: you mix this in different concentrations in the supplied, pretty labeled spray bottles to make All-Purpose, Degreasing and Windows and Mirrors cleaners.
Dish Wash Concentrate (comes with labeled dispenser)
Fresh Laundry Concentrate (HE compatible!) (also comes with labeled dispenser with pump nozzle)
Nature Bright Laundry Booster and Stain Remover
Soft Fabric Dryer Sheets (we haven’t used dryer sheets in years and Jeff was so happy to have these)
Germ Off Disinfecting Wipes (ditto)
This kit also came with a Super Microfiber Cleaning Cloth, Super Microfiber Window Cloth, Super Microfiber Dish Sponge (which I LOVE), Miracle Scrubber Pad, measuring cup for the laundry detergent, measuring spoon, a PIPETTE because a little really does go a long way! and an Organizer Caddy to keep everything in.

They really did think of everything!

I love this one-product-fits-most system. I’ll only have to reorder the concentrate (and not for a while, it is REALLY concentrated; 1/4 tsp. makes 16oz of all-purpose cleaner for only 3 cents), cutting down immensely on the amount of materials and energy being used to produce and ship the containers. With this kit, you’re keeping 108 pounds of packaging waste from landfills and eliminating 248 pounds of greenhouse gas, not mention the fact that you’d spend $3400 for ready to use cleaners to get the same amount of clean (based on comparing number of uses as set forth on product labels of conventional, ready-to-use cleaners).

And, importantly, while Shaklee Get Clean products contain no harmful fumes or hazardous chemicals, it still outperforms 20 national leading brands.

How did the products fare with my ultra-sensitive skin and nose? Spectacularly. NO DISCERNIBLE SCENT. And no hive breakouts on my hands.

The laundry detergent does a great job, getting Cassie’s muddy pants, Jeff’s construction work clothes, my sweating running clothes and the kids’ equally sweaty + grass stained sports gear clean without any irritating scent. The combination of the dish sponge and a few drop of the dishwashing soap lathers up wonderfully, allowing me to wash pots and pans without drying out or inflaming my hands. And the degreaser is my absolute favorite, cutting through bacon grease like it’s nothing at all.

The dishwasher powder suffers the same problems every other powder has in our kitchen; buildup because of our super-hard water. We’ve adjusted our Ecover rinse aid to compensate, not a big deal.

It’s good stuff, people. Good enough that it’s backed with a 100% money back guarantee. And you can’t find it in stores: rather than pay for advertising and store placement, Shaklee sells online and relies on word of mouth to spread the news. It’s a rather brilliant business model from every angle.

A solid product that’s gentle on bodies and on the earth, shipped to those who want it to keep production and shipping carbon footprints down. Fantastic.

For more details on Shaklee and their products (which include nutrition, weight and beauty supplies!), see their website: http://shakleeblogger.com.

Want to give it a try?

GIVEAWAY:

Shaklee is providing one Shaklee Mini Household Kit to one lucky reader! To enter just follow the Rafflecopter instructions below. You can enter once or up to 5 times, depending on how you like your odds 🙂

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This review and giveaway was made possible by the Shaklee Corporation & Mom Spark Media. Incentives, product and support were provided. Thoughts are my own.

Green Cleaning Carpets & Floor

July 25, 2011 By Robin Strong Elton 2 Comments

Have I mentioned that we adopted a new puppy? ‘Cause we did.

Have I mentioned that she really really likes rolling around in the dirt? ‘Cause she does.

Have I mentioned that I spend the whole day walking her, following her around the house to make sure she doesn’t pee, and cleaning up pee because I can’t watch her 24/7? ‘Cause I do.

Yeah, so our carpet has never been pristine, but damage control now dictates that we’re cleaning the things a lot more frequently than we were pre-puppy.

Conventional carpet cleansers are full of not-nice, unpronounceable ingredients like Hydrofluoric Acid (OK, that one’s not so hard to pronounce), Nitrilotriacetate, Perchloroethylene, Tetrachloroethylene and Tributyltin. Not good for you to be handling or inhaling, and not good to be leaving trace amounts of in your carpet for your kids and pets to crawl around on.

So, here’s how we clean floors around the Elton homestead:

Green-Cleaning Carpets:

Maintenance is key. Vacuum frequently to keep dirt from getting ground-in.
Once every two weeks or so (probably more now with the new dog) I sprinkle baking soda on the carpet before bed to soak up odors, and then vacuum up in the morning.
We have one of those giant steam cleaners, which is totally boss on carpet, but heavy and sort of a pain to get out of storage. We only break it out when we need the big guns. (And by “we,” I mean Jeff. I don’t know how and when these roles got assigned, but the kids and I do day-to-day and he mans the big guns.)
So on big gun day, first we do the baking soda bit, then follow up with the steam cleaner. We use vinegar instead of conventional cleansers, and then rinse with hot hot water. Yeah. That’s it.
If something really stubborn needs spot cleaning, Jeff swears by OxiClean. We have the same big bucket that we moved from our old house six years ago, so a little goes a loooooong way. And OxiClean gets the best possible score for the health-consciousness of its ingredients.

Green-Cleaning Bare Floor:

We don’t have real wood floors or anything fancy that requires special treatment— at the moment it’s just that interlocking fake wood laminate and laminate “tile.” One day, when we no longer have young kids and young dogs, we’ll replace the floors with cork or bamboo or something else suitably eco, but for now just sticking with what we have until it’s worn out seems like the most environmentally-responsible thing to do.

I keep a bottle filled with a vinegar & water solution for multi-purpose use, and this is one of the purposes. One kid sprays, another kid ties a rag onto the Swiffer and wipes it back up. Kid #3 plays supervisor and points out missed spots. (This, by the way, is absolutely the most effective way to ensure a clean floor. They all get to be supervisor sometime and they all milk it to the max. Really hot day, or have younger kids? Tie old towels around hands, knees, feet and backside and have them mop the floor that way.) No need to rinse, and the vinegar smell dissipates upon drying.
If someone is coming over and I don’t want the vinegar smell at all, I’ll dilute a sweet-smelling storebought multi-purpose cleaner. The brand varies depending on my mood, but faves include Ecover (lemon fragrance) or Sun & Earth (super yummy citrus). Sun & Earth is local to me, so they get extra-special bonus points.

….And that’s all, folks. We like to keep it simple. And cheap.

BUT I admit I’m totally eyeing up this “Bissell Little Green Multi-Purpose Compact Earth-Friendly Deep Cleaner.” It’s small, so I could use it as needed rather than having Jeff lug up the big machine. The description says

A compact, multipurpose cleaner that has been redesigned with a 95 percent reduction in PVC.
Manufactured with tanks made of polypropylene, a material that is more recycling-friendly.
The brush block is made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and the solution tank also contains parts made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.
All Styrofoam has been eliminated from the Little Green’s packaging, and the carton and inner packaging are made from a minimum of 75 percent recycled corrugated materials.

It comes with an “earth-friendly cleaning formula” but that’s irrelevant for us, since we use the vinegar. But as always, I’m pleased as punch to see a company move towards eco-packaging and materials, closing the recycling circle. It means they’re listening, so keep talking, with your words and your dollars.

How often do you clean your carpets & floors?
What do you use?

Hey— there are affiliate links in this post, meaning if you click through to Amazon and decide to purchase something I get a little something-something. Just wanted to make sure you know.

Update: I submitted this post to Healthy Child Healthy World in answer to a call for blog posts on safe carpet cleaning. Check them out for tons more on greening up your cleaning and your life!