Green cleaning at home
Eco-friendly ways to clean with kids or pets at home
Being accident-prone worked to my advantage. When a guest recently walked into my home, he paused in the living room and said, “It smells amazing in here.” I could’ve easily just let him believe that it always smells like that, but the truth was a bottle of essential oils fell out of my hand a few minutes before he knocked on my window. The bottle hit the floor, splashed all over my laminate wood flooring and all I could do was wipe it up with a paper towel. I noticed a few flakes of dust, so I grabbed my dustpan and swept that up, too.
Two weeks later, that same dustpan still smells like essential oils. So every time I sweep my floors, here comes the smell of those oils again. Who needs candles when I can count on being a klutz?
This is one of many tips I’ve found by accident for eco-friendly cleaning. I’m the owner of a dog who loves to hunt for crumbs, licks floors and has a nose sensitive enough to explore up to 300 million olfactory receptors (compared to approximately 6 million in human beings). Minus self-cleaning ovens, strong cleaners are simply unrealistic in a home like mine.
Recommended Read: “Self-cleaning oven vs your dog ~ Should you hand-wash or use the self-clean feature with pets?”
Pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19, I’m a stickler for a clean home. And with remote work increasing even after companies are asking employees to go back to obsolete offices, solopreneurs are hanging out at home far more than before. Finding safe and environmentally friendly ways to clean should be top priority.
Here are a few eco-friendly tips to clean safer, smarter and more economically:
Skip the paper towels as your go-to for cleanups
California dog owners taught me a thing or two about wasting paper. In two dog owners’ homes, neither had paper towels or napkins. Both families mentioned that in California, they were just used to using cloths as napkins and cleaning wipes. Since I was already in their homes for several days, I used what they had. By the time I returned to my own home, I wondered why was I devouring so many Bounty packages.
Recommended Read: “5 supplies to avoid your house smelling like dogs ~ Warning: Your dog won’t like the couch rule”
I had a collection of microfiber cloths, dish rags and cotton shirts that were just taking up space in my own linen closet — until I decided to wash my car. Microfiber clothes are tougher on stains, I realized, and can be used to do everything from polishing furniture and jewelry to wiping down computer screens. Besides some of the more expensive brands, microfiber cloths also hold liquid cleaner longer than paper towels. I didn’t completely give up on paper though, but I use this option about half as much as I did last year.
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Bring green bags with your grocery bags
Once the fruit and vegetables are home, what else are you possibly going to do with those flimsy plastic bags in the produce section? Consider buying a pack of reusable BPA-free green bags (a 20-pack is less than $8 from online merchants) that can be reused over and over again. Dump your produce right in the bags, weigh them and put them in your fridge when you get home. Wash the bags like you would any other dish and reuse as needed.