Go Green

What’s In This Stuff? By Patricia Thomas

This book should be in everyone’s home. It clearly lays out the problems of using many of today’s time saving devices for cleaning your house, cleaning your self, or making yourself look beautiful. It then shows you how to make nice smelling products that will not harm you or the environment. There are two wonderful appendixes at the back of the book that are easy to use. The first is an alphabetical list of chemicals that are in many of the products in your home: cleaning products, cosmetics, perfume, shampoo and toothpaste. The other appendix is a complete list of food additives.

You will find that the ideas will save you money and reduce your trash pile considerably. For example did you know that four items in your cupboard could virtually replace all your other cleaning products: Baking Soda, Vinegar, Borax and Bronner’s, castile liquid soap. Baking Soda and Vinegar are both disinfectants and grease cutters. Baking soda can be used on pans as it is a mild abrasive. Borax will take care of mold and mildew in your bathroom. Castile soap can be used for tons of stuff including washing and conditioning your hair.

Avoid soaps with chemical in them and only buy vegetable oil or glycerin soaps. Or of course use Bronner’s castile soap in peppermint which is wonderful for those folks who live in hot weather climates. You can use the liquid soap to wash and condition your hair. Toothpastes are very problematic and you need to look for one with no fluoride and SLS in it. I good product is Weleda’s salt toothpaste. For dental floss make sure you use a natural product (cotton or silk), unscented and unwaxed and for deodorants look for Neal’s Yard products or use a slight dusting of plain cornstarch.

And read this article in Thursday’s Tampa, FL Tribune
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/17/ho-easy-to-make-cleansers-stand-up-to-bathroom-lau/