Food and Cleaning?

I do intend for this website to be about food, and primarily healthy eating that tastes good. In the recent past I have had another home issue (besides cooking) on my mind. I've gotten into these "environmentally friendly cleaners". In my quest to eat healthier, I began to purchase stone ground flour and cornmeal (an issue too dear to me to be added as a side note), I've been spending more time in the "weirdo section" of the grocery store. My husband and I have named the organic section "weirdo" in making fun of ourselves as much as anyone else. I'm from Mississippi and my granny makes excellent biscuits (out of Crisco and refined flour- neither of which reside in my kitchen) and excellent southern food in general. All southern cuisine isn't unhealthy, but classic southern fare tends to be high in fat. Point being I'm sure many people in this area and others consider whole wheat pancake mix and stone ground cornmeal- cornmeal muffin mix and organic foods to be "healthy food" for hippies and health nuts. I personally am proud to shop in the weirdo section of our Kroger. I've found some great products there. Our grocery store's "weirdo section" doesn't have much in the way of household products. However in my quest to eat healthy, exercise regularly, I have begun to question other areas of my life and our household.

My newest target for healthy change has been our selection of household cleaners. I guess it began with my visit to drugstore.com, a site I got hooked on when I was working full time and trying to find ways to decrease the number of errands I had to run after work. I ordered Caldrea's countertop cleaner- Citrus mint ylang ylang scented. I'm not sure that it is any better for our health to use this as opposed to soap and water and a washrag- but it smells so good. In fact Daniel (my beloved husband) has said that he likes the way it smells, and it seems to be an incentive for keeping the countertops cleaner- so healthy or not the countertop cleaner is here to stay. Then I began to notice all the "natural products" one could buy to replace all purpose cleaner, glass cleaners, dish detergent, laundry detergent, brown- unbleached paper towels. A.These products cost more B. They are not found at my grocery store, so I have to order them. I actually have tried some of these products. But in discussions with my husband about the budget and household expenses I began to wonder about the necessity of spending more $ to clean our house.

I will say one can spend alot of $ on cleaning supplies in general- with the popularity of the use and throw away products- floor sweepers, mops, cleaning cloths, toilet wands, ect. I am guilty of using a good many throw away products. After all what's easier than throwing away nasty used cleaning supplies after cleaning the toilet or a dirty floor. In a quest to cut down on our trash, we've begun to recycle more, and I have replaced the disposable mops, cleaning cloths, and brushes we were using with good quality mops and brushes, and microfiber cloths.
So where is the food? Well in my internet researching on the "evils of cleaning products" I have discovered something I have seen before and paid little attention to. We have some excellent cleaning products in our kitchen! You can't get more natural than cleaning with vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda. I'm sure there are countless articles on the net about cleaning with normal household products. I actually cleaned our bathrooms yesterday with vinegar, although I've seen information saying it can be diluted- I used it straight and was fine. I must say it did a good job, no chemical fumes or having to worry about wearing gloves to protect my hands from harsh chemicals. The smell really did disapate pretty quickly, so my home didn't smell like an easter egg dying workshop!

The best site for information I found was: http://es.epa.gov/techinfo/facts/safe-fs.html

There is a lot of information there about cheap and safe household cleaners. They have some great suggestions from disinfectants, to drain cleaners, oven cleaners, and the list goes on. Check it out, save yourself from having to handle harmful chemicals, and save some money!