Spring Greening!

I LOVE spring cleaning.  Opening the windows and letting fresh air in soothes my soul.  Plus, it seems to be the one time a year that everyone participates in chores.  I can ask the hubby to do just about anything in the name of spring cleaning and it gets done.  Its almost as if spring is the nag instead of me.

Since I use a lot of cleaning products this time of year, I tend to make my own to save money and make sure that  my dog and my family are healthy and safe.  Today, I want to share my simple "recipes" for eco and budget friendly cleaners.

• Abrasive Cleanser (use in place of toilet bowl cleaners and tile cleaners)  - Mix 1/2 cup of baking soda with 3 tablespoons of Kosher salt in a small mixing bowl.  Sprinkle the mixture onto counter tops, tile, or into the toilet bowl. If you need more cleaning power, add enough water to make a paste.  Put the paste onto the surface to be cleaned let it sit for a few minutes.  Then scrub with a damp rag.  
• Mildew/Grease Remover (use in place of kitchen and bathroom spray cleaners) - Buy an empty spray bottle (I bought mine at a dollar store).  You can fill this bottle with equal parts of vinegar and water or equal parts lemon juice and water.  I use lemon juice and water for my stove top and bathroom and kitchen counters, and the vinegar on windows, mirrors, and glass.
• Disinfectant (use instead of bleach) - 4 cups of water, 5 tablespoons of dish soap, and 50 drops of tea tree oil.  This works great on door handles and toys!
• Oven Cleaner - Make a paste off baking soda and water and apply to the inside of your oven.  Let it sit at least 8 hours (I let mine sit overnight) and in the morning, scrub off buildup.  Finish off with a clean wet rag for a spotless interior!
• Floor Cleaner - I use an eco-friendly commercial dish soap and warm water on my tile floors.  For my hardwood floors, I use a rag dampened with vinegar and water.  I only do this about twice a year.  The rest of the time I sweep, vacuum, or spot clean with plain water.  

What do you use during your spring cleaning?  

Green Gal Pick: Fridge-It Odor Absorber Review and Giveaway ***CLOSED***

As everyone knows -- diapers stink.  In my home there are a LOT of diapers.  My daughter uses cloth diapers which I keep in a pail liner inside a regular trashcan until it is washing time.  But, I also have my own home daycare and most of them uses disposable diapers which end up in my trash can each day.  Needless to say, by the end of the day my hallway STINKS.  Since I do not use chemical air fresheners and the weather isn't quite warm enough to open the windows and let some of the stink out, I am stuck with a stinky house until the end of the day when I can take out the trash and wash diapers.  I knew that there had to be a green way to control odors inside the home without spraying toxic chemicals to cover up the smell, but I couldn't find anything for a long time.  Then I saw Innofresh's blog.

As I read, I realized that their line of eco-friendly, fragrance and chemical free line of activated carbon odor absorbers was exactly what I needed.  Another huge plus, these are made right here in the USA.  Which makes them greener because they do not have to ship from halfway around the world.  I do not use chemical cleaning products in my home for the safety and health of my family, my dog, and my daycare children.  A find like this was something I needed to have ASAP!  Unlike other products that just mask odors, their activated carbon odor absorbers actually eliminate the odors by absorbing and neutralizing - so the odor is permanently eliminated - not just covered up like other "air fresheners."   So I contacted Bruce over at Innofresh and he generously offered to send me some of their awesome odor absorbers to review.

So once I received the odor absorbers, I out them to the ultimate test -- well my daycare kids did.  I stuck one at the bottom of the garbage can and put in a fresh bag.  Within an hour, there were 5 soiled diapers in that can.  For the first time, I could walk through the room without smelling anything at all!  I also clipped one to the lid of my daughter's diaper pail.  That pail sat for 3 days before I washed the diapers and there was no odor in or around the pail.  Usually I have to take the pail down into the basement each night and store the dirties down there until washing, but not anymore!

Since I love to put things to the test, I also put one in our fridge, freezer, and my husband's lunchbox.  My fridge stinks like onion because I use a lot of onions and garlic when I cook.  And that old box of baking soda just isn't cutting it anymore.  Nothing is worse than putting butter on your bagel in the morning and your butter tastes like old onion -- ICK!  My freezer had that lovely smell of freezer burn -- at least I think that is what it is. I'm not actually sure what freezer burn smells like.  I wanted to see how long it would take to remove the odors from the fridge, freezer, and lunchbox.  I clipped these absorbers in at 8 in the morning and by lunchtime the odors in all three locations were completely gone.  I was amazed.  

Now, if only I could get my dog to wear one on his collar...

BUY IT!

You can buy Innofresh Odor Absorbers directly through their website or use their site to find a retailer near you.  Use coupon code BK409B to receive an automatic 10% discount on purchases made on line at www.Innofresh.com   This coupon code must be entered into the required coupon field during checkout.

WIN IT!

Bruce over at Innofresh generously offered to give a FREE six pack of FRIDGE IT cubes to one lucky Baby To Green reader!  

To enter each entry must have an email address in the comment or visible in your public profile.  No email address = no winning.  Each comment is worth 1 entry into the drawing.

MANDATORY ENTRY:
Leave a comment telling me your "stinky" story.  Make me smell the stink people.


Extra Entries (only after Mandatory Entry has been entered):

• Tell me the closest retailer to you where you can buy Innofresh products.
• Follow me via Google Friend Connect on the sidebar and leave a comment.
• Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment with your Twitter ID.
• Follow Innofresh on Twitter (say hi to Bruce while you are there!) and leave a comment with your Twitter ID.
• Tweet this ONCE and leave the permalink in your comment. "Kick stink to the curb with @Innofresh and @Baby2Green #eco #clothdiaper http://bit.ly/cd9ZXa"
• Friend me on Facebook and leave a comment with your Facebook name.

So that is at least SEVEN chances to win.  Be sure to pay attention on Twitter and Facebook.  I may or may not be giving out bonus entries throughout the week.

Deadline for entries is Wednesday March 17, 2010 at noon Eastern Time.  All entries will be checked and any entry that doesn't qualify will be removed before the drawing.  The winner will be drawn via Random.org for fairness.  Winner will be notified and has 48 hours to respond.  If winner does not respond, a second drawing will be held.

Disclaimer: I did receive Innofresh products for review.  

This does not affect the review of this product. I was not paid for this review and the opinions are mine and mine alone.  

Sparkling Green

Many people wonder if eco-friendly cleaners are as effective as their standard chemical counterparts.  In my experience, yes.

Growing up, my mother always used typical household cleaners.  Lemon scented dust spray in an aerosol can, bright blue glass cleaner, floral scented carpet powder, and scrubbing cleanser with bleach in the toilets, were standard for our Saturday morning chores.  In college when I lived in the dorm, I did not clean with any sort of product.  Honestly, nothing got dirty under the mounds of clothes my roommate and I had strewn about on the floor.

Once I moved into my first place with my future husband, I was suddenly in charge of buying household products.  I had never had that responsibility before.  For the first year, I bought what was familiar to me, what my Mom used when I was growing up.  Honestly, there wasn't much else to choose from.  Green wasn't "in" yet.  I noticed that I had started to become lightheaded when cleaning the bathroom.  Then I realized that we didn't have a window as I did in my childhood home.  I got around this by spraying the cleaners, leaving the room for a while and going back once the smell had faded.

But then, we had a little one -- a furry baby that we called Tyson.  After we brought him home, we spoiled him rotten.  He was a sweet puppy with a love of chewing on table legs.  I did a quick search online and found that plain old vinegar would stop him from chewing on our furniture.  In my search I came across a great website about raising a dog without harsh chemicals.

I morphed into an overprotective mama right away.  I did away with the rock salt we had once used to keep our walkways ice free, I stopped using the store bought cleaners and powders that promised to "clean" my home by using toxins.  I found simple recipes online that used vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, and borax.  I did this for quite a while.  These cleaners really worked, but I wanted something to really cut the grease in the kitchen or something to offer a great smell when I was done cleaning.

A few months later, I went to a nearby concert (Arlo Guthrie, and yes I am only 27 years old.  My father and his siblings LOVE him) with my extended family and they were giving out samples of this environmentally friendly all purpose cleaner, Sun and Earth.  The next morning was a Saturday, my typical cleaning day, so I went to town with the Sun and Earth All Purpose Spray Cleaner.  And I was in love.  The smell of this cleaner is AMAZING.  It smells like oranges exploded in your kitchen, but instead of a messy orange covered kitchen, you have a sweet smelling, grease free, clean kitchen.  Even the most tree-hugging person on Earth can use this cleaner.  Sun and Earth does not test on animals, it is a vegan product, gluten-free, soy-free, casein-free, no tree nuts, and no peanuts.  And on top of its amazing performance, incredible smell, natural and Earth-loving ingredients, it is reasonably priced.  Yup, it costs exactly the same as the chemical cleaners at my grocery store.  Actually, a little less than the top name brand all purpose cleaners.

Sun and Earth has a full line of cleaning products.  They offer laundry detergent, stain remover, biodegradable dryer sheets, fabric softener, floor cleaner, glass cleaner, all purpose cleaner, dish soap, dishwasher detergent packs, handsoap, and all the reusable cleaning mops, cloths, and bags that you could ever need.  You can order direct from their site if needed, but most of the stores I have been in over the past year carry Sun and Earth products.




Now I have to admit that I have bought 7th Generation and other natural cleaning products when I saw a good deal, but I keep going back to Sun and Earth products.  I think that it is the smell that keeps bringing me back.. Even my 3 year old comments on how good it smells whenever I clean.  


So take some time next time you shop to check out the natural cleaning products.  There are so many on the market now that I am hoping that the mainstream brands will suddenly become the off brands.  Only we can make this happen by using our purchasing power to show what we want stocked at our stores.

How do you like this weather?

I live in New Jersey and, as most of you know, we got a ton of snow this weekend.  We came in at about 2 feet which isn't too bad, but I don't drive in the snow anymore (I totaled my car in the snow going 12 miles per hour when I was younger and I practically have panic attacks at the thought of driving in the snow now).

We made it through the weekend but only because I stocked up on new activities for the kids last week.  I hit up the local dollar store and bought stickers, stamps, a giant coloring book (I think the pages were bigger than my daughter), brownie mix for some baking fun, and we recorded a few family movies to watch.

I will do just about anything to avoid playing Don't Break the Ice with my son.  Don't get me wrong, I love games and I love to play them with my son but that game is awful.  It takes 5 minutes and a few pinched fingers to set it up only to have him "break the ice" on his first turn (and he ALWAYS goes first).  Ugh.

But now I am through my bag of tricks, the kids are hyper from being stuck inside all weekend, and I have my daycare here bright and early this morning (who will also probably be hyper from being stuck inside all weekend).  So today I have a dance party planned and hopefully that will keep all the kids from climbing the walls today, or at least until naptime.


What do you do to keep the kids occupied when bad weather keeps you indoors?