Homemade Drain Cleaner

Our bathroom sink drain is always backing up. Usually one of us will buy a jug of Draino and get the job done. I'm a little afraid of Draino these days though. I'd rather not breathe in whatever harmful baby poison that crap is made of. So, I made some myself. And it worked!!!

Dump 1/2 a cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by 1/2 a cup of white vinegar. Once the vinegar is done fizzing, follow it up with hot water. It dissolves the soap buildup and (in my case) released the giant hair clog that was caught in the soap and pushed it up and out of the drain. It was... gross. But now I have a clear drain. And I didn't poison myself in the process.

I don't think this will work on completely clogged drains, but it apparently works great as a preventative drain cleaner.

The Paper Debate

I'm trying to make some effort to be a little greener around the house. I do some small things like buying CFLs for open fixtures. I placed a big bowl of dish towels on the counter to reach for before the paper towels. This really works by the way. We've cut down immensely on the number of paper towels we use in the house. I bought some Mrs. Meyers last time I needed cleaning supplies. (I know it's better to just make my own but I like the fancy stuff that comes in the pretty packaging. And I'm lazy.)

I know that my efforts aren't noble and I'm certainly not saving the planet single handedly, but even the little gestures count, right? Right. Which is why this product completely blows my mind: Kleenex Hand Towels.

Is Kleenex really advocating that we use paper towel dispensers in our homes? I find that so... against the grain, even for a company that only makes disposable products. It wreaks of an attempt to grab attention and a slipping market away from the green alternatives that are popping up everywhere. Couldn't they have come up with something a little more clever and useful than a paper towel dispenser?

And on the opposite side of the green spectrum, here's an article about using cloth towels to wipe your butt: Family Cloth: Non-Paper Toilet Paper

Laundry Detergent Update

My friend Shannon responded to my post about laundry detergent. She checked a book she had at home and this is what it said about making your own detergent:

Here's what the book said...basically the author (Karen Logan) said she searched the world over to find a laundry detergent that worked as well as her favorite and she couldn't find one; however, she did come up with a recipe to reduce the amount of detergent she uses:

Ingredients: Your favorite laundry detergent and perhaps some baking soda and borax to boost. (You'll find the borax in the laundry section of your store, usually in a green box).

What Else You'll Need: You'll want to keep a 1/2 cup scooper handy for measuring the baking soda or borax.

How to Use: Use only half as much of your favorite laundry detergent as you regularly use. (Please us a nonphosphate detergent - check the box or use a liquid which are all phosphate free).

She uses the borax when her clothes are extra dirty or dingy. She says it also works great with hard water. She uses the baking soda when she wants to deodorize and soften the clothes.

She also says that the 1/2 cup is good for a full load and that you'll want to use 1/4 cup with a medium load.

Good to know! I'm definitely going to try this out.

One Thing At a Time: Laundry Detergent

I don't particularly like floral scented things and I really hate any kind of cleaning product that smells like food. Dish soap that smells like apples? Detergent that smells like oranges? Dog shampoo that smells like watermelon? That last one is the weirdest. Why would I want my dog to smell like fruit?

I was using Cheer Free and Gentle, but I took running out of laundry detergent as an opportunity to switch to a green cleaner. Target had Seventh Generation Laundry Cleaner on sale, so I went with it.



I think I ended up going with the lavender and eucalyptus scented one. It smells like a hippie. I really don't know how else to describe it. It's natural and earthy and... like a hippie.

I did the first load and when I opened the machine and caught a whiff of the laundry, I wasn't sure if "wet hippie" was something I wanted to be smelling. It smelled a little funky. I threw the towels in the dryer, tossed my jeans on the drying rack and prayed for the best. I'll tell you, opening the dryer was a much better smell. It just smelled like warm, clean clothes. It didn't smell like plants, it didn't smell like food. It just smelled clean. The clothes that air dried smelled fine too. They don't smell as fresh, but they don't smell bad, and what else can you really ask for?

Laundry detergent is kind of a mystery to me. After reading some labels and product reviews, it turns out that a lot of detergents are petroleum-based and have some form of plastic in them. Call me crazy, but that seems a little bizarre. The more I read about this stuff, the more alarmed I am at the amount of crap we willingly allow into our homes.

On a little side note... Is it possible to make your own laundry cleaner? Is there some magic combination of baking soda and borax or something that will get the job done even safer and cheaper than a $12 bottle of Seventh Generation?

Organics and Green Cleaners

Buying organic food is something that Matt and I go back and forth on. Obviously, we would love to only shop at Whole Foods. There's no denying the quality of produce and meat available there, but our budget doesn't always allow it. Aside from the price of it there's also the limitation of giving up those certain delicious items that wouldn't exist without some mad food science. I'll be damned if I don't love me some Velveeta and Diet Coke.

CNN had a pretty informative article this morning about buying organic: How to buy the best organic foods. We've already started doing one of their tips which is gradually replacing items in your kitchen with their organic counterparts. First up in our house was eggs. The difference in price is pretty freaking big. ($2.40 vs $1.00) but I swear they taste better. There's more of an egg flavor to them. It makes sense though... A lot of the flavor in our meat and animal byproducts is lost because of the way they're breed and housed. Free-range chickens move around a lot more than caged chickens so the muscles have a stronger flavor to them. It's kind of like white meat verses dark meat. Dark meat comes from the muscles the chickens use (legs and thighs) and white meat comes from the muscles they don't (breasts and wings).

I also think it would be nice to rid my household of chemical cleaners. I'm slowly but surely replacing things like laundry detergents and cleaners with safer alternatives. Seventh Generation has some great products and even coupons on their site. Real Simple also had an incredibly thorough article a few issues back about items you may already have around the house that double as safe grime busters. I also think it's a smart thing to do now since we often have our little nieces and nephews over and might one day have kids of our own running around. Kids touch everything, investigate everything, put their mouths on everything... I'd feel much better knowing that my house is free of any unnecessary chemicals.

What does everyone else think of buying organic and natural? Is it important or just a bunch of hippie BS?

Also check out:

• Dirty Dozen: Top 12 Fruits and Vegetables to Buy Organic
• 18 Easy Convenience-Food Upgrades

From My Inbox to You

I was ranting the other day about not being able to find practical and cost effective ideas to use around the house. Here are a couple of things I've found that have a few good budget friendly tips. Bonus points for these also being "green" ideas.

I somehow got signed up for an email newsletter from DIY Network a few weeks ago. I've actually started reading it now and it's pretty cool. It's full of DIY tips (obviously), green products, budget friendly ideas, and on and on. It's great to click through their site and find all kinds of easy and cheap tips for around the house.

From DIY Network I found Ecologue. Ecologue is where I am going to spend the majority of my afternoon I'm afraid. It looks like most of the articles are compiled from other sources like HGTV and DIY network. It's great that everything is all in one place where it's easy to find and reference. Right now I'm loving Going Compostal! I've always wanted to start a compost pile.

Check out their Crafty Recycling tips. There are a few really cute decorating ideas in there for little money. I really like the tips for reusing cans in Can the Clutter but I think I would give my husband a nervous breakdown if I put any of that stuff in our house. His biggest phobia is cutting himself on the edge of a cut can. I would have to buy one of these.

Solar Powered Fountain

How cool is this! I really want one of these... Our backyard needs some major help. It's large and fairly flat, so it's a perfect space. But visually it's pretty awful. It needs some TLC. It also needs a solar powered fountain now.



I did a very responsible thing last night and I started cleaning up the outside of the house. Whee! Yard work! There are still leaves, leaves, leaves everywhere. I plan to tackle the rest of it on Saturday.