Green Cleaning

Melaleuca is NOT, I repeat, NOT green.

For toilets I use baking soda, vinegar and tea tree or grapefruit essential oil. I am going to try Ecover toilet bowl cleaner. It's $3.08 at www.vitacost.com right now. I also LOVE Ecover dishwasher detergent. I agree with the mom who said to put vinegar in with the wash. I also use Planet dishwasher detergent and my dishes come out clean with no film.

I like Melaluca for the dishwasher. The only problem is you have to get it from a melaluca distributer or online. But it is a great product.

Good for you for really going Green! Stay away from fake green companies like Melaleuca and Shaklee. I have noticed about the phosphate dishwashing soap too. I think it's the lemon in mine. I switch to Mrs. Meyers Lavendar dishwasher detergent and it cleans much better than the Lemon Verbena. Plus, I have been putting white vinegar where the "jet dry" usually goes. The lemon streaks stainless and etches glass over time. You can try making your own with Borax & Baking Soda if you want.

Best of luck!

I use tough and tender cleaner on my toilet and diamond brite on my dishes. It is very relieving to know that the cleaners I use are safe and natural.

i just put in dish-soap to scrub the toilet.. its just like scrubbing kitchen dishes :)

Go with the Shaklee Get Clean products. They are awesome and you will definitely save money.
Victoria

You need Melaleuca!!! It's AWESOME!!! It's like an online wholesale club... the products are very high quality, yet also inexpensive and they work SO WELL!!! It's the best way to go green that I know of, I've been using their products for over a year and a half!

I would like to suggest melaleuca ...they recently came out with a toilet bowl cleaner and every other cleaner they already had! You can email me for more info ____@____.com

Hi, H.!

It's great that you want to create a healthier & safer home for you and your family!!

I've been shopping with an awesome store that has been green for nearly 25 years, and has over 300 household and personal care products with naturally derived, and scientifically proven, ingredients. I'm asthmatic, and hated cleaning because everything I used made my asthma act up. Now, I'm a clean freak (to the dismay of my husband!:) )The dishwashing detergent is great, and I've noticed that there's no film left behind on my children's sippy cups like there had been before! Plus, they have a bathroom cleaner that also cleans everything in your bathroom, toilets included (even rust if you have that issue!). Even my 3 year old loves helping mommy clean the toilet! I breathe easier (literally as well) knowing my cleaning products are safe to use around my children.

I'd love to share more information with you if you are interested! My email is ____@____.com

I know you'll find your solution here!

Sincerely,
Tricia
http://www.4OurFamilysWellness.com

Going green is harder than it looks for the very reasons you are discovering. For your toilet you can use the same things you use for the rest of your house just do it more often. I actually swish my toilet nearly every day. Crazy huh? It really is not that big of a deal, I just have the supplies in the bathroom I use every day and do it just before I shower. I never have to use a heavy cleaner because it never gets bad. The same goes for the dishwasher. I make sure the dishes are food-free before they go in. Without the heavy chemicals you just do not get the same results. I also pack less in when I run it.

Good luck!

I use Seventh Generation dishwasher detergent with vinegar as my rinse aid and have absolutely no debris on glasses or other dishes.

For toilet bowl cleaners, you can get green cleaners at Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage. I have used the Ecover brand in the past. Got it at Vitamin Cottage. I kept the last bottle, though, because the tip can pop out. Now I use a 50-50 Vinegar-Water solution. I just pour it into that same bend-necked bottle so that I have the convenience of the bottle type with the vinegar-water clean.

This might go without saying, but your dishwasher itself needs to be in good working order too. I recently really looked at the inside of mine and found that lots of the little holes were plugged by random stuff! I poked and prodded as best I could and it has helped a lot. I also ran one empty load with a soup bowl of vinegar on the bottom rack and saw improvement. Also, make sure your kitchen sink water is HOT when you start your load. I did have good luck with Method sink tablets but did see some film. This is a hard one to justify sometimes because if you are prerinsing, running hot water loads, and then rinsing again, even if you are using a "green" detergent, you have just wasted a TON of water and energy heating it. Using something you know works in smallest quantity possible, or switching off and on will at least help some. Interested to see what others have up their cleaning sleeves!

I don't have a specific toilet bowl cleaner, but if you clean it really good once with any brand cleaner then get in the swish and swipe habit like the 'Flylady' recommends it keeps it pretty clean. She says to put any soap, shampoo, body wash etc. (vinegar and soda would be fine too) in the bottom of your brush container. Swish the toilet bowl every day. It will stay clean and the stuff will not grow in there if you clean it frequently. For more cleaning tips check out her website it is free flylady.net She also sells some great purple rags that you can use for cleaning glass etc. They are microfiber and I love them. I don't even put glass cleaner on my mirror anymore just dampen part of the rag wipe and dry. No more paper towels or newspapers being tossed and no cleaner to worry about. This is my new favorite cleaning tool for wiping up things and especially glass cleaning.

Hi
Try greenworks by Clorox - it does a very good job without too many chemicals.

I am curious if you get any responses because I can't find either of those either. I have tried tons of dish detergents and not a single one gets the dishes clean, even if I pre rinse very well. They don't even cut the greasy residue. I get better luck use Dawn. I figure that at least I am doing good with most things, and if I have to use dangerous toilet cleaner and dish detergent, that is better than using all of them.

For dish detergents, I have tried Melaleuca (it was the absolute worst. Didin't seem like I even had soap in there), Seventh Generation, Ecover, and few others I can't remember now. I haven't tried Shaklee. If you find one and it works, let us know!

I LOVE the new 7th generation disinfecting bathroom cleaner. I use it on the counters, tub, and toilet. It does an amazing job and it smells like thyme.

I shop at a store that offers all of that and I have been very satisfied with all their green products. Infact, my 2 yr old had a bad skin reaction to what was used in the bath tub at a relatives house and since I made the switch he rarely even has a flare up. The dishwashing soap works great and even my mom who only washes her dishes by hand compliments my dishes. Plus they have other health and wellness products that I can use for myself and my children which are completely safe. Let me know if you want more information, I would be happy to send you more information. My email: ____@____.com