Keeping clean and green during pregnancy (and beyond) – a review and a contest
June 5, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Women's Health
As the world tries to get more environmentally friendly, many of us are trying our best to clean up and green up our little corner of the world.
To be honest, when I was pregnant with my three, I didn’t give much thought to the types of supplies I was using – as long as they got things relatively clean. Now, I’m much more aware of what I’m using and I’m trying to find supplies that are not only less toxic, but are friendly to the environment.
Recently, I was sent some cleaning supplies from Seventh Generation. According to their website, “The company derives its name from the Great Law of the Iroquois that states, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” Every time you use a Seventh Generation product you are making a difference by saving natural resources, reducing pollution, keeping toxic chemicals out of the environment and making the world a safer place for this and the next seven generations.”
The company not only produces cleaning products, but other supplies such as toilet tissue and facial wipes. There is also a line of baby products, from chlorine-free diapers to baby wipes.
I received five cleaning products to try: the wild orange and spice kitchen cleaner, emerald cypress and fir tub and tile cleaner, natural all-purpose cleaner, the lavender dishwashing liquid, and the toilet bowl cleaner. I’ve not yet tried the toilet bowl cleaner but I have tried the other products.
I have to admit, I wasn’t sure how good they would be. And, being sensitive to scents, I was a bit nervous about how strong or cloying they would be. I had nothing to worry about in either case.
Observations:
- the packaging is strong and the caps are easy to open and close – this is a big thing for me as I hate fighting with caps.
- the products clean as one would expect as with any other product
- scents are light and pleasing
- the products don’t leave any streaks or gritty feeling behind
- you do need a bit more elbow grease than with the traditional cleaners, but not overly so. If a stain was persistent, I would spray the cleaner on and leave it for a few minutes before tackling it again.
Where to buy:
There’s a tab on their website where you enter your zip code (United States) or postal code (Canada) to find the closest retailer that carries their products. I checked and there are 5 retailers within 20 miles of my home in Montreal. If you can’t shop in person, their products are available on-line as well. Some retailers, like Amazon.com, sell them in bulk.
From what I can tell, their prices are reasonable, on par with most products in the category.
Seventh Generation has generously offered a Living Home Starter kit to offer as a prize to the readers and visitors to Womb Within. After seeing what’s in the kit, I’m jealous!
Living Home Starter Kit: A selection of our most popular household cleaners to take care of your home from kitchen to bathroom and everywhere in-between. All products are gently scented with whole and natural plant essences, specifically designed for each room of your home. This kit also makes a great baby shower gift. $39.99 Includes:
- Ruby Grapefruit & Herb Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner
- Green Mandarin & Leaf Natural All-Purpose Cleaner
- Emerald Cypress & Fir Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner
- Natural Citrus Scent Shower Cleaner
- Tub & Tile Cleaner
- 2 rolls of Natural Paper Towels
- Seventh Generation tote
So, what do you need to do to win? I’m giving you several ways and you can do more than one. Here’s what you can do:
- Leave a comment below with your own “green tip.” I will gather all the tips into a new post, with links to your blogs or site if you have one.
- Subscribe to the RSS feed and send me an email telling me that you have.
- If you use Stumble, stumble your favorite post in this blog. Ditto with Digg.
- Email me a tip that I can put in the tip post that will come after the contest.
Don’t forget, that with the perpetual comment contest (info in sidebar), all comments are also automatically in for the monthly give away.
Now – to be sure you get your prize if you’re the lucky one – I MUST have a way to contact you. I’ve run a few contests on Help My Hurt and one earlier one here, but sometimes I can’t get hold of the winner because they don’t leave an email address or a website that I can go to. When you leave a comment, please be reassured that your email does NOT get put on the site.
All entries will be given a number as they come in. The numbers will be plugged into an online randomizer to choose the winner.
Good luck! The contest will end at 11:59 PM EST on June 19th.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.
To choose the winner, I took all the qualifying comments and entered them into a randomizer program and now, without further ado….. the winner is….Shumyla who left the following comment on June 10: The most common-sense thing ever: Bring your own container to restaurants. That way you aren’t taking polystyrene (Styrofoam) containers home, which don’t biodegrade. At the same time, you’re also reducing the garbage generated by your home.
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Image: Seventh Generation
wow
Great giveaway!
My tip: If you can spring for it, consider installing a solar hot water heating system. It’s pricey up-front (but much less than trying to run your whole house on solar), but saves a lot of money/energy in the long run–especially if you do your laundry on sunny days. And I firmly believe that if more of us went solar, it would be more affordable for everyone.
Throw away the clocks. This is the age of the cell phone. Use it to its full capacity.
Use diluted vinegar to clean-nontoxic and leaves everything shiny and streakfree.
put a bucket out when it starts to rain to catch water for the plants inside.
My favorite tip is to use q-tips and alcohol to clean those hard to get places in the fridge.
Buy a composting bin!! I have one and I have been using it for a few months and have already seen a decrease in the amount of trash going into our garbage container. About 25 % of our garbage (after recyclable items are pulled out) can go into a composting bin! And then it makes great compost mulch for your gardens for free!
Despite trying to cut down on plastic bags, I still get a lot of them. My green tip is to use these as trash can liners.
Don’t drive, walk! It’s a great mood booster and good for the environment.
Use cloth bags for shopping.
When I need to boil water (for tea, canning) in the summer, I always boil more than I need and take the extra hot water outside right away and pour it over the grass/weeds growing up through the cracks of my brick patio/walkway. It kills the weeds and within a day or two, they are all dried up and can easily be swept away. No chemicals required!!
Thanks for the give away!!
Clean sink pipes maintenance.
1. when dishwasher drains into sink add 1/8 cup liquid soap into drain.
or
2. 3 tablespoons of liquid into drain before pouring hot water from: Spaghetti, vegetables, what ever water you have just finished cooking with that is very hot.
This cuts grease thus keeping sinks clean and no need to use harsh chemicals.
We do a ton of recycling and composting!
Reduce your energy costs by switching to energy saving lightbulbs
My best tip is keep the lights off, and use recycled grocery bags.
nice prize
If you use a dishwasher, use the lowest cycle setting and run it at night, to conserve energy. (p.s. I’ve learned a few things from these posts. Great!)
Buy everyone in the family their own SIGG bottles and refill water. Stop using plastic bottles!
reuse rain water
Dry your clothes naturally
Put apple cider vinegar in a jar by the kitchen sink for washing fruits and veggies. Works great, and no additional chemicals to worry about : )
carpool that is so important right now not only to help the earth but save money. Also grow your own produce, especially now when you can see that some foods are not safe like tomatoes, but if you grow it on your own, you know it’s safe! Thanks
raised bed garden
use cloth towels in the kitchen instead of paper
I recycle, I buy items made out of recycled products and drive as little as possible. Also use CFLs!
I don’t use paper towels or paper napkins. Also, we recycle almost everything we use.
I try to find new ways to go green – we are doing so in small steps but the practices we adopt become permanent ones. We are in the process of switching all of our lightbulbs to reduce energy costs and save energy. I have started using reusable totes for shopping and have started buying “green” cleaners. Next steps are to recycle MORE, to compost and reduce water usage. We recycle of course!
I love growing my own veggies in my backyard. It is as ‘local’ as local can be, not to mention it is great excersise and brings the whole family together.
Get rid of paper napkins and paper towels! Small terry “bar towels” work great as napkins, and old T-shirts cut up as rags are better than paper towels anyway.
Put apple cider vinegar in a jar by the kitchen sink for washing fruits and veggies. Works great, and no additional chemicals to worry about : )
hang your clothes out to dry, this makes a big difference in your electricity
Have your own garden
i walk to work. replaced all my light bulbs with energy efficient ones. than i go shopping taking all my green bags for loading groceries.
We do our part by getting energy efficient light bulbs and we prefer to eat food that is locally grown
Buy some worms and make your own composture.
the thought grossed me out at first, but my hubbie convinced me to use bath towels twice to reduce our water/energy usage. and i recycle clothes into fab new items! we use totes verses bags.and reuse plastic storage sacks!
I have a garden, and I compost and recycle as much as I can, plus I wash in cold water and use my clothes lines to dry
re-use plastic water bottles for padding when shipping
use the hibernate and sleep options (under power settings) on your computer to save electricity!
I use vinegar in the washer rather than fabric softener as well as dryer balls to avoid dryer sheets. My clothes still come out soft.
We put in a clothesline and we dry our clothes that way now. It’s actually kinda fun!
My favorite green tip: Don’t leave your car idling when waiting at the drive through or picking up your kids. It wastes gas and creates unnecessary emissions.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Clean with white vingear
I do all my laundry in cold water and I have cut back on the amount of laundey detergent I use per load
Save energy by not running the dishwasher until it’s full. Along the same lines: Don’t run the washer unless you have a full load and, if you can, hang dry laundry before smoothing out creases in the dryer.
I am slowly replacing all my harsh chemicals with GREEN cleaners. So far I have been quite pleased with them and my lungs have really been thanking me especially when I clean the bathroom.
I use a lot of vinegar for cleaning. I also wash in cold water, don’t buy paper plates, don’t water my lawn, only mow when it is necessary (usually every other week), no extra driving around, Hubby traded in his minivan for a smaller car to save on gas for him to get back and forth to work.
Use USB devices when you are on the computer. The thing is in use so why not use that power for USB fans, waterfalls, light and other needs.
My best green tip? Don’t buy alot of crap you don’t need. Use and if possible re-use what you do buy. Being green environmentally can also make you green with extra cash by cutting back the waste.
I shop at thrift stores as much as I can–it keeps things out of the landfill, and I am not creating waste by buying new. I’ve scored really great bakeware from thrift stores!