How Much Is Clean Worth?

So, I did say I was working on being financially responsible and such, right? Well, one good way to save money is to find out how to do more with less. Now, I am allergic to... well... most things. Okay, not really, but I'm extremely sensitive to any number of chemicals, so green cleaning is a big must for me, since I'm the one who does most of the cleaning in the house.

I originally had this great idea that I'd make all my cleaners from scratch--laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, everything! I'd be this mighty, green machine of perfectly homemade perfection!

And then I had a family and a house and two very messy cats and a full time job and... it never really happened.

That said, I do buy nontoxic cleaners for any machine washing that happens around here (Seventh Generation makes some very nice, very effective laundry and dishwashing detergents), a nontoxic liquid soap for hand washing dishes, and I do use simple kitchen supplies to clean the rest of the house. No Windex, no scrubbing bubbles. Just vinegar and baking soda and my very tired arms (on the other hand, my arms are a good deal more toned than they used to be, so I see that muscle fatigue as a plus, not a minus).

So I was wondering this morning what exactly I was saving by using only a few basic ingredients to make my house clean and happy. Let's run the numbers, shall we. I love numbers!

• Store-Bought Cleaners
  Bathroom
  • Toilet cleaner: $2.80 (lasts a couple of months)
  • Soap scum remover: $3.50 (lasts a month, tops)
  • Window/mirror cleaner: $3.80 (lasts a couple of weeks)
  Kitchen
  • Countertop cleanser (Comet, Bon Ami, etc.): $2.00 (lasts a month or two)
  • Oven cleaner: $5.50 (lasts a month)
  • Glass cleaner: see bathroom supplies
  All over
  • Furniture polish: $5.00 (lasts a month or two)
  • Floor polish (wood): $5.00 (a month)
  • Carpet/upolstery cleaner: $5.50 (around here? A couple of weeks)

  TOTAL: approximately $35.00 a month

• Homemade (all last a month)
  Baking Soda: $3.30 (64 oz. box)
  • uses: toilet, shower, countertops, oven, tiles, sink, fridge/freezer
  Distilled White Vinegar: $3.30 (1 gallon)
  • uses: absolutely everything. Seriously.
  Borax: $1.00 (72 oz.--a box costs about $4.50, but it can last six months)
  • uses: stubborn stains in laundry and on tile, ceramic tubs, etc.
  Vegetable or olive oil (the cheap stuff): $6.00
  • uses: wood polishing
  Lemon juice (again, the cheap stuff): $3.00
  • uses: wood polish and stubborn clothing or furniture stains
  
  TOTAL: approximately $16.00 a month

So... yeah. That's quite a savings, I think.

Of course, it does require me to at least pretend to enjoy cleaning. It takes twice as long, but it's actually pretty nice, because I don't have to worry about making sure the room is ventilated and such. I don't have to worry about keeping animals and kids out of the bedroom after I shampoo the rug or the bathroom after I clean the shower and toilet.

There are a ton of other things you can use as household cleaners. Some mixes require more work than others--I'm lazy, and vinegar cleans as well as bleach and baking soda provides as much abrasive power as Comet, so I keep with those. There are other people, however, who love to come up with recipes:

• Clean and Green is a pretty in depth site and has answers to most household cleaning problems.
• Organized Home is a great site for oh, so many reasons, but they also have a nice selection of cleaning recipes.
• In hunting around for some nice recipes, I found this great site called Tree Hugging Family--it's got lots of info!

There you have it--save a little money, save your lungs and those of the people and animals around you, and save the planet!

______

Over to other things, now. The US is a little... self-centered just now. We have this new president, and this new congress, and... we're really preoccupied. So I thought I'd post some links to news items that aren't about the US:

• Industrial pollution chokes people, crops alike--A story from the Daily Star (Bangladesh) about the ramifications of a polluting urea plant on the local population.
• A Breakthrough against World Hunger--a piece in the Guardian (UK) advocating a centralized international aid foundation for helping boost agriculture in low-income countries. Note, interestingly enough, that the example he uses for helping these countries is fertilizer. Interesting.
• Study pinpoints main source of Asia's brown cloud--In a case of "what's good for you could be bad for you," the International Herald reports on a study out of Sweden that shows that much of the particulate pollution in Southeast Asia is caused by a "greener" solution to oil: biomass.

I'm off to go drive to a bunch of places. I very rarely take the car out at all, but today there are a ton of things that won't fit in my backpack. *sigh*