So, after recent shenanigans in the wonderful world of store-bought cleaning supplies, I’m pretty fed-up. And yes, I’m talking about the new EWG safe cleaners guide.
It’s wise to go non-toxic when it comes to cleaning but companies are making this impossible. As you know by now, EWG gave scathing scores to plenty of well-known green cleaning brands, making me, and just about everyone else question the safety of their favorite “safe” cleaning products. I’ve looked around and haven’t found any press releases from companies explaining what they’ll be doing to fix their low scores. It’s as if they don’t care about consumer questions.
That said, it’s not just companies I’m tired of. EWG isn’t in the clear in my opinion. Since the release of the list, EWG has followed up, posting the whys and hows of their cleaning product scores, which is nice, but still not entirely helpful to the basic consumer.
On their list, EWG singled out just a few green cleaning brands as “good” but failed to comment on some huge issues, like do said safe cleaners work and can the average family find and afford them. For instance, I’ve used some of the cleaners EWG recommends and they suck. Some on their list are discontinued, only available at very specific locations or super expensive. This, in my opinion, is NOT a super useful consumer list. When the bulk of products you tell people to use are tough to find, expensive or don’t work, how is that useful?
I’m sick to death…
- All I want are some decent safe cleaners.
- I want those cleaners to work. And by work I mean REALLY work.
- I need to be able to locate and afford those cleaners.
My conclusion?
I’m gonna have to go back to homemade cleaners all the time. I actually used to make all my own homemade cleaners. I recently stopped because it’s hard to use homemade cleaners in some cases. For example…
- I’m the only person at my house who knows how to mix up homemade cleaners.
- I’m the only person at my house who knows how to use them.
- It’s time consuming to a point.
Due to the above, I can do ALL the cleaning myself or I can answer 10 million questions every time someone else decides to clean. I hate both choices. My third choice is to buy “safe” store-bought cleaners and let people read the flipping labels. Frankly, that’s the easy choice.
But, since the third choice is apparently no longer an option, I’ll have to figure out how to make homemade cleaning a whole lot easier for everyone who is not me.
I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and I think it’s doable. I think you can make homemade cleaning easier for everyone involved, and not get stuck with the brunt of the cleaning yourself. I think you just need to be crafty. Coming up, I’ll have some posts about how to make homemade cleaning easier, how to make tons and tons of safe cleaners that actually work and more.
If you don’t want to wait, check out my Green Clean Your Home & Keep the Planet Healthier post for homemade cleaner ideas and cleaning recipes.
Image © Pierre brillot