Product: Creamy Cleanser from Earth Friendly Products

Uses: Replacement for toxic scouring powders. Effective at deep cleaning and polishing stainless steel, porcelain, hard surface counters, corian counter tops, and other bath and kitchen surfaces.
Ingredients: Purified water, Lemon oil, xanthan gum, crystalline silica, 100% natural anionic coconut kernel oil-based surfactant.
Cost: $4.09 for 17oz. Also available in bulk.
Eco facts:

All Earth Friendly Products are non-toxic and plant-based.
This cleaner is free of phosphates, chlorine, petroleum chemicals and an amazing amount of other harmful ingredients.
100% biodegradable cleaner.
All parts of the container are easily recycled; even the cap! HUGE plus.
Septic and greywater safe.
Never tested on animals.
The company …read more

Last May here at Tree Hugging Family we hosted the Stop Using Paper Towels Green Challenge. We had a lot of success, but some folks had complaints about my saying cloth is perfect for everything (I haven’t bought paper towles in years). Some said, once in a while you DO need paper towels, the biggest factor being pets. Pets make kind of icky messes according to pet owners. Mainly there are three trains of use we saw.

You always use paper towels.
You never use paper towels.
You use both cloth and paper towels.

Besides 100% recycled content paper towels, (not perfect but way …read more

Folks have a lot of questions about green cleaners. Most recently on the post, 25 Safe, Non-toxic, Homemade Cleaning Supplies, Tosha asked, “Does anyone know how long you can keep these products once you mix them?” Then Caroline followed up with, “I too am interested in knowing if you can mix a batch up and save it? Or do you have to mix and use immediately? No one has answered Tosha on this…and I would like to know too!”
The issue here is that there are 25 cleaners posted in that post – so as you might guess, each can have …read more

I recently got a bunch of Earth Friendly Products and have been reviewing them around my various blogs. See:

Organic Lavender Window Cleaner
Orange Plus Surface Cleaner

I wanted to review the Parsley Plus Surface Cleaner here though, because I know I’ve got a bunch of readers into gardening and herbs so I thought readers here might specifically adore this cleaner.

Product: Parsley Plus All-Purpose Surface Cleaner from Earth Friendly Products
Uses: Use to clean kitchen, bath, and other countertops, plus other hard surface areas.
Ingredients: Purified water, parsley essence, 100% natural anionic coconut kernel oil based surfactant.
Cost: $4.75 for 17oz. Also available in other sizes …read more

If you’re a tree hugging family with kids you’ve probably got loads of laundry going on all the time, so the laundry room is a good place to go green. Try the following tips.

Make sure your washer and dryer are Energy Star rated for maximum energy and water efficiency.
Grab a cord, some clothes pins, and hang that laundry to dry. I actually hang my clothing year round. If it’s too cold outside, you can hang your clothing directly on hangers, and hang them on the shower rod to dry. This also saves time – right from the washer to closet.
In …read more

In this week’s green question we’ve got someone wondering about homemade laundry soap…

On the post, How to choose green cleaners – store bought green cleaners, Caroline says…
“Thank you for taking the time to talk about greener cleaners! Our son who is four has had sever allergies and eczema since he was a baby and EVERYTHING seems to aggravate his little body and skin. We have really tried to eliminate as much of the chemical stuff as possible…especially carpet cleaners! (We just use hot water now). I am glad you are creating this awareness. I can’t use anything with nuts for …read more

In our last reader question post we looked at How To Safely Toss Toxic Cleaners. It’s a good topic for the season since so many of us are thinking about green spring cleaning, which made me think, hey, it might be time for a green cleaning round-up.

Following are some of the most useful green cleaning posts archived here at Tree Hugging Family; along with some seriously strange Mr. Yuk video fun. This list of past posts should help you get your green cleaning plans organized for spring and beyond…
Easy green cleaning tips:

How to choose green cleaners – store bought …read more

Today’s green question appeared on the post, 25 Safe, Non-toxic, Homemade Cleaning Supplies; a reader asked, “I have some old floor cleaners, wax, ect.. what’s the best way to get rid of it with out hurting the environment?”
First of all you’ll need to know which household cleaners are worth keeping, and which should be tossed. You can read the following post; How many cleaning supplies are under your sink that your child could safely drink? to sort out your chemicals.
Secondly, you don’t want to toss them in the sink. Cleaners can be just as toxic to the environment as paint …read more

Here at Tree Hugging Family, I mainly advocate making your own homemade green cleaners. Not only is it easy to make simple green cleaners, but very cost effective. That said, there will always be folks who want to buy, not make cleaners, so I figured we should take a look at which store bought cleaners are actually green.
The number one rule for choosing a green store bought cleaner is – read your labels. A pretty waterfall or little green leaf means nothing. Ignore fancy ‘green’ packaging and read your labels.
Terms you want to see on a cleaning bottle include:

Ammonia …read more

Hey there folks. Today I’ve got a green home product review for you.

Product: CVS/pharmacy Earth Essentials Aromatic Room Mists available exclusively at CVS/pharmacy. These aromatic room mists come in four scents. I reviewed the following three…

Lavender + Citrus
Sweet Rain
Apple + Cinnamon

Also available in Fresh Eucalyptus which I didn’t try, but it’s just as well, since I’m not the biggest fan of eucalyptus.
Price: Around $4 for a 7-oz can which is an excellent price point for an eco-minded air freshener.
Eco facts:

No animal testing.
Uses natural essential oils.
No propellants.
Non aerosol.
Recyclable container.

Ingredients listed: Purified Water, Surfactant, Fragrance, Glyceryl Caprylate.
The ingredients are tricky. Glyceryl Caprylate …read more