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

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

You have hundreds of choices when it comes to reusable products vs. disposable products. Here are 30 ideas. Even if you just choose 5 or 10, and use them all year, it’ll make a huge difference for the planet.

Snack baggies from Plum Creek Mercantile

Cloth snack bags over plastic baggies.
Cloth shopping bags over paper or plastic.
Cloth handkerchiefs over tissues.
Reusable coffee filters over paper.
Cloth shower curtains over plastic.
Reusable lunch sack over paper.
Real dishes over disposable.

This is one easy to make a homemade air freshener if you happen to have a wood-stove. You can use an oven to make it, but that’s not the best use of energy. Benefits – great scent and no toxic chemicals like commercial air fresheners.This is a nice one for crisps autumn days (which yes, are coming soon).

This is a super easy recipe too:

Core a large Roma Apple – not all the way through the bottom though; leave a layer of skin intact.
Peel a ring of skin away from the apple around the hole at the top of the apple.
Place …read more