Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Keeping it clean - Challenge, Part I (glass)

What a month! Seems that all I have been doing is driving the kids all over town - from camp to swimming to the beach to camp again. I know all of this driving is not good for the environment, so I'm trying each day to park my car and walk in to get my kids so I don't idle for 15 minutes in the ridiculously long pick-up line. (Remember, idle = bad!)


I hope that you have spent some time incorporating green themes into your daily lives. As for me, I've been spending time evaluating "safe" cleaning products for my home. I've been testing out product lines such as Mrs. Meyer's, Ecover, Seventh Generation, Simple Green, 365 and a few others to see if they really get the job done. (I cannot comment as to whether or not they remove all bad bacteria from my tables, bathrooms and counters, but I can tell you if they a) smell good; b) leave smears and streaks and c) clean off debris and stuff from my dishes and clothing.)


My goal was to find cleaning products that are non-toxic, hypo-allergenic, dye-free, fume-free, cruelty-free, solvent-free, basically all the bad stuff FREE (like no VOCs, alcohol, etc.), but that do the job right. Actually, sometimes I like when there is a nice aromatherapeutic, fresh smell, like lavender, so the products I like may not be totally, totally free!


Before I share the results of my first Favorite Glass Cleaner test with you, I have to tell you that I do not have a lab in my house to scientifically test the products. Nor do I have the bankroll to purchase 25 different glass cleaners for the purpose of my experiments. However, I did test 5 products and used the same surface (my small, glass kitchen table) and the same white microfiber bar towels and paper towels.


The first products I tested were glass cleaners (you were thinking laundry detergent or dish soap, no?). Let me tell you why I decided to look at glass cleaners... Many years ago, I bought a cute little ironwrought table with a small round glass top and 3 cute little ironwrought chairs from the PierI warehouse for my first condo's kitchen. I figured that the table would last 5 years (I mean, who buys only 3 chairs for a table?!) and that we would buy a much bigger table when we had kids. Fast forward 14 years. The "little table that could" is still with us, but now we smush in a 4th chair! Even with placemats, my kids and husband leave sticky marks and food all over the glass top, and I need to clean it after every meal. Using Windex was starting to make my head spin, and not in a good way.


So, I started testing glass products and...drumroll please... the hands-down winner of the first ModernEcoMom Cleaning Product Challenge is: Seventh Generation's Free and Clear Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner. Yippee! Whooo whooo! You go, surface cleaner!!


This was no contest. Seventh Generation's Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner is the best. It rarely leaves a streak (if it does, it disappears in seconds), never leaves an odor, has absolutely NONE of the bad stuff mentioned above, and is sort of reasonably priced (about $4.69 or so). Please note that all "green" cleaning products are at least $.99 + higher than other more toxic ones.


My only problem is the packaging (yes, it is recyclable). The shape of the container looks like some of their other products (i.e. the shower cleaner), and I accidentally used the wrong one on my glass table. I noticed it right away, and now take the extra second to read the labels first before attacking my germy table.


You can find Seventh Generation products in many markets like Whole Foods and Henry's. Their web site, http://www.seventhgeneration.com/, has a store locator.


I will blog the results of more cleaning product challenges in the coming weeks. In the meantime, stay "glassy" my friends.



P.S. Check out Seventh Generation's fantastic book - "Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy Non-Toxic Cleaning" It's a great read.

P.P.S. For those Will Ferrell fans out their, my "stay glassy" comment comes right from Anchorman Ron Burgundy's newscast sign-off, "Stay classy, San Diego". Ha!