It’s Not Easy Being Green: Because We’re Not! We are Human Beings. We are Beige, Black, Brown, White, but certainly not Green!!!
I am kind of so over the term “green” that is being used to blanket everything eco-friendly. I mean first it was a color, and I love the color green, then it evolved into fresh, youthful, and vigorous while at the same time carrying the weight of “deficient in training, knowledge, or experience, i.e. green recruits” (Merriam-Webster.com).
Okay, okay…. This combination does seem to describe most young people I come across these days, full of life and energy while lacking in direction and experience. But hey, everybody needs a chance to hone his or her skills. It is also used to cast a sickly pallor on the term envy. And now it is used to described non-polluting and environmentally supportive people, ideas, organizations, etc. That is far to many definitions for one word that is supposed to perform an already daunting task of describing a visual! Giving this many definitions to a word should be illegal. Imagine all those folks who are learning English as a second language…. Wait a minute! You mean green is a color as well as a word that means this, this, and that! Jeesh. I started madly pondering the word green as I was putting together a sort of Green Cleaning 101. However, I think a more appropriate title would be Healthy Household Cleaning 101. Using natural products to clean your home is healthier for you and your entire family, especially young children and pets who spend WAY more time closer to the floor touching things and putting them in their mouths. My three staple cleaning ingredients are baking soda, vinegar, and lemons.
Baking soda is awesome. It scours countertops, tubs, all kinds of sinks, teeth (don’t scour too hard!), and any other surface that needs a good ol’ fashioned scrubbing. It also freshens laundry, helps to remove chemicals and pesticides from fruits and veggies, removes odors (bodily and refrigerator), extinguishes small fires!, and the list goes on….
Check out Green Living Tips for more ideas:
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/154/1/30-baking-soda-tips.html
Vinegar also has a lot of WOW factors. Put it aside its funny smell, and it just may become your new BFF. Not only does it ward off those pesky fruit flies, but it also removes odors from the air, cleans tarnished metals, acts as an antiseptic, preserves cut flowers, stops hiccups and much, much more. Check out the two sites below for a slew of ideas on vinegar uses.
http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/homemaking/vinegar.html#Health
http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/
The natural acids in lemon juice contribute to its antiseptic and antibacterial properties, which make it an ideal cleaning agent. It also can be used as an antiseptic and pore minimizer for the face and hair highlighter (I think my Mother was doing this in the seventies), and the fresh citrus smell of the lemon is a universal crowd pleaser
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Also, if you are cleaning with vinegar as well and can’t stand the smell, lemon will neutralize the odor of vinegar. Read more at the links below:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Everyday_Uses_For_Lemon_Juice
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/136/1/24-handy-lemon-tips.html
It really is quite easy to simplify your cleaning regiment and remove toxic agents from your everyday routine. Buy a reusable spray bottle and create your own natural concoction of vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and a little water to replace your bleach spray. Pour yourself a glass of ice water and squeeze in half a lemon. Then use that lemon to rub down your kitchen counters, sprinkle a little baking soda, scrub, then wipe off. Drink your lemon water. Lemons also help in regulating the digestive system! See? It all comes full circle.
Eat Peace,
Holladay Allen
Native Foods Café Tribe Member