There, I said it. I have green guilt. I've tried to "go green" with only limited success. After experiment for two years, I have come to certain conclusions.
1) Vinegar and Water does work better on glass and mirrors than Windex. Since it is much cheaper to use, I've completely switched. Plus one on the green side.
2) Vinegar works very well as a fabric softener and no, your clothes won't smell like vinegar. Another positive on the green side.
3) While I like line drying my clothes, no matter what I do, they are more stiff than I like, so I end up tumbling them in the dryer for five minutes. Since I am saving energy, I'll call this a positive on the green side, but barely.
4) Green dishwasher powders/liquids don't work as well in my hard-water area. I finally switched back to my beloved Cascade Complete after much disappointing experimentation with environmentally "responsible" dishwasher powders. Negative mark on the green side.
5) Baking soda, vinegar and water don't help me keep my kitchen sink or my shower clean enough. I've gone back to Comet and the white sink is white! I'm sorry, but it is wonderful to have a white sink and a white shower! Negative mark on the green side.
6) Biokleen works really well for wiping counters and tables and the like. I have no temptation to go back to 409. Positive mark on the green side.
7) I've gone back to Tide with Bleach after using Charlie's Soap for quite some time and MY WHITES ARE WHITE again. Negative mark on the green side.
Added to the negative column, I still use regular face soap, body soap, and shampoos. I still use non-green cosmetics and clothing. All of this would not be a problem, except for I am as susceptible to the green message as anyone else. I feel like I should do more, but at this point I'm doing all I can do and it will have to be good enough.
6 comments:
Well I think you are doing a great job! You are more aware than the average person, and that is another positive mark on the green side. You go girl!
I don't know... it sounds to me that you're breaking even on the tallies - you should be easier on yourself.
Every thing that you do adds up to helping the planet. Its a cumulative effect so you are doing great. Keep doing what you can and when you find something that works for you going green, add it in.
Personally I don't worry about it all that much. The factory that makes Green detergents does just as much to pollute as the one that makes comet. I use what works best in my house, which like you is a mixture of things and don't let the rest bother me. And in a few years, someone will decide vinegar and bleach aren't good for the environment and we will be back where we started. LOL
After two years of angst, that is exactly what I've concluded. There is no definitive answer.
I'm all for being as "green" as possible, but when it comes to cleaning products, I have to feel good about the results (i.e., the whites have to be white, the shower has to sparkle, etc.). So far, in my experience the green cleaning products seem to fall short in effectiveness. I focus my green energies on things like recycling, electric, gas and water conservation, and composting. And for nine years we lived in a solar house, so we had lots of experience with energy conservation!
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