HAPPY EARTH MONDAY INHABITAT READERS!
To kick off our exciting Earth Week Giveaway, today we’ve gathered up a basket full of Method cleaning products and an amazing Casabella Eclipse Cleaning System (worth $100) for one lucky reader to take home! These Cradle to Cradle products are sure to keep your home sparkling clean while protecting the Earth and your family from harmful byproducts and toxins. Each Eclipse system has been made from recycled soda bottles and recycled aluminum, and each Method product boasts safe and effective ingredients for cleaning your home. The winner of this fantabulous prize will also receive a copy the pivotal eco design handbook Cradle to Cradle, written by Inhabitat favorites William McDonough and Michael Braungart. This contest is open to all Inhabitat readers – so enter now for your chance to win!
TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY:
1. SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE > (If you are not already a subscriber). We’ll be announcing all the winners of our Earth Week Giveaway in our weekly newsletter, so if you want to find if you won, you’ll need to receive it in order to claim your prize!
2. LIKE US ON FACEBOOK Just click on the blue ‘FACEBOOK LIKE’ button on the top right hand corner of this page, or visit our page and click on the “Like” button at the top.
3. LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW and tell us your top green tip when it comes to household cleaning. The deadline for this fabulous giveaway is Monday, April 24th. We’ll pick the comment we like best and announce the winner in our newsletter, so make sure you’re signed up!
Teaming up with MBDC, we’ve gathered a bundle of Method Products perfect for cleaning the corners of your countertop, to the more treacherous parts of your toilet bowl. Method Products are a collection of non-toxic, biodegradable natural cleaning supplies with a focus on minimalist product design. The company has rapidly gained recognition for its commitment to sustainability, including taking innovative steps to measure and reduce its carbon footprint and boasting a wide range of Cradle to Cradle Certified products.
The Eclipse system from Casabella is a Cradle to Cradle Certified cleaning system made from recycled materials. The plastic of the interchangeable attachments is made from recycled soda bottles, and the pole from 30% recycled aluminum. All of the attachments can be used with the pole, so there’s less to store, and the microfiber heads require no chemicals to be effective – just add a little water to remove stubborn grime!
Developed by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle design recognizes the complex, abundant processes of nature’s ecosystems, or ‘biological metabolism,‘ but also articulates a parallel ‘technical metabolism’ for human industry. Both metabolisms can be characterized by eco-effective, continuous flows of materials, energy and water, and whole-community mutualism. The Cradle to Cradle design framework moves beyond the goal of only reducing an organization’s negative impacts (eco-efficiency), to provide an engaging vision for executives and comprehensive strategies for managers to create a wholly positive footprint on the planet – environmental, social and economic (eco-effectiveness). The Cradle to Cradle philosophy can apply to anything from houses to companies and to consumer products as well.
Only use natural products to clean, ie: Method products, lemon, vinegar, salt, baking soda and essential oils. Use old clothing instead of paper towels and eliminate usage of aerosol cans and room fresheners that have harmful chemicals and toxins
To get pet hair off couches, chairs and other tough-to-vacuum areas, put on a clean gardening glove (the kind with the plastic or rubber nubs) and rub your gloved hand over the surface. Slightly dampen the glove with water before rubbing if you’re trying to remove pet hair from a particularly stubborn fabric. If you don’t have a clean gardening glove, latex gloves and rubber dishwashing gloves also work.
We have an eight-month-old, so we have an extra need to clean and an extra reason to keep it green. For a lot of cleaning needs, we are learning that eco-friendly baby wipes work wonders!
Strangely enough, waving around a rag soaked in a water / vinegar solution freshens up the air, or using the same solution to give things a scrub makes them nice and shiny. My top cleaning tip for anything? Vinegar.
method makes me feel good and my home look and smell good.
instead of your basic shampoo filled with lots of chemicals, try mixing water and baking soda into a paste and use that for your scalp, leave in 1-2 minutes, rinse out. Next mix 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar with 1 up water. Both of these can be put in squirt bottles or containers and kept in the shower. This is a very economical, socially and environmentally sustainable way to shampoo your hair and is also very good for your hair!
p.s-I am in college for sustatinable interior design and just trying to make a difference. The products would be greatly, greatly appreciated!!!!!
i use
lemonjuice and water for Glass and Mirrors (4 tablespoons lemon juice mixed with a half gallon of water)and my own air freshner- use a spray bottle Fill with water and add a few drops of an essential oil – lavender, tee tree, vanilla – and spray away
I use old rags and t-shirts to clean with instead of paper products. It saves a ton of money and reduces waste!
I’m a fan of essential oils in house-hold cleaning . I use Junyperus, Thyme and Pine essential oils added to the cleansing water for cleaning the wood parket. Some olive oil and Lavender essential oil will do even better and gonna feed the wood material. Do you know that the Thyme oil has 5 times stronger anti-bacterial properties
:):)
than the hydrogen peroxide and potassium permanganate?! Thyme oil in correct propotions kills 99% the bacteria on the floor and in the air (because essential oils exhale in the air) for a hour.
The same compositions can be used for cleansing from dust. I add some vinegar or lemon juice as well.
Baking soda ofcourse is some kind of secret gold that the world is just now discovering. I use it instade of toothpaste, also for cleaning the bathroom and the sink; for cleaning hard dried staff; I use it for cleaning my skin – it makes the skin velvet and soft. Soda also is known for one of the best anti-radiation thing on this planet at all. Lemon juice is good for window cleaning also.
Other material that I love to use is green clay. It can cleans dirt from clothes; it can clean the skin and the body inside, taken oral with water- also very good for cleaning from toxins and radiation.
There is one more thing that I would like to notice here- the plant called Sapunche ( in Bulgaria)- (Saponaria officinalis L.) on English it will sound like “Soapwort”. This plant contains soapy ingredients that make good foam and it can cleans and act like a natural emulsifer
and like a natural binder. I use it to clean my hair, I add it in the water for cleaning surfaces and more. The Indian soapy nuts from acacia tree also appear in my house-hold cleansing products.
I try to clean whatever I can with water (usually hot water) before using any cleaning products. After whatever I’m cleaning has been cleaned a few times with water, then – depending on what it is and if it actually needs soap/cleaner/etc – I try to use very small amounts of any cleaning product. Just enough to get the job done! It’s amazing how much you can do with water, and sometimes less can be more
Best green tip? Vodka! Use it as stain remover, deodorizer, insect repellant! and glass cleaner. Fun to learn to make on your own, or just make your own infusions – but that’s for after cleaning
We have made/sewn our own reusable sandwich/snack bags and cloth swiffer-fitted dusters. Both the bags and the dusters can be thrown in the laundry for reuse.
i get your newsletter and am a follower on FB
i like to buy the concentrate cleaning products and add my own water. Lesspackaging
baking soda! vinegar! salt! cloth! elbow grease!
E = Eco-friendly products only
A = Air dry (hair, clothes, dishes-no heated dry)
R = Recycle, Re-use, Reduce
T = Take time to thoroughly clean – saves time & money overall
H = Healthy Happy Home is the result!
Water & vinegar is my favorite household cleaner. Sometimes it doesn’t smell all that pleasant to me. I bring a cup of water to a boil then simmer and raid my spice rack. I love adding cinnamon and allspice, my home smells like comfort food! Its amazing all the different scents you can create from your spices and its so economical. Stopped using chemical laden air fresheners long ago.
We recycle old / unfinished food into a container and we let it turn into an enzyme – this enzyme functions as a cleaning agent that helps us effectively clean our entire home! Think squeeky clean floors, windows, table tops, dishes and so much more! The best part is – we’re no longer worried when our pets lick the floor – no more chemical poisoning! This is a great for babies and children as well
Love Inhabitat!
I use old t-shirts as dustrags and stick to white vinegar whenever possible.
Count me among those who are enamored with hot water, vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda. Recycled cloths from towels and T-shirts for cleaning, and cloth napkins instead of paper for meals. I also try to recycle most cardboard by using it as a composting layer in our gardens.
Dry your laundry on a line or inside on a drying rack.
True story: I heard that the Fresh Air scent of Method laundry detergent was being discontinued. I bought every single bottle I could find in my area because I love it so much, several dozen of them. I knew I couldn’t have the fabulous scent forever, but at least I could have it for another several years. Then Method came out with a Fresh Air laundry detergent in the pump bottle. Sigh.
So I’m good on laundry detergent, but I still need the other cleaners and implements!
Method Products are so nice. I love the fact that I can clean my house and not have to have the windows open to let out all of the toxic fumes other cleaners use. Also they have really great smells for the bathroom cleaners minty and clean kind of like toothpaste for your tub and toilet.
I believe Cradle to Cradle should be required reading for all High School students so they’ll be more environmentally mindful as they enter into adulthood. Thanks also to Method and Casabella for helping us to “clean up” and go green for Earth Day. You’re all AWESOME!
p.s. we also get the Inhabitat newsletter, and ‘like’ you on Facebook!
We are huge fans of Method in our household. We also use old fashioned hot water and elbow grease, along with vinegar. Lemons (from our tree!) down the garbage disposal help to clean that. We use old tee-shirts, socks and towels for cleaning rags.
Microfiber cloths! They can clean with just water, are easier to wash then a sponge. They are great for gadgets, too.
I’ve switched to Method laundry detergent because it is environmental responsible in a few ways:
1) ingredients
2) reduced packaging (which I recycle)
3) reduced weight of product (less cost to transport to stores and easier to transport to my home)
4) one bottle last me several months
Use vinegar instead of common household cleaners such as Windex.
Sounds like a great contest. I like Inhabitat for its tips and ideas!
I’ve rid my home of stuff like pinesol and clorox–all of which smell way too toxic to be good for us. Definitely use vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda instead! Also if you want to scare ants and other insects away, orange peels, and cloves seem to do to the trick!
My green house-cleaning tip is Vinegar + Baking Soda = Awesome drain unclogging action!
Whenever I have a few orange/lime/lemon peels I stuff them down in the garbage disposal and give them a spin. That little jolt of citrus scent energizes me to keep cleaning the kitchen!
i use baking soda to clean my oven top.
Forget about those disposable dust cloths! Buy a re-usable dust mop; toss it in the laundry after using for the next cleaning spree.
We recycle all paper, glass, plastic, cans … used in our household. Old t-shirts, old towels work great for cleaning bathrooms, polishing furniture, etc.
Clean less.
White vinegar works on baked on grease in the oven too. Let it soak (saturate a used papertowel with the vinegar) over the area.
Wait a while, then carefully scrape off with a razor scraper.
Use less. Less soap. Less detergent. Fewer bottles of cleaner (choose cleaning products that are versatile)!
I have liked you on facebook vanessa diaz
I’m subscribed to your newsletter! vanessamdiaz email
My best green cleaning tip… Open the windows. Chemicals (whether unseen or unknown) can ruin the air quality of our homes. Open up your windows and enjoy some fresh air. Your house and your lungs will thank you.
While, I like to make my own cleaning products, sometimes Mom just needs a break. I try to clean a little bit everyday, but I also enlist the help of my two small children with songs and games. My husband doesn’t get the song and dance; he does work very long hours nearly everyday so convincing him to make the bed has been a victory. I’ve learned to let go of having a perfectly clean home all the time; I can’t pay anyone to do it for me.
we reuse old t-shirts and pairless socks for cleaning and use non-toxic and biodegradable cleaners for our home. Method is one of the brands we stock
I cook with lemons alot…when I’m finished with the lemon I rub it on my countertops and stove for a clean fresh smell and for its antimicrobial properties.
I wait to do laundry until after 9 pm when electricity and water is less expensive. Living in the desert water is at a premium so I never was in hot water or less than a full load. I have just stated using Method laundry soap and LOVE it, just for pumps and amazingly clean clothes.
I love to use plain alcohol to clean mirrors and glass. No streaks…ever.
Cutting fabric softener sheets into thirds or halves works just as well as the whole sheet and makes a box last forever!
I’ve switched to using vinegar and white to clean my wood floors and would love to receive the Method product giveaway so I can try them and toss my other cleaners!
Love vinegar & baking soda – they do so much together!
two words: white vinegar! the cleaning possibilities are endless! I also love to use fresh lemon juice for many cleaning purposes.
Replace disposable products like paper towels with reusable rags and sponges.
Hot steamy water goes a long way, it’s great to get a lot of yuckies clean especially in the kitchen.
Washable mop pads are a lifesaver for me. So green and so easy!
Simple reusable tools are the best for cleaning. Old towels cut into dusting cloths or everyday rags, a dust mop and/or broom, a squeegie, a dustpan..…. All these items do a wonderful job at cleaning, have no waste (like disposable products do) and can last for years!
Vinegar removes everything, especially rust. Soak your rusted whatever one day in vinegar, and the rust is easy to remove. I guarantee the biodegradability of that one
Since we dont have method here in Germany, I would like to try some
I think my favourite tip would have to be vinegar and baking soda. Either separate or combined they’ll do everything from cleaning the toilet to whitening your laundry.
microfiber, gets ride of all those wasteful paper towels people use
We got a bagless vacuum cleaner so no more vacuum cleaner bags in the trash!
Use as little water as possible while cleaning. Not everyone has pure drinking water to clean with – let’s make ours go a long way. For example, in kitchen: Scrape all food off first, then scrub dish with soap/sponge. Sit aside. When done scrubbing all dishes, then rinse them in one sinkful of water & let dry. Now you have a sinkful of soapy water left! Use a mop or sponge with that water to clean the counters or kitchen floor. Good, kitchen is done, and with one sinkful of water!
Don’t like a bath wash that was a gift, or some shampoo you bought? Don’t throw it out! Use it as a common cleaner to scrub the toilet. Soap is soap!
Method products clean beautifully (as good or better than chemical ones!), but what I really love about them is how accessible and affordable they are. I taught a environmental studies class at an area university for a couple years and during the unit on sustainability in the marketplace I kept coming back to method products as a great example of innovation with sacrifice (quality and price). It was inspiring to my students to regard how easy it can be to live ‘greener’…
I recycle old towels and rags to make my bath squeaky clean!!! <3 method products
When my son was a baby, I subscribed to a cloth diaper service. I purchased a number of the diapers and still use them as cleaning cloths sixteen years later!
-Save old t-shirts and socks for dusting and wiping up nasty spills.
-Hot water and white vinegar in a pinch.
-Always have method on hand!
We live in NH and as soon as the weather goes above freezing during the day we hang our cloths out on the line to dry. We also only run the washing machine and dishwasher when they are full.
I use old shirts to clean instead of paper towels.I also love using the Method products because they are not harsh like other cleaning products and they smell great.
Using cloth diapers and making my own household cleaners.
Do not use dryers – air is a perfect dryer for clothes and hair.
I live in a house where I share kitchen and shower/bathroom with other people. After not wanting to have everything spotless at all times, I find it helpful to clean the cleaning utensils after use: it helps to re-use instead of trashing them because they are so filthy.
And vinegar of course: instead of fabric softener it also helps your washing machine to live longer because it helps against scale.
Among many other uses
I love green cleaning products!
use more water, less chemicals, and disinfect sponges by dropping them in the dishwasheer
I am LOVING the Method products!!!
My favorite household green tip is to not dwell on changing my entire life to be low carbon, ecological, etc, but focusing on continually changing more aspects of my life. Using method hand soap, glass tupperware with bpa free lids, a clean kanteen for my morning coffee, only large loads of laundry with an eco-friendly detergent, remembering to turn my power bar off before bed (because the red light bothers me;) ), pretty soon it all adds up to alot.
I use a steam cleaner for my floors, so no chemicals for my puppies to get on there paws. I use method on my counter tops and bathroom I used baking soda for a while but then you have a baking soda mess to clean up when you are done cleaning. Method makes is convenient for me to clean. I make my own window cleaner with Lemon essential oil and vinegar, the puppies lick windows too. One trick I learned is when you have something burnt to a pan that you cant scrub off put some baking soda in the pan and use half a lemon as the scrubber and your pots will not only come clean they will shine like they are new.
A little elbow grease goes a long way!
Vinegar and water to clean windows . . . clean with newspaper. Compost used newspapers when done.
I like to use natural ingredients when possible.. One of the most useful to always have handy is white vinegar and baking soda.. These two ingredients can clean so many items.
The best and easiest cleaner that I have found is plain, old hot water from my steamer. It cleans grease and just about everything else and it sanitizes
Instead of using chlorine bleach (which is toxic to water and bad for the respiratory system), I use hydrogen peroxide for disinfecting. It also works great as a whitener for my clothes. I soak my whites in hydrogen peroxide and leave it out in the sun. Everything gets bright white instead of the yellowish color that bleach can cause. For stains I scrub with baking soda first. I was surprised how well it works and it is completely biodegradable!
I use Method cleaning products, run my dishwasher only when it’s completely full & in the middle of the night, and use cold water when washing clothes.
Method is the best method we use to keep ourselves and our home clean. From the Method shower gels, spearmint toilet bowel cleaners, all floor cleaner, and the tantalizing smell of the all purpose grapefruit cleaning spray, our household and family are spotless and free of unhealthy and un-green harsh chemicals. Use old bath towels instead of paper towels for all surfaces. Old towels can be attached to the cleaning mop handle and used on the floors too. Saves money and paper!
When I’m cleaning out my house, I recycle everything, not just the usual suspects (bottles/cans/glass/paper/etc). I have an apartment, so I can’t compost, but I collect biodegradable items in a plastic container for a coworker who can. I donate clothes to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. I take old denim that’s too- shredded-to-donate to a company that will turn it into insulation for homes (which also makes them more energy efficient!). I give old leather items (e.g. broken handbags) to a friend who uses the leather for crafts. I collect batteries, old CFLs, etc. and take them for special toxic waste recycling. My coworkers and I also pool old/dead electronics and arrange for them to be E-cycled. I even save the (real) corks from old wine bottles and recycle those. And I’m always on the hunt for more ways to recycle even more kinds of items. My goal is to keep my place looking great – while reducing waste!
using leftover tea to wash wood
Absolutely love Method Products. It was smart to make the things we use everyday eco friendly
I use Method products for all of my cleaning and NO PAPER TOWELS!!! Only reusable cloth rags or old newspaper for window cleaning.
Holey socks, threadbare tees, old panties that have lost their elastic, or any other piece of clothing worn beyond wearing anymore gets a second life chopped up into rags for cleaning, dusting, polishing, etc…
White vinegar and a touch of whatever essential oil will perk up my spirits/boost the cleaning power–cleans everything except the cat!
they say drinking green tea is good for you, so i try and make a pot everyday. when i do, i always seem to have more water in the kettle than fits in the teapot. the first time i spilled boiling hot water all over the counter i yelled (“eeek!”) but when i used a rag to wipe it up my counter became surprisingly clean. now i pour that extra water on my counter tops on purpose – you’d be surprised what comes off with just some hot water and a quick scrub. if my counters are clean, i pour it over the dishes drying in the dish rack to sanitize them, or wash a sponge, or get a sticky spot on the floor. now, i turn a spot-o-tea into some quick spot-cleaning… “squeeeky” cleaning. lol. okay i’m done.
Vodka (not the Belvedere darling). An inexpensive bottle of vodka has so many uses. It sanitizes counters, cleans windows, and mixes nicely with some Crystal Light for a refreshing drink while you are cleaning.
Seriously though we use it in our kitchen counter top spray with some oxyclean and essential oils; or in our carpet cleaner with some Nature’s Fresh enzymes to clean up food or other bio spills; we also use it with some hydrogen peroxide for a killer cutting board cleaner. Vodka…..who knew?
I love using vinegar as a fabric softener in the washing machine. It strips out all the residue from petrochemical-derived detergents and softeners and the laundry smells fresh.
White vinegar is your friend. Especially if you have pets. Mixed 50:50 with water it is an excellent neutralizer and will even handle your rugs if they get peed on. Have a new puppy or kitten or have a friend with one? This makes the best present you can give.
During the summer, dry your clothes on a clothes line, and if you must use your dryer, use it in the evening.Dryers heat the house, and using it at night keeps the chances of the AC from kicking on. Use microfiber cloths when dusting. Using a newspaper on the windows keeps streaking down, and reuses the paper.
I’ve been using Method products for some time now and I love them all. Keep a clean cloth tucked away in each room of your home so you can quickly wipe up spills or dust a surface when ever you see the need.
I was DEVASTATED when method disconitnued their omop and looked EVERYWHERE for a similar mop alternative that would be eco-friendly-thrilled to hear about casabella and excited at the thought of using them with all my fave method cleaners!
I use a steam floor mop and Method products on everything else. People and pets in our house are much happier and healthier since I turned GREEN!
That old t-shirt or pyjama will do great as a cleaning rag. Keep in mind: reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink every aspect of your life.
To “green” clean, I just cut down on the amount of cleaning I do!
No, I love using method products when I clean.
A load of laundry a day keeps the crazy away…. If I let a day go by without doing a load then I have to spend more time another day doing laundry, and it drives me crazy….so everyday I do at least one load.
When it’s necessary to use a cleaning product, Method is my first choice: from toilet bowl cleaner to high-efficiency laundry detergent. But when the job can be done with water and high temperatures — that’s what I prefer! My high-efficiency washer kills 99.9% of bacteria in the toughest laundry without bleach, by using a special “Sanitize” cycle that heats the water to higher temperatures. And after vacuuming the kitchen, I use plain water in my steam mop (with microfiber reusable pads) to sanitize and clean the floor with no detergents and no scrubbing! Yay!!
Everything Vinegar! That’s my tip!
Defintely a fan of Method products. Use old t shirts and towels to clean. No need for paper towels. Sponges come out like new after a wash.
I have actually tried making my own cleaning products for everyday use. That was until I found Method products. I was helping a friend clean her house (she is sick a lot and likes good products) and I loved the smell that your products have. I went home that day and bought my first Method product. I intend on using these products from now on.
clean a little bit everyday. don’t save all of your cleaning for one day.