Next Step: Black to Green to Clean

As some of you may know, Mavros is derived from the word "black" in Greek. As we continue to move from black to green in our house, we are shifting the focus of our greenification to our household cleaning supplies. Pretty much everything we use, with the exception of our dish soap, counter top spray, and laundry detergent, has some form of carcinogens and/or neurotoxins. Carcinogens are chemicals that cause cancer, and neurotoxins are chemicals that adversely affect the nervous system, reducing emotional well being, mental alertness, coordination and other functions associated with intelligence. When contemplating replacing our many different cleaning agents, I was figuring that this switch would be pretty arduous and costly. We would need all new bathroom, kitchen, glass, and carpet/upholstry cleaner...and the list would most likely go on from there. However, after doing some research I found a few natural and inexpensive solutions: distilled white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. Vinegar can naturally disinfect and clean virtually every inch of your house when either used alone and/or mixed with baking soda and lemon juice. When I first read about vinegar as an all-purpose cleaning agent, I found myself scrunching up my nose at the idea of trading the "fresh and clean" smells of Clorox and Soft Scrub for the very pungent smell of vinegar. Just the idea of vinegar makes my nose close up. Fortunately, I found that you can mix in lemon juice to help balance the smell and that when the vinegar dries it does not leave an odor. So the task for this weekend is to go out and buy some distilled white vinegar and get cleaning! If the idea of using vinegar is a little scary to you, there are plenty of natural cleaning options out there...like Oprah's pick, Shaklee. Shaklee claims that all of their products are "non-toxic, eco-friendly and safe" but there are a few products in their line that have some questionable ingredients. Safemama.com says stick to the ones that are organic like the Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate and the Organic Germ Off Wipes. Other popular and safe companies are Seventh Generation, Dr. Bonner's and Method.

A word of warning: watch out for "green-washing" and stick to products that you know really use safe ingredients. Words like "bio-degradable," "eco-fiendly," and "natural" are actually all meaningless because there is no governing body to police these claims. If you want a full list of ingredients in your cleaning products, visit Household Product Database. To make sure your house is safe, eco-experts will tell you that making your own cleaning products is the safest and greenest way to clean. For some home-made cleaning agent ideas, visit Care 2 Make a Difference's website.

* Did you know:
Since World War II, roughly 75,000 chemicals have been introduced into consumer products, but less than 5 percent of them have been tested for health or environmental side effects. Many of these substances are found inside common cleaners such as countertop disinfectants, bathtub scrubbers and dishwashing liquids. Unfortunately, routine testing of these substances has revealed some un-routine results.

In 1989, the EPA estimated that the fumes produced by common household cleaners were three times more likely to cause cancer than other air pollutants.