Green Cleaning Week Has Arrived!

It's finally here! Green Cleaning Week has arrived, filled with useful, frugal, and SAFE cleaning methods, tips, ideas, product reviews, and--yes--giveaways! The week may extend into next week as I'm waiting to hear back from a few companies that are involved, so keep checking in the upcoming days. :-)

Why Green Cleaning? In a nutshell, there are a lot of toxic chemicals in our household cleaning products. Short term effects of exposure to these can be skin and eye irritation, but many long term and lethal effects are also found. Did you know that asthma and serious reproductive problems have been linked to various cleaning chemicals, as well as obesity, cancer, and other chronic illnesses. Green cleaning, for me anyway, isn't about saving the environment so much as it is about saving my family. I don't need to worry about what my daughter may get into under my sink, nor do I need to worry about keeping her in another room so she doesn't breathe anything in while I'm cleaning the bathroom.

What is "green" cleaning? To me, "green" cleaning means that I'm using my time, money, and God's resources wisely to clean my home without the use of harmful chemicals. Please remember, though, that just because something's "natural" doesn't mean it's completely safe! For instance, who wants vinegar in their eye?

Find out more! http://www.greenlivingtips.com/ and http://www.seventhgeneration.com/ are great resources to find out about the dangers in many commercial cleaning products, as well as some wonderful and safe alternatives.

Get involved! Since 1976, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has required safety testing on only 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals on the market. This is bad news and it's time for a change! Click here to email congress and take part in the legislative movement that would require testing and safety to be a priority for household chemicals. Let me know that you sent an email by commenting below, and gain an extra entry into every Green Cleaning contest!