The Importance Of Good Air Quality In Your Home, And How To Improve It

We live in northern Texas, as you may know.  It's part of Tornado Alley.  That's the popular expression for the area of the US that's most prone to tornadoes.  It stretches from Texas to Iowa.  It's frequently windy, it's sometimes scary, and it's always dusty. 

image courtesy of http://www.climateandweather.net

When we first moved into our house, there was a fine sheen of dust on every surface.  We'd clean and it'd be there again the next day.  So we changed the filthy air filters.  Within a week, dust was accumulating again.  After a while, I learned that there are certain times of year when the dust is worst, but that we'd typically have to change our air filters every two months.  Certain filters we'd have to change every month.

This is a drastic difference from my life back east, where air filters were such an afterthought that they'd often only be changed once a year.

Here's a photo of one month of summer dust (left) beside a fresh, clean filter:

What's my eco-point in all of this?  Shockingly, it's actually not the matter of how many filters get tossed into a landfill.  I'll address that in a future post.  It's the issue of respiratory health. 

Part of living green is doing whatever you can to keep your environment favorable for good health.  Keep your environment clean of allergens so you don't have to pop allergy pills, so that allergies don't turn into sinus infections requiring antibiotics.

Here are a few of the ways we optimize the air in our home:

• change air filters as often as necessary (ideally, have washable filters so you don't contribute so much to your landfill)
• vacuum and dust weekly  (don't forget those high-up places where dust piles up; don't forget to get under the furniture)
• if given a choice, hard wood or tile floors are easier to keep clean than carpets and don't trap dirt and allergens
• clean surfaces and hard floors with all natural products - check out my "homemade cleaners" tab for recipes
• wash bed linens weekly in hot water to kill dust mites; clean mattress pads often
• don't wear shoes in the home - park them just inside the the door to avoid tracking in allergens and toxins
• keep pets clean - each time they venture outdoors, they track allergens and toxins back into the home
• don't leave windows open on windy days

Do you have other tips for improving the air quality in your home?

10 Ways to Reuse and Reduce

The Three R's: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

I've written many times before about recycling (you can see my many posts here), but I think not enough attention is paid to the topics of reduce and reuse.  So expect more posts from me on these two topics.

To kick things off, let me give you some ideas on ways you can reuse and reduce:

REUSE

1. If you've got things you don't need or want, you can pass them along to other people who might be able to use them instead.  Do not underestimate others' abilities to reuse things you think are worthless.  You can sell things through eBay, craigslist or yard sales (see my tutorial on yard sales here).  Or you can give them away through Freecycle, Goodwill or any number of other local programs.  Subscribing to your local freecycle email list can also be a great source of entertainment.  It's pretty funny to see what some people list.  For example, one request was recently posted to my local group for a male peacock to join a female peacock someone had living wild in their backyard.
2. Source or buy items used via the vehicles I mentioned above, or via pawn shops, antique shops, second hand stores or flea markets (what an awful name for something so fun).    For instance, my husband mentioned to me the other day that he saw a whole lot of great garden tools at a second hand store near us.  Why buy brand new tools when you can buy gently used ones cheaper?  They're going to get dirty and dinged up by you anyway!

REDUCE

1. Use cloth instead of paper towels.  In my house, we use cheap bar towels I picked up in bulk at Costco.  I have one bunch of them dedicated to cleaning my house.  I have another bunch dedicated to my kitchen.  I also cut up old bath towels and use them for cleaning.
2. Choose cast iron.  Did your Teflon pans get scratched and you need to buy new ones?  Cast iron cookware is healthier, cheaper and far more durable, and it's easier to care for than you imagine.
3. Make your own household cleaners.  The end product is cheaper and reduces the world's production of plastic in the process.  See my recipes and tips here.
4. Cook.  This seems like a simple idea but it's one people forget about.  If you enjoy store bought hummus, lemonade, muffins, pizza, ice cream, steak marinade, you can make your own, often healthier, versions, and save the world some plastic, paper or glass.  You can save time by preparing more than you need and freezing some for another day.  See my recipes here.
5. Make your own makeup and reuse those old containers.  It's really not hard. As an added benefit, you know exactly what you're putting on your skin.  See my recipes here.  Check back, as I plan to write about a few more very soon.
6. Save water in your garden. You can reduce the amount of water you need to effectively hydrate your lawn and flower beds by a) watering at night and b) scheduling your sprinkler heads to run through several five-minute cycles instead of just one long one (helps the water sink in better so you have less running down the street).
7. Compost.  This qualifies as both Reuse and Reduce.  Reuse kitchen and garden scraps and reduce the amount of fertilizer you need to buy for your garden.  See my postings on composting here.
8. Use your freezer and learn how to properly store things in it to save leftovers and reduce spoilage - it also enables you to take advantage of good prices on your favorite organic foods.  See my tutorial here.

Homemade Fruit and Veggie Wash

Tired of buying fruit/veggie wash?  Me too.

Here are two recipes that clean as well as those store-bought washes and cost just pennies.  In both cases, spray them on, let sit 5 minutes, then rinse thoroughly. 

Water and white vinegar in equal parts.  Put in a spray bottle and leave it buy the sink.

OR

One cup of water and two tablespoons baking soda.  You could also add a few squirts of lemon juice.  Put in a spray bottle and leave it by the sink.

An Easy, Effective, Inexpensive and Eco-friendly Way to Wash Dishes

According to recent Consumer Reports tests on the efficacy of automatic dishwasher detergents,

"detergents without phosphates—which help clean but also boost algae growth in freshwater, threatening fish and other plants—tended to perform worst overall."

Of the phosphate-free variety, Method Smarty Dish tablets and Simplicity dish sachets performed best.  Method costs about $0.35/load.  If you have to run your dishes through more than once because the first time just didn't do the trick, well, that would start to add up!

So, you want to be environmentally responsible but you want your dishes to be sparkling clean and don't want to pay a fortune in the process?  Here's what I do:

First, I prepare them properly.  The following is a great list of tips for dazzling dishes, courtesy of Consumer Reports:

"Any detergent is apt to clean better if you scrape off heavy soil before loading dishes. (You'll save energy and water if you don't prerinse.) Then take these steps:

• Load large items at the sides and back so they don't block water and detergent.
  
• Face the dirtier side of dishes toward the center of the machine.
  
• Don't let dishes or utensils nest.
• Rest glasses upside down on prongs so that they don't fill with water. 
• Hand-wash silver and fine glassware. Judging by tests that mimicked long-time machine-washing, some products could be harsh on silver (Cascade with Extra Bleach Action powder, Great Value, Sun & Earth, and Target) or could etch fine glassware (Cascade with Extra Bleach Action powder, Finish Quantum, Method, Seventh Generation, and Simplicity)."

Then, I use a half portion of a phosphate-free automatic dishwasher gel (such as Seventh Generation, which is fairly cheap relative to other eco-friendly brands) and fill the dispenser cup the rest of the way with baking soda.  Baking soda freshens, cleans and acts as a water softener, which helps the detergent do a better job.  I fill the rinsing agent well with white vinegar.  Works like a charm and saves money, too.

A lot of people make their own dishwasher detergent using 1/2 Borax and 1/2 baking soda (put 2 tablespoons of the mixture in the detergent well), but Borax is toxic - dangerous around kids - so I don't use it.  Maybe after my kids are older.

All Natural Solution to Hard Water Spots

I use white vinegar as a cleaning agent for just about everything in my house.  I've written about if a few times - you can read more here on how I use it.

This evening, I saw the "add rinse agent" indicator lit up on my dishwasher, which reminded me of yet another way to eliminate chemicals from your life and save a few dollars in the process.

Once you've finished off the last of your store-bought dishwasher rinse agent, just fill that rinse agent well with white vinegar.

Problem cleanly solved.  Oh, and your dishwasher will smell better, too.

A Great Article on Fake Plastic Fish about Baking Soda

Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish wrote a great article today about the many uses for baking soda.  I've written a few times about it (for example, here) and use baking soda every day.  But in Beth's article, she highlighted a few interesting and surprising uses for it - things I'd never considered before - particularly pertaining to personal care.  It's worth a read!

No More Toxic Cleaners

(originally published 6/29/09, updated 9/25/09)

I finally did it. I rid my home of toxic cleaners. I wish I'd done it a lot sooner.

I was worried about using harsh household cleaners around my small children. I also felt like the products were overkill. The fumes were ridiculous and if I didn't wear gloves, my hands were practically raw afterward!

When I was a child, we used products like Comet, Spic and Span and Joy. Not as harsh as some of today's products, but still not quite green. So I stepped back and looked one generation further. Folks used to clean their homes with much simpler ingredients: baking soda, white vinegar, essential oils. So I decided to use these to make my own household cleaners.

The old fashioned ingredients work well (even in my oven!), leave my house and car clean and fresh, aren't toxic, are easy to make and cost next to nothing.

I bought a bunch of empty spray bottles at Lowes, 3 huge "bulk" jugs of white vinegar, a few "bulk" bottles of hydrogen peroxide and a "bulk" bag of baking soda at Costco, and a small bottle of tea tree oil and a bottle of all-natural liquid dish soap and some lemon essential oil at my grocery store.

Here's what I use now...

1. Glass/window cleaner: 20 oz water, 8 oz white vinegar, 20 drops lemon oil. I have found that newspaper cleans glass really well - better than paper towels or cloth.

2. All-purpose cleaner (not for marble, but I use it on granite, my wood kitchen table and my stainless steel appliances with equally good results): 10 oz water, 10 oz white vinegar, 7 drops tea tree oil, 4 drops lemon oil. Shake it, spray it on, then wipe it off.

3. Tile floor cleaner: half warm water, half white vinegar. I clean with the 50/50 mixture, then wipe with plain warm water.

4. Hard wood floor cleaner: a bucket of warm water with three drops of lemon oil and three drops of uncomplicated liquid dish soap. I clean with the mixture, then wipe with plain warm water.

5. Marble cleaner - most folks recommend only wiping with water, but I like to clean things. So I fill a spray bottle with warm water and add a few drops of uncomplicated liquid dish soap. Shake, then spray it on. Marble stains easily so I work quickly, rinse the solution off with a very wet cloth and towel dry to avoid hard water marks.

6. When I need more muscle, I have a spray bottle filled simply with white vinegar. I spray it on and let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe. It will clean the inside of the microwave, oven and refrigerator without a ton of scrubbing. In the shower or commode, I spray vinegar or hydrogen peroxide, then apply baking soda if I need to scrub. Let it sit a few minutes, then rub a bit and rinse with water.

7. Hydrogen peroxide is also good when you need deeper cleaning in the kitchen or bathroom - I keep this in a handy spray bottle, too. To properly disinfect, you need to let it sit for a few minutes while it fizzes, then wipe it off.

8. Wood polish: 1 cup of olive oil plus 1/2 cup of lemon juice - I make it fresh each time -rub it in with one cloth, then buff it off with a fresh one.

As a result of this, I no longer use a ton of disposable disinfectant wipes and disposable floor wipes, so I went to Costco and spent a few bucks on a dozen white bar towels, picked up a mop with machine-washable terry cloth covers at my grocery store, and a two-compartment rolling mop bucket at Lowes. Now I not only save money on my cleaning supplies and feel better about the chemical situation in my home, but I also no longer generate as much waste because it is all machine washable.

Win win win!

Time will tell how well these mixtures work for me, but so far so good. I’ll keep you posted.

Update 9/25/09:
Tired of lugging around buckets of clean and vinegar water, I bought a Shark Steam Pocket Mop.  It cleans and kills germs using only hot steam.  I sweep or vacuum first to remove debris, then use the steam mop to remove stuck-on dirt and spots and disinfect.  I bought a few extra pockets and just toss them in the washing machine when I'm done.  I use it on my tile and hardwood floors.  LOVE it.