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Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Non-Toxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping
All books in the category Green Housekeeping
by: Annie Berthold-Bond
Topics include:
Good information, but way too much for a beginner: This book is good. BUT...there are way too many recipes with no explanations for the beginning green cleaner. I was a little lost in the vast forest of different ways to clean everything. Also, there are no detailed instructions on just how to mix together the ingredients. As Karen Noonan Logan points out in "Clean House, Clean Planet," there are times (especially when mixing baking soda and vinegar) when you must put the ingredients in a specific order for the cleanser to work. Don't get me wrong, this *is* a very good book! Chemically sensitive people and those who already make their own cleansers will find it a valuable source. But, for the beginner, it would probably be better to get "Clean House, Clean Planet" first because it has detailed instructions, some chemistry lessons and effectiveness ratings. After you become more familiar with how green cleaning works, this book would be an excellent addition for more recipes and ideas.
Reviews:
Life without bleach! Amen. Amen: You need this book, even if-like me-you really don't clean much at all, because you spend all your time with your intense, mess-creating toddler instead. If you're pregnant or have small children at home, this is the book you've been looking for. If you employ a cleaning service, you still need this book. If, like me, you say to yourself-why do I need to make my own cleaning products when I can now buy earth-friendly toilet bowl cleaner at my local discount chain store?-you still need this book.
I love this book. What I like best about the book is Annie Berthold-Bond's aesthetic sensibility; one can tell that (prior to pesticide exposure and her new activist role) she was an artist. She writes lovingly of how using her favorite furniture polish (1/8 cup linseed oil, 1/8 cup vinegar, cup lemon juice) induces daydreams of favorite 19th century novels. Berthold-Bond's excellent little book makes me daydream of novels, too, the type where the fortunate heroine hires some worthy, stout-hearted local matron to keep house and always returns to a freshly-scrubbed kitchen and a pot of boiling hot tea. Uh-huh.
The other day I had one of those days where the toddler didn't nap and I never got a break, but somehow I managed to mix olive oil, vinegar and a drop of essential oil and polish the kitchen table (lovingly-believe it or not-with a great leopard-print rag made from an old dress), all the while talking to the toddler and her puppets. The polish felt good on my hands. That same day I did a load of laundry in castile soap and strong rosemary tea, which smelled divine. Secret indulgences of the at-home mom! The book tempts me into philosophical reveries about the sacramental possibilities in routine tasks-to a point, and then my feminist ire rises, since house-cleaning has always been one of those knotty war-of-the-sexes issues in my marriage, which we've generally solved by not cleaning at all. But if the lion's share of cleaning is mine, that's OK, because my husband's Calvinist upbringing means he'd not easily relinquish toxic petrochemicals. (Oh the irony of an inherently messy and Dionysian man who inoculates grape juice with yeast for a living but fears microbes like sin.)
Another point: I realized after reading this book that I really never knew how to clean a house. Berthold-Bond discusses procedures that have never occurred to me in ten years of marriage, like washing walls and cleaning metals or routine drain maintenance. I've never been the green "type," which I associate with dreadlocks and ugly shoes and a kill-joy lifestyle, but having a child put me in touch with certain life-giving instincts. I bought the book after seeing it in a Montessori catalogue (all those little kids polishing metal-just shy of exploitation-just kidding) and thought I'd give it a try. It's wonderful.
Very informative although difficult at times to follow: I've had this book for quite awhile, actually for a year now and find that it is an excellent reference for green cleaning. Annie provides not only home-made recipes but recommendations for ready-made green products that you can find either online or at your health food store; as well as references to ingredients and resources for additional reading. This was actually the first book that I read about green cleaning and it spurred me on to seek more information and change my house-keeping and cleaning products and habits entirely. For the beginner, though, I would recommend "Clean House, Clean Planet" as it is more instructional as to how to properly mix the ingredients to get the best results.
This small book tends to be overwhelming in its amount of information and sometimes the recipes can be hard to find when you're in a hurry and looking for a particular item. But all in all, like her other book "Better Basics For The Home", it is a gem that would be a wonderful addition to anyone's green clean library.
Grape seed oil is a good source of vitamin E. Both vitamin C and E are used as preservatives because they are anti-oxidants (prevents oxidation or rotting). Check out the labels on the organic or high end "natural" pet foods and you will clearly see them used as preservatives. Sodium chloride (salt) is a preservative (think bacon) and causes water retention and that's why chefs typically use unsalted butter and then add sea salt as needed. So the author of this book was correct.
I purchased this book yesterday and when I began reading it today, the pages fell out as I turned the pages. In addition, it says Vitamin E is a preservative. It is NOT. Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant (keeps oils from rancidity). If you make a product that mostly consists of water with added "food" for bacteria which include tea or herbal infusions, than it either needs to be refrigerated, or preserved with a REAL preservative or you could run the risk of growing bacteria and mold in the very product you are hoping is good for your home. Not to mention getting the contaminated home made product on an open cut or wound and ending up with a bacterial blood infection, or worse. Also Grapefruit seed extract is not a preservative either. It is preserved with a preservative which makes people assume it works.
My third choice of the three I purchased. The author uses borax, zeolite, kitty litter, alum, and washing soda not chemicals of choice to use in standard household cleaners. The only one of these are used in the others is washing soda in laundry soap. It is not an easy read not due to content but font choice and the way the recipes are presented. A Little short on instruction and technique. There are tons of them however 485 aprox recipes or suggestions, she numbers them. All this on only 161 pages!! It is a good book to have but the other two would be a better choice to get started. I rated Clean Home Clean Planet first choice and Naturally Clean Home second above this one.
