Clean House, Clean Planet: Clean Your House for Pennies a Day, the Safe, Nontoxic Way.
Karen Logan started her search for environmentally safe cleaning products during a 3 month break from her day job in the computer graphics field. She started by researching what she wanted to do with her time. As an environmentalist her research and extra time lead her to change her lifestyle to reflect her pro-earth choices. She started looking at cleaning her house with nontoxic products. The cleaners she found in the health food stores were very expensive and she didn’t know how effectively they would clean her home. She also found hundreds of homemade recipes for cleaning products. Because the recipes seemed easy and inexpensive she decided to try a few to see if any of them would work as well as the commercial cleaning products she was used to purchasing and now trying to avoid due to her belief that they were harmful to the environment and her body. She had such success with the recipes she tried, that in her home state of southern California, she launched Life on the Planet, a company dedicated to providing eco-friendly cleaning products in refillable containers with the recipes right on the bottle. I did look for the company on the internet and after a cursory search, couldn’t find it so I am unsure if it is still in operation.
Karen Logan’s writing style is easy and fun to read. Her table of contents is well laid out; finding a particular recipe can take a bit of work, however. The recipes are all made using ingredients you would normally keep in your home, possibly with the exception of essential oils, borax, and the spray bottles and containers needed to utilize the cleaners effectively. She uses chemistry to tell you how and why you need to mix the ingredients (so as not to neutralize the ingredients or have them clump up or clog up the nozzle) and what type of container makes it easy to use the products. She rates the effectiveness of each of her recipes from 40% to 100% in relation to a commercial product. This lets you decide if you would prefer to use a commercial cleaner for a particularly challenging cleaning task. Karen Logan also gives price comparisons per usage and the equivalent prices of commercial products. She includes the total dollar amount you would save each time you use the homemade cleaner.
Her recipes seem easy to follow and even easier to make. I have been using baking soda, vinegar and essential oils for years to clean my home with. It is nice to have a handy reference of items that can be used for specific tasks such as what to use to safely clean leather upholstery or various ways to unplug a stopped up drain for example. Karen Logan takes all of the guess work out of cleaning your home and lets you know how much it would cost you and how much you will save as well. You will be left with only a sparkling, odour-free home with minimal hazards and much less to dispose of in the landfills. Your sinuses, home, pets and family will thank you.