Category: News

Maid Brigade cares about your health and the environment! 

It is day four of National Cleaning Week and our quick and easy green cleaning tips continue! 

Kick the chemical cleaning habit and learn the art of green cleaning by trying some of our recipes to keep your house smelling fresh, healthy and green clean!

Laundry:

Eliminate the need for chemical fabric softeners by adding 1/4 cup of vinegar to your washing machine's rinse cycle.

To clean laundry, combine 15 ml castile soap, 1 cup of washing soda, 1 cup baking soda and 1 cup of white vinegar.  Fill washer with water and add each ingredient one by one in the order given.  Launder as usual.

Furniture Polish:

In a spray bottle, mix the juice of 1 lemon, a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of water.  Shake and apply to the furniture.  Allow the mixture to sit on the furniture for 5 minutes before buffing it with a dry polishing cloth.

Window Cleaner:

In a spray bottle, mix 1 cup warm water and 1/2 cup white vinegar.  Shake and spray.  Use a dab of rubbing alcohol and a dry cloth for stubborn fingerprints.

All-Purpose Cleaner:

Combine 2 cups warm water, 1 teaspoon borax, 1 teaspoon liquid soap and a few drops of lemon juice.  Dissolve borax in water, then gently add soap and lemon juice.  Pour through a funnel into a refillable spray bottle.

or

In a spray bottle, combine 3 tablespoons white vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon washing soda, 1/2 teaspoon castile soap, 2 cups of hot water.  Shake and spray!

Disinfectant:

Combine 2 cups warm water and 1 tablespoon borax.  Dissolve borax in water and pour mixture through a funnel into a refillable spray bottle.

Linoleum and Laminate Floor Cleaner:

Combine 2 gallons warm water and 1/4 cup lemon juice or white vinegar.  Mix together in a bucket.  Add 1/4 cup liquid soap for added cleaning power, if desired. 

Carpeted Floors:

To green clean carpeted floors, make sure to buy a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter.  Vacuum at least 2-3 times a week.  Avoid chemical rug cleaners.  Instead use a low-moisture or dry cleaning rug shampoo with hydrogen peroxide or biological/enzymatic cleaners.

Tile Floor Cleaner:

Use a gallon of water with a few teaspoons of tea tree oil.  Add a few squirts of liquid soap.  This can also be used on linoleum floors.

Hardwood Floors:

Dampen a towel using a solution of 1/4 cup vinegar to 1 gallon of water.  Wring all the moisture out of the towel until just barely damp.  Towels are the only safe way to damp mop a hardwood floor.  Excess water from self wringing mops works down between the boards eventually warping the boards at the edges.

Microfiber Cloths and Terry Towels:

Hand-sized terry towels are a bacteria-free alternative to sponges.  Use wet or dry and throw into the wash when dirty.  Microfiber cloths are terrific for dusting and polishing, no cleanser required.

Computer Keyboard and TV Remote:

The TV remote and the computer keyboard are probably two of the germiest things in the home.  Wipe the tv remote down with an alcohol wipe at least twice a week to prevent the spread of germs and viruses. 

To clean your keyboard, gently shake out the crumbs or vacuum it.  Wipe the keys and the mouse with an alcohol wipe or a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol dabbed on it.

Celebrate National Cleaning Week with us!  Try our green household cleaning tips and let us know what you think or share your own favorite recipes with us.  Together we can learn to live healthy and green! 

It is day three of National Cleaning Week and Maid Brigade is celebrating by offering useful tips that will help keep your home feeling fresh, healthy and green clean!

Fresh Green Air: 

Most people associate clean with what they smell.  We want everything to smell clean.  Here are some ideas that will keep your home smelling green clean:

Burned Food:

Boil a few slices of lemon in a saucepan to clear the air of the smell of burned food.

Fried Food:

Place a small bowl of white vinegar next to the stove when you fry foods.  The odor seems to disappear.

Refrigerators:

To get rid of strong odors, nothing works better than dry, fresh coffee grounds.  Put them in a bowl and leave them in the fridge until the odor disappears.

Cars:

If you smoke in the car, put a layer of baking soda in the bottom of the ashtray to absorb smoke odor.  You can also put dryer fabric softener sheets under the seats to keep the smoke smell under control.

Home Odors:

Put a few drops of Wintergreen oil on cotton balls and stash them in plants, decorative pieces, etc., around the house.

Make Your Own Air Freshener:

To absorb odors, place bowls of vinegar or baking soda around the house.  Be sure to keep them out of reach of children and pets!

To make the air more fragrant, use essential oils or boiled herbs.  To make boiled herbs, choose any herb or spice that you like, boil it in the water for a few minutes until the heat causes it to release its odor.  Let it cool a little and put it out in a bowl.  You can also add salt to discourage the growth of fungus.

Change Air Filters Regularly:

Replace the air filters in your furnace every three months or so.  A clean filter will catch more of the dust and particles in the air and will also reduce the energy your furnace consumes.

Vacuum the Right Way:

Chemicals and allergens accumulate in household dust.  Using a vacuum that has a strong suction, rotating brushes, and a HEPA filter ensures that dust and dirt won't get blown back out into your home.  For best results, vacuum two or more times each week and wash out your filter regularly.

Keep your air smelling fresh and green clean!  Join us and share your green cleaning stories and tricks and learn from everyone else's! Celebrate National Cleaning Week with Maid Brigade by going green!  

Even products that are non-toxic and biodegradable can create health risks.  One problem with cleaning chemicals is that exposures can be from inhalation and skin absorption, not just consumption.  Another is that our families are exposed to these on a regular basis. Also, our body can’t purge all these chemicals and small exposures can add up to larger ones through accumulation.

Did you know that solvents, which are in many household cleaners (to cut through grease, for example) can cause a broad range of neurological damage, from as mild as headaches to as serious as dementia?  One example is 2-butoxyethanol (also known as 2-butyl).  It is in over 200 household products that families have trusted for years (even supposedly "green" cleaning products).  Yet the EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) has identified 2-butyl as having potential effects on blood, the central nervous system, kidneys and liver.
 
Maid Brigade’s green cleaning solutions are certified by Green Seal to meet stringent health and environmental criteria.  You can trust us to keep you home cleaner and healthier than any other cleaning service.
 

Maid Brigade and Mom Corps have partnered:  Helping busy working moms around the house. 

Mom Corps is an innovative staffing solution, supplying companies top-tier, experienced professionals "on demand" to meet business needs and cycles, while enabling candidates seeking flexibility to pursue their professional careers.  We provide professionals challenging work in their respective fields through virtual, contract, and full or part time flexible jobs that allow them to maintain work/life balance.

Maid Brigade and Mom Corps developed our alliance to foster a better sense of work/life balance for working women who juggle career, family and household management and worry about “doing it all well”.

Take our survey!

Our first venture as partners is a research project.  We want to know how busy women like you feel about balancing housework and career in an age of digital distractions and viral pandemics.

All survey participants will be entered into a sweepstakes to WIN a FREE green house cleaning, valued at $250. Plus, you will receive a FREE copy of our Green Guide to help you learn more about green living for health and the environment.  And, you’ll receive a FREE copy of the survey findings once the research is complete. 

It’s simple! Click the "Take our Survey" link above to tell us how YOU balance career and housework.  We invite you to learn more about our new partner, Mom Corps.

Traditionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not allowed manufacturers of disinfectants and sanitizers to make valid claims of environmental preferability on the package labels. The reason is that disinfectants are, by definition, pesticides since disinfectants kill germs.  Pesticides are effectively poisons.  In fact, there are currently no green cleaning certifications allowable for disinfectants for this reason.

Yet the EPA is considering allowing supliers to make factual claims of environmental preferability and is expected to make recommendations on green claims at the April 22 - 23 meeting of the EPA's Pesticide Policy Dialogue Committee, according to the industry "publication" Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online.  The move signals a turning point in the market for green house cleaning products and services and that's why I'm blogging about this today.  Whether science has evolved to the point where effective, eco-friendly disinfectant formulas are possible, or demand for these types of products has increased, or a combination of both has catalyzed the EPA's leanings are unclear.

EPA is currently defining the parameters of qualification for products to carry eco-friendly claims on their labels in conjunction with the agency's Design for the Environment initiative.

This is all well and good but I have my eyebrow up about the word "valid".  We've seen so much green washing lately (false or exaggerated claims about a product's environmental or health benefits) and I don't expect that disinfectants will be any different.  While I am concerned about the environment to a great degree, I am more concerned with your health and the health of our maids.  If something is truly better for the environment then it is likely a healthier choice than the other products on a grocery shelf and the reverse is also true - if something is healthier for humans and pets, then it's likely a better choice for enviromental stewardship too.  But just saying so doesn't make it so.

Reading package labels for the ingredients in a house cleaning product, such as a disinfectant or a glass cleaner, won't give you enough information to decide for yourself whether a product is safe and whether the claim is valid.  Also, claims aren't necessarily full disclosure.  (See my post on Sept 2, 2008 where I talk about Simple Green.  The stuff is non-toxic and it IS biodegradable but just because it won't kill you doesn't mean it can't do you harm!)

So, do your own homework.  Search online for the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for house cleaning products you use or are considering using. Find out what the ingredients are and then search online to see whether those ingredients are associated with any health risks.  I can't say enough about the Household Products Database - a great tool to help you research the safety of your cleaning products, as well as other household products you may be using on a weekly or daily basis.

As developments unfold with this disinfectants story, we'll keep you posted.

We've also added this video to our Green Clean TV web series.  Here's the link:

www.greencleancertified.com/greentv

Last Friday, The Today Show did a story on the lawsuit we told you about back in February.  This is EXCITING because their story helps bring the mainstream into the loop that the chemical ingredients in house cleaning products should be known before determining that a particular product is safe for humans and pets.

Anyone from the Soap and Detergent Association will tell you that "...Cleaning products are safe when used as directed and....millions of people use cleaning products safely in their homes every single day."  But this attitude is driven by internal (possible biased) research.  Independent scientific studies outside the realm of the Soap and Detergent Association provide empirical data that is contrary to the SDA's view and it's time that the general public becomes aware of this issue.
 
According to the MSNBC web site, Senior Scientist at Consumers Union Urvashi Rangan says "There are about 9,000 chemicals on the market today that have not been fully tested for safety."  It's also true that historically testing has not acknowledged and addressed a potential cumulative effect of exposure to the same chemical over time and/or exposure to a combination of chemicals.

SC Johnson has already responded to the suit, announcing last week that they will list all of the ingredients in their house cleaning products, including all that could potentialy be included in the product's fragrance.  (Fragrances are part of the problem - by law companies don't have to disclose these ingredients because they are considered proprietary trade secrets.) The good  news is that it's happening. The not so good news is that it won't be complete until 2012.

So, for the time being, stick with the Household Products Database as your best means to learn what chemicals are in your house cleaning products.(http://www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/)