Category: Uncategorized

When you clean your oven, toilet, bath tile, kitchen floor, or windows, you can smell the toxins.  The product label even tells you to wear gloves, avoid contact with skin and eyes, and do not breathe the fumes.  If the cleaning products are too dangerous to touch, how are they cleaning your home?  What kind of residues are left in your oven, where you prepare food for your family?  What about the kitchen floor where your children are crawling, or the bathtub they are sitting  in?

These everyday products diminish indoor air quality by introducing a variety of harmful chemicals.  Is it possible that the air inside your home is more toxic than the air outside?  If you use bleach, traditional cleaning products, air fresheners, dry cleaning services, or other common household chemicals, it probably is.   

The EPA reports poisonings as the #1 cause of hospital visits by children.  Some hospitals report 79% of all poison control center cases involve children, with 64% occuring in children under age 5. The toxins commonly found under a kitchen sink are often the culprit. We welcome toxic chemicals into our homes in the name of cleanliness, but how clean is a home full of carcinogenic residues?

Green alternatives are the only solution.  As the truth about the chemical and petroleum industries leaks, consumers are faced with harsh realities. People want to protect their families, but it is hard to read between the advertising lines.  Companies put flowers on bottles of poison, and use the word "green" to distract consumers from a petrochemical additive, and leave out ingredient listings all together. The fact is chemical companies don’t have to list the ingredients on household cleaning products.

The green cleaning product revolution is evolving. There are numerous products on the market that aim to protect you, your family, and the environment. But no two eco-friendly products are alike. Look for cleaners that are enzyme-based, plant-based, and fragrance-free. Perfumes and dyes contribute to respiratory problems and multiple chemical sensitivity disorders.  Make sure the products you are using have the Green Seal of approval on the label.  Another alternative is to make your own green cleaning products at home.

The first step to protecting yourself and your family from common household toxins is information. When it comes to protecting your health and the environment, it is best to be choosy.

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services would like to hear from you!  Let us know how you feel about harsh chemicals in your cleaners!  For more information on healthy green living, please go to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com.
 

Having trouble trying to get your shower door tracks clean?  Here is a quick tip to use:

Plug the drain holes in the door track with a little bit of paper towel made into a ball.
Pour in undiluted white vinegar.
Let this soak for 30 minutes.
Unplug the holes and rinse the track with a spray bottle of water and run a rag down it.  This will flush the accumulated build-up out of the track.

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services cares about you and your family.  Share your comments with us!

For more information on healthy green cleaning, please log on to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com.

Vinegar is a mild acid which can kill 82% of mold species.  However, it also has the advantages of being natural and safe.  Vinegar is non-toxic and doesn't give off dangerous fumes like bleach does.

To kill mold with vinegar, use white distilled vinegar.  Vinegar is inexpensive and can be found in your local food store.

Pour some vinegar into a spray bottle without watering it down.

Spray the vinegar onto the moldy surface and let it sit for about 1 hour.

Wipe the area with water and allow the surface to dry.  The smell of vinegar should disappear within a few hours.

If you want to use vinegar to prevent mold growing on surfaces, just spray vinegar on the surface and leave it.  Repeat this every few days to ensure the surface will stay mold-free.  You can even mop your tiled bathroom floor or other non-porous floors with vinegar if you are worried about mold growing on them!

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services cares about you and your family.  Leave a comment and let us know your ideas on how to get rid of mold the "green" way.

For more information on healthy green living, please go to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com.

When it comes to your health, the number one rule of thumb that environmental safety experts recommend, is read the ingredient list carefully on anything you’re going to be spraying in the air or wiping on touchable surfaces in your home.
 
When it comes to cancer-triggering toxins, air fresheners are among the biggest culprits.  Air fresheners contain either Isopar, which is deodorized kerosene, or paradichlorobenzene, both of which are carcinogenic and toxic to the lungs, liver, and kidneys.
 
Among cleansers, oxygen bleach cleansers are particularly dangerous.  Watch out for products containing chlorine bleach and ammonia. Both of these are not good to breathe. Avoid spraying chlorine bleach in the shower or bathroom where the steam makes you more likely to breathe it in.

There are many "green" cleaning products on the market.  Replace your old standbys with green products that are approved by "Green Seal."  Or, for a fraction of the cost, try making your own healthy green cleaning products at home.  Your lungs and cells will thank you!

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services cares about your health and the environment.  For more information on healthy green living, please go to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com.

The warm weather is finally here!  Now is the time to pull out your outdoor patio furniture and give it a good cleaning so it looks fresh and bright for the summer months ahead.

Follow this advice to make the job go faster:

Furniture Cushions:

Clean your outdoor furniture cushions the natural "green" way by mixing your own solution.  In a spray bottle combine one teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and 1 teaspoon of borax per quart of warm water.  Spray cushion on both sides, let it sit for 15 minutes and rinse with a hose.  Leave them out in the sun to dry.

Aluminum:

Although it doesn't rust, aluminum can become dull and pitted when left outdoors.  To clean and restore the shine, scrub the frames with a plastic scrubber soaked in detergent or a soap-filled steel wool pad, then rinse and dry.

Canvas:

Soiled canvas seats and chair backs are usually machine washable, but be sure to put them back on the furniture when they are still damp to maintain their shape.

To clean canvas  that you cannot put in the washing machine, such as large seats, backs or awnings, run a scrub brush across a bar of Fels-Naptha Soap.  Rub on to canvas and rinse well.  This should remove most stains and bird droppings as well.

Plastic:

Wash with a good natural all-purpose green cleaner and water, then rinse and dry.  An alternative for white furniture is combining 3 tablespoons dishwashing detergent with 1 gallon warm water.  Let solution sit on furniture for 15 minutes and then rinse and dry.

Maid Brigade House Cleaning Services wants to know how you keep your patio furniture green clean.  Share your tips and homemade green cleaning solutions with us!

For more information on green living, please go to greencleancertified.com or maidbrigade.com.

Spring has sprung and so have your allergies.  For allergy sufferers, spring can be the worst season to clean the home.  If your allergies are causing sneezing, sniffling, itchy and watery eyes, the last thing you want to expose yourself to are more allergy triggers like particles and pests.

What can you do to reduce these allergies?  A thorough green spring cleaning!  It can actually reduce symptoms, especially if you are allergic to things that thrive in an unclean house, like dust mites, mold and animal dander.

To rid your home of allergens for good, first know what you are allergic to so you are better prepared to tackle cleaning tasks that stir them up. 

To get rid of dust mites that might be lurking in your bed sheets, wash your bed linens in 130 degree water weekly.  The hot water will kill the mites.  Remember to wash the decorative pillows and stuffed animals in hot water every 1-2 weeks.

Try not to dust with cotton cloths because they can spread particles around on surfaces which sends them back into the air.  Use microfiber cloths instead.  They trap dust and remove dust mite allergen that accumulates on hard surfaces.

Buy a vacuum cleaner with a hard-shell container or a bag vacuum with a HEPA filter.  HEPA filters prevent smaller particles from blowing back out.

To remove bathroom mold, use a solution of borax and water.

Spring cleaning a house from top to bottom is a big job.  If you are not up to the task of cleaning because of your allergies, hire someone to do your spring cleaning.  Maid Brigade house cleaning services can clean your house in a couple of hours!

Cleaning products don't have to be harsh or toxic in order to clean your home effectively.  Use natural green cleaning products instead.  Choosing environmentally friendly cleaning products can help decrease lung irritants and the amount of chemicals into the home.  Some of the best natural green cleaning supplies can be found right in your kitchen cabinet.

Vinegar can be used to clean your home in an environmentally friendly way.  Vinegar can be used to clean toilet bowls and showers, and also to remove stubborn stains.

Baking soda is the most popular non-toxic cleaning product.  It is very useful and cleans in a gentle, but effective way.  Baking soda can be used in a variety of ways, from cleaning drains to deodorizing carpets.

Castile soap is a bar of soap that can be made into homemade laundry soap, liquid soap, or bath soap.  Castile soap has cleaning and disinfectant properties.

Using natural green cleaning products is a healthy and inexpensive way to clean! 

A great deal of cleaning goes on in most homes.  We wash, scrub, vacuum, spray, and polish so that our homes stay clean and neat.  Strange as it may seem, some of these cleaners also can cause pollution, both indoors and outdoors.  How green are your cleaning supplies?

1.  Laundry detergent:  Your washer sends a lot of dirty water down the drain.  Besides dirt, what is in that water?  Many detergents contain phosphates, chemicals that help get clothes clean.  When phosphates get into waste water, they speed the growth of algae, which can kill fish and plants that live in the water.

     Besides phosphates, some detergents contain concentrated chemicals, like surfactants (which help with cleaning) and bleach (which removes stains).  Surfactants are made from petroleum, the nonrenewable source from which oil and gasoline are made.  Most bleach contains cancer-causing chlorine.

     Some detergents claim to be "biological", meaning that they contain enzymes to help dissolve stains and make the detergent work in cooler water.  Some detergents claim to be "biodegradable", which means that the detergent breaks down and becomes harmless in the waste system.  But this doesn't always happen. 

2.  All -purpose cleaners may contain ammonia, which can be harmful to your lungs, and chlorine, which can form cancer-causing compounds when released into the environment.

3.  Drain Cleaners contain very strong chemicals such as lye and hydrochloric and sulfuric acids.  These can burn your skin and can cause blindness if they get into your eyes.

4.  Flea and tick control products contain ingredients that have never been adequately tested for safety.  While not intended for use on people, they can rub off your pet onto furniture, exposing you to the risk of cancer and other diseases.  

5.  Floor and furniture polishes contain phenol, which causes cancer in laboratory animals.

6.  Metal polishes contain ammonia, phosphoric, and sulfuric acids, which are not healthy to breathe.

7.  Mothballs contain p-dichlorobenzene, which causes cancer.

8.  Oven cleaners contain lye, a powerful chemical that can burn your skin and lungs or cause blindness if splashed in your eyes.

9.  Toilet cleaners contain chlorine and hydrochloric acid, which can burn your skin and eyes.

   Take a good look at the cleaning products you use to clean your home with.  Note which ingredients they contain that may be harmful.  Why expose your family to all these toxic chemicals?  Help save the planet and keep your family healthy br green cleaning your home.