{"id":3712,"date":"2013-01-09T12:30:17","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T12:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?p=3712"},"modified":"2015-07-12T23:15:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T22:15:14","slug":"environmentally-friendly-cleaning-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/environmentally-friendly-cleaning-products\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You An Eco Cleaner or Do You Suffer The Guilt?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Are you using environmentally friendly cleaning products or have you ignored them in favour of cheaper alternatives?<\/p>\n
I must admit that when the housekeeping budget got tighter a couple of years ago, along with the named brand ketchup and cereals, most of the Ecover cleaning products were abandoned too. We simply couldn’t afford to pay the extra cents demanded. Or so we thought.<\/p>\n
I’d love to say I immediately dug out the baking soda, lemons and essential oils and made bottles full of\u00a0home-made\u00a0cleaning solutions (as I had when searching out natural\u00a0pesticides for the garden) but like several other good intentions, I never did. I meant to<\/em> google household recipes and where they work best, but never got around to it. It was so much\u00a0easier to<\/em> pick up a bottle in the shop. We did manage to stick with the Eco toilet cleaner as we have a septic tank and are\u00a0extremely\u00a0cautious about what goes into it and I’ve been using watered down distilled vinegar<\/strong> for many years on my glass and windows so those angles were covered\u00a0(one-third distilled vinegar to two-thirds water in a spray bottle<\/strong>\u00a0cleans and shines windows up a\u00a0treat with little elbow work). <\/strong>However, the surface and bathroom cleaners, the washing liquids and powders have all been hit and miss.<\/address>\nNevertheless, I have never been happy with the ‘ditch the safe cleaning solutions’ decision. I was<\/em> saving some money by switching to cheaper cleaning alternatives but in the grand scheme of things, not very much.<\/p>\n Isn’t that the ongoing environmental dilemma for us all too? We want to do our bit, our best to help our ailing planet but when it comes down to it, when the decisions we make affect our time, comfort or wallets do we bail out at the slightest inconvenience or do we dig in our heels and brace ourselves for harder times? Do we make the necessary\u00a0sacrifices that our planet needs, or do we take the easy way out as I felt I had?<\/p>\n Every time I threw cheap surface cleaners laden with chemicals into the shopping basket it was with reluctance. I knew they weren’t great for my family’s health or for the soakaways that our waste water drains into, but my house needed cleaning so I bought them. The guilt this financial choice had left me with was made a lot easier by the fact that\u00a0less and less supermarkets have been stocking alternatives<\/strong> so when I did try to search out Eco washing liquid or dishwashing tablets, they were nigh on impossible to find.<\/p>\n I guess I wasn’t alone when I switched to cheaper products either… its simple economics, if there’s no demand the supply will stop<\/span>. This may not concern us when we make the initial switch, caught up in our own daily dilemmas as we often are, but what happens when we change our minds or decide to switch back and the product or retailer stocking it is no longer there? How many of us consider the long-term impacts of our shopping habits?<\/p>\n An unfortunate and direct result of the budgetary choices we have either been forced or out of choice made, has, as we can all now see, led to many shop closures. On this occasion it ended when the doors closed to an excellent, local, health shop. Aislinn’s not only stocked herbal remedies and wholesome food to suit all dietary habits, they also filled a bottom shelf with every Ecover product an environmentally friendly shopper could dream about. Aislinn’s became my first teaching venue (setting me on the path I’m now travelling), introduced me to some inspirational women and was an enthusiastic supporter of local therapists and suppliers. Many of us were sad to see this once thriving business close down. Why did this happen? Because many people, like me, l<\/strong>ooked at the short-term savings rather than the bigger picture.<\/strong> I’m sure that several genuinely couldn’t afford to shop there any longer, but surely not everyone?<\/p>\n Stop there for a second and think about that. If we’re not careful the same may happen to other favourite local retail outlets as shoppers think they’re picking up bargains elsewhere (if they check the prices they’re often not). Have you been buying all your garden supplies from low-cost supermarkets or do you still support your local garden centre? I guess you’re reading this blog because you have an interest in gardening – imagine your local area with no garden centre to visit on a bright, spring day…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The impact of our retail decisions in our homes and high streets is palpable and has happened over a relatively short period of time.<\/p>\n However, we’re only recently becoming genuinely concerned about the noticeable effects our actions are having on our environment. Extreme weather shouldn’t be a surprise – Friends of the Earth<\/a> and Greenpeace<\/a> were warning us about global warming almost thirty years ago.<\/p>\n So where is this post going you may wonder (as am I…<\/em> )<\/p>\n I recently spotted an advert on Facebook for Lilly’s Eco Clean<\/a>. I first came across Lilly’s at the Irish Green Awards in 2011<\/a>. I liked their green ethos, that Lilly has tried and tested the products, that the company is Irish and was doing their best to survive and succeed in such a difficult economic time. Lilly’s were advertising an excellent pre-Christmas deal for their Detox kit that could be ordered online and delivered directly to my door. Perfect.<\/p>\n The Facebook post also coincided with another by Wholesome Ireland<\/a> where\u00a0Ca\u00edtr\u00edona\u00a0suggested we thoroughly stocktake\u00a0before we go shopping to help us budget and prevent wastage.<\/p>\n