This is wonderful!
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical and thought it probably wouldn't do a great job - wow, was I wrong! This required hardly any effort and got the bottom of my oven really clean (see below for my idea on cleaning the sides). It's absolutely non-toxic and non-smelly and requires little to no elbow grease!
Ingredients:
1 cup baking soda
Water
Liquid detergent or liquid castille soap (I love Dr. Bronner's)
Method:
Sprinkle or spray water generously over the bottom of the oven. Cover the grime with baking soda. Spray more water on top of the baking soda.
Let this sit overnight. Wipe up the baking soda with a rag or wash cloth - the grime/yuckies will come with it.
Squirt a little soap/detergent on a damp sponge to wipe up any remaining baking soda.
Since you can't exactly let baking soda sit overnight on the sides on an oven, I'd suggest making a paste of baking soda and water and wiping that on the sides. This should get the grime off with a little rubbing. You might also try adding some castille soap to the baking soda/water mixture to help out a bit.
Reference:
I found this "recipe" on the Care2 website.
Showing posts with label Clean living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clean living. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Reusable Bags!
**I had some comments asking for links for the bags... here they are :)
Envirosax - reusable grocery bags.
DaisyDots - Etsy store with reusable nylon produce bags.
Reusablebags.com - They sell reusable organic cotton produce bags (and larger grocery bags).
This is sort of a two-part post :) First, a vent about supermarket checkers and then a great new find!
Vent:
I've had my reusable grocery bags for quite a while - just added some really cute Envirosax to the collection (they have the Retro Kitchen designs - fun!)
Anyway, I was at the store today just picking up a few things I'd forgotten earlier in the week and placed two Envirosax bags on top of my groceries. These things are bright blue and yellow - hard to miss! Well, the checker starts bagging my stuff in plastic! I told her "Oh, I brought my own bags but I can re-bag the stuff for you." She replied "Oh really, I didn't see them!" and then added some silly little giggle. Ugh.. how the hell could you not see them? Are you blind? I spared her the snark and went on to re-bag my stuff. I did comment on how she could then re-use the plastic bags I was giving back... heh, had to slip some passive-agressiveness in there somehow ;)
To make matters worse, I'd gotten a small package of tortillas for my enchiladas for Saturday... she had put the 1 small, thin package of tortillas in its own personal plastic bag! Aye...! Do people really not get it that plastics are clogging up the planet faster than we can say plastic? So sad...
BTW, for my not-so-green-obsessed readers (do I have any of those?!), even my conservative DH shook his head at this (or was that at me venting about this?!) He applauds my break-up with plastics :) It's not just for us hippie liberals! :) I do think he believes I go a bit overboard in other areas of my greeniness but whatever... he knew what I was like before he married me. ;)
Great new find:
This is related to the reusable bags.
I have recently been feeling a bit hypocritical for using all these great reusable bags for groceries and other shopping but then putting produce in plastic! LOL :) Seems a bit silly when you think about it, doesn't it?
I have long been one of those who does not bag things with their own natural packaging (oranges, bananas, potatoes, onions, garlic, etc) but wanted a solution for the things like green onions that don't have a protective shell (especially since I have not been able to come up with a way to reuse those cheesy little produce bags and my area will not take them for recycling... grrr!)
Well, after asking on the What's Cooking? board and the new Eco-Friendly Family Board (yes, I'm child-free but my DH and I count as a family and I was raised in cloth diapers so I *get* all the cloth diaper talk! lol), I found some Etsy sites for people who make and sell these great produce bags!
I ordered some nylon reusable produce bags on Wednesday and had them in my mailbox yesterday! Woot! :) I found out the girl I ordered from is actually fairly local (less than 100 miles from me) so that makes it even more exciting. Can't wait to try them out.
I was also referred to a site which sells organic cotton mesh bags for produce so I'll be getting some of those, too (because really, isn't a nylon bag just a plastic bag? :) I have issues with my Envirosax for the same reasons - they're polyester - but at least these *plastic* bags will last me a long time!)
Yeay!
I'm sure I'll get some funny looks for these mesh produce bags (you should see the scowls I get from checkers when I place my loose oranges/whatever on the conveyor!) but oh well.. good thing I do most of my shopping at a local market (well, it's a chain but not a big-box chain) - they give discounts for bringing in your own bags :)
Now I just have to find an eco-friendly solution for lining the trash cans in the bathrooms (I used to use plastic grocery bags!) :)
Envirosax - reusable grocery bags.
DaisyDots - Etsy store with reusable nylon produce bags.
Reusablebags.com - They sell reusable organic cotton produce bags (and larger grocery bags).
This is sort of a two-part post :) First, a vent about supermarket checkers and then a great new find!
Vent:
I've had my reusable grocery bags for quite a while - just added some really cute Envirosax to the collection (they have the Retro Kitchen designs - fun!)
Anyway, I was at the store today just picking up a few things I'd forgotten earlier in the week and placed two Envirosax bags on top of my groceries. These things are bright blue and yellow - hard to miss! Well, the checker starts bagging my stuff in plastic! I told her "Oh, I brought my own bags but I can re-bag the stuff for you." She replied "Oh really, I didn't see them!" and then added some silly little giggle. Ugh.. how the hell could you not see them? Are you blind? I spared her the snark and went on to re-bag my stuff. I did comment on how she could then re-use the plastic bags I was giving back... heh, had to slip some passive-agressiveness in there somehow ;)
To make matters worse, I'd gotten a small package of tortillas for my enchiladas for Saturday... she had put the 1 small, thin package of tortillas in its own personal plastic bag! Aye...! Do people really not get it that plastics are clogging up the planet faster than we can say plastic? So sad...
BTW, for my not-so-green-obsessed readers (do I have any of those?!), even my conservative DH shook his head at this (or was that at me venting about this?!) He applauds my break-up with plastics :) It's not just for us hippie liberals! :) I do think he believes I go a bit overboard in other areas of my greeniness but whatever... he knew what I was like before he married me. ;)
Great new find:
This is related to the reusable bags.
I have recently been feeling a bit hypocritical for using all these great reusable bags for groceries and other shopping but then putting produce in plastic! LOL :) Seems a bit silly when you think about it, doesn't it?
I have long been one of those who does not bag things with their own natural packaging (oranges, bananas, potatoes, onions, garlic, etc) but wanted a solution for the things like green onions that don't have a protective shell (especially since I have not been able to come up with a way to reuse those cheesy little produce bags and my area will not take them for recycling... grrr!)
Well, after asking on the What's Cooking? board and the new Eco-Friendly Family Board (yes, I'm child-free but my DH and I count as a family and I was raised in cloth diapers so I *get* all the cloth diaper talk! lol), I found some Etsy sites for people who make and sell these great produce bags!
I ordered some nylon reusable produce bags on Wednesday and had them in my mailbox yesterday! Woot! :) I found out the girl I ordered from is actually fairly local (less than 100 miles from me) so that makes it even more exciting. Can't wait to try them out.
I was also referred to a site which sells organic cotton mesh bags for produce so I'll be getting some of those, too (because really, isn't a nylon bag just a plastic bag? :) I have issues with my Envirosax for the same reasons - they're polyester - but at least these *plastic* bags will last me a long time!)
Yeay!
I'm sure I'll get some funny looks for these mesh produce bags (you should see the scowls I get from checkers when I place my loose oranges/whatever on the conveyor!) but oh well.. good thing I do most of my shopping at a local market (well, it's a chain but not a big-box chain) - they give discounts for bringing in your own bags :)
Now I just have to find an eco-friendly solution for lining the trash cans in the bathrooms (I used to use plastic grocery bags!) :)
A different sort of recipe :)
I'm really trying to make more of a conscious effort lately to use *truly* green cleaning products and have found that may mean just sucking it up and making some (which is fine by me - it's like a science project!) I've been using baking soda and vinegar to clean some things for a long time but decided to take it one step further.
These are totally cheap which is great given that the economy is in the toilet at the moment (I'll spare you my liberal comments on that!)
I just made this yesterday and used it to clean the kitchen counters, sink, and then the shower! Made a little more than I really wanted but oh well! :)
It smells great and is completely non-toxic - it won't harm you, your kids, your pets, or our earth :)
Eco-Friendly *Soft Scrub* (not to be confused with the store-bought Soft Scrub that's full of carginogenic who-knows-what-they're-doing-to-your-lungs chemicals.. bleh!)
1/2 cup baking soda
Liquid castille soap (I especially love Dr. Bronner's since they're local to me) or enviro-friendly dishwashing liquid (I like Ecover or Seventh Generation)
Mix the baking soda and soap until you get a substance that's the consistency of frosting. Put a blob on a sponge and apply a little elbow grease!
Mother Nature will thank you! And, think of all the karma points you'll be racking up! :)
Reference:
This was from the the Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit I found on the Care2 website. I plan on trying out the other stuff this weekend! Yeay - cleaning is *almost* fun again. OK, maybe not *fun* but at least I won't die doing it now!
These are totally cheap which is great given that the economy is in the toilet at the moment (I'll spare you my liberal comments on that!)
I just made this yesterday and used it to clean the kitchen counters, sink, and then the shower! Made a little more than I really wanted but oh well! :)
It smells great and is completely non-toxic - it won't harm you, your kids, your pets, or our earth :)
Eco-Friendly *Soft Scrub* (not to be confused with the store-bought Soft Scrub that's full of carginogenic who-knows-what-they're-doing-to-your-lungs chemicals.. bleh!)
1/2 cup baking soda
Liquid castille soap (I especially love Dr. Bronner's since they're local to me) or enviro-friendly dishwashing liquid (I like Ecover or Seventh Generation)
Mix the baking soda and soap until you get a substance that's the consistency of frosting. Put a blob on a sponge and apply a little elbow grease!
Mother Nature will thank you! And, think of all the karma points you'll be racking up! :)
Reference:
This was from the the Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit I found on the Care2 website. I plan on trying out the other stuff this weekend! Yeay - cleaning is *almost* fun again. OK, maybe not *fun* but at least I won't die doing it now!
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