Alternatives to cleaning chemicals

[ElizabethB]

The discussion on the Kellog compost has gotten lots of attention. I just posted a comment and decided to start a new thread.

If you read my comment excuse the repitition.

You all got me thinking about what goes into the municple sewer system - besides the obvious human waste. I looked in my laundry room, under the kitchen sink and in the bath rooms. I was APPALLED by the vast amount of detergents and chemical products.

So I want to start a discussion on alternatives to all of these products. I never gave much thought to the issue of anti-bacterial products. The majority of my soaps and detergents are anti-bacterial - yeah I am a little bit of a germaphobe. What are some alternatives? I know I can make my own soap - in fact that really appeals to me. I can find plenty of soap making directions on line so thats all good. What about all of the other stuff? Laundry detergent and fabric softener? Has to be low sudsing for HE washer. Dish washing liquid? Dishwasher gel? Bleach? Clorox Clean-Up? I am good with plain white vinegar and water for glass and mirrors. Endust and Pledge? Air fresheners? Bona hardwood floor cleaner? The list goes on and on and on.

What happens to all this stuff when it gets to the waste treatment plant? I will probably have nightmares tonight about huge foamy chemical monsters.

IDK if I am willing to give up my shampoo and conditioner. Convince me with some good alternatives that won't strip my expensive "natural" color.

Talk about expense There are HUNDREDS of dollars of these products in my house. I could sure use that money else where. Mama wants a pair of boots.

Ok guys and gals - your turn.

Merry Christmas one and all

[Charlie MV]

Your majesty, we buy the cheapest thing we can find with the fewest additives, scents and names we can't pronounce in the ingredients.

We moved in this house 7 years ago to take care of my wife's mother. She had been in the house long before building codes ruled the world plus this is south Carolina and we're 10 miles from the largest nuclear waste dump in the world so really, what's a little code here and there?

All of the sink drains, washer, tubs, showers are drained directly to the flower beds and bushes that surround the house. We have lovely bushes and flowers. The tiny bit of grass that lies closest to the beds is greener than the outer grass.

We use rain barrels. The house and surrounding neighborhood is on a septic tank. I worry mostly about things like unused medication. We had a bunch after my MIL died. I consolidated all the pills in a few pill bottles with screw on caps. I put the bottles inside a Metamucil bottle and then put that in a plastic gallon container with a screw cap. All caps are air tight.

I placed the container in a deep hole along with a dead squirrel that drowned in a rain barrel. I buried them. I figure the squirrel will be gone in a couple of years and the plastic containers will be there in a few hundred years. I don't know how potent they will be then. South Carolina, being willing to take all the nation's nuclear waste, doesn't have any kind of recycling or disposal system for medicine. They frown on taxes here but not on the cancer that killed my paw in law that worked at the nuclear plant.

We're an odd people.

I guess I should say this too in response to your comment. We use almost no anti bacterial anything except in the toilet. We use soap bars that say soap. In this day and time I'm sure that's no guarantee of getting actual soap. What's in a label? I do use my nose. Soap has a pretty distinctive smell. The best suggestion I can make is that if your soap product reminds you of the soap smell from a gas station bathroom 50 years ago [not Gojo] but hand soap, it's probably not detergent.