Green cleaning: good for you; good for the earth

Green products will help you breathe easier.

Last month, I posted about the government panel’s findings about chemicals in our environment as it relates to cancer. According to the panel’s findings, there are 8o,000 chemicals  in commercial use, but federal regulators have assessed only about 200 for safety.

Pretty scary huh? There are things we can’t control, but there are plenty of ways we can reduce the chemicals we use in our homes and on our bodies. I’ve been buying green personal care and cleaning products for a couple of years from various places like Aveda, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Kroger. I recently found out about a company called Melaleuca, which has more than 300 different products they can deliver to your home.

I agreed to try to their Spring Cleaning collection, which included their: tub and tile cleaner, stain removing solution, all-purpose cleanser, furniture polish and glass cleaner. I am disclosing I received these products for free, but I’ll give you my objective opinion.

Everything is concentrated, so I had some mixing to do in the spray bottles provided.  The thrifty environmental side of me liked that this uses much less plastic and that I’m getting more for the money. The lazy side of me led me to procastinate doing this.

The products worked very well. I was especially impressed with the Sol-U-Mel stain remover, which eliminated an ink mark from our recliner. It also worked well on our white, stained kitchen sink with a little help from some baking soda. Their Rustic Touch furniture polish  and Tub and Tile cleaner also did a nice job compared to some others I’ve tried.

The company has a whole line of products, including personal care, supplements, pet care, and beauty products. You save the most money from becoming a preferred member, which my representative Janice Teeter (a breast cancer survivor, too) says 95 percent of their customers do.  For instance, Tube & Tile, which makes six bottles,  is $5.69 for members. Six bottles of a comparable non-green product would cost $23.94. 

I was about to join but was a little intimidated by the membership requirements. You need to spend about $50-$60 per month to get the member benefits. It’s a good deal if you intend you use a lot of products. In addition to 30-40 percent savings, you can get up to $100 in loyalty dollars and 15 percent savings at online retailers. We have a small house and only three in our family, so I didn’t see myself spending that much. Also, I get my supplements from my doctor. I’m going to just order products as needed and enjoy more modest savings.

But I do think a membership would be ideal for a larger family with more square footage to clean and who is willing to commit to purchasing their wide range of products. And I’d highly recommend it for busy working mothers who’d enjoy the convenience of having them delivered to their homes.

For more information about Melaleuca, visit http://www.melaleuca.info/.