AttemptGreen.com

Before making the decision to change my life style, I used to use some pretty strong cleaning products, especially in the bathroom.  My favorite was Tilex Mold and Mildew remover.  After spraying down the shower, I would turn the fan on, open the window, and close the door.  This was all so that the fumes from the ammonia would not go into the rest of the house.  I would let it sit for about 15 minutes before going back in and wiping down the tub and rinsing it all off.  While I would be scrubbing the tiles and tub, I would hold my nose to stop the ammonia from burning the inside of my nose.  Once I was all done, I would close the door again with the window open to let the bathroom air out. I can’t imagine what the harshness of the chemicals is doing to the environment. 

So the last time I bought a bathroom cleaner, I decided to try the Green Works Natural Bathroom Cleaner product by Clorox .  I really like this product.  There are no harsh smells.  It is easy to use.  Most importantly, it works.  I simply sprayed it in the shower, used the scrub brush for a minute or two, and rinsed it off.  I admit, I was skeptical at first that it would be hard to truly get the shower clean without a lot of elbow grease. 

I haven’t tried the rest of the Green Works product line, yet.  I will be trying more cleaning products in future, and this one has inspired me to go on trying more.  In case anyone is wondering, as far as my dish washer soap goes, I’m still using Palmolive Eco+.  I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet in a dishwasher soap, but I feel it is a step in the right direction.

A little over a week ago, I was watching Guy’s Big Bite on the Foodnetwork, and he made an amazing roasted tomato soup.  I thought that sounded so good, especially now that the temperatures are starting to go down here in Pennsylvania.  Then later that week, Kelly at Planet Green wrote about making roasted tomato soup.  I felt like I was becoming obsessed with roasted tomato soup.

I kept thinking I would make it over the weekend, but I needed to find a place to get good produce fairly inexpensive.  So I decided to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.  On my way home from work on Friday, I stopped by the Reading Terminal.  It is a great place here in Philly to get fresh meats, cheeses, Amish products, and of course, produce.  I got all the veggies I needed for the soup and more and only paid a little less than $5.  To top it all off, they were locally grown veggies, and it made a very good and healthy soup.

So let’s look at how all this is being more green.  First off, I walked there on my way home from work, instead of driving.  I used my canvas bags, not plastic.  The vegetables were in season vegetables for this area, so they were fresh and local, meaning it was not transported very far.  All that and I saved some money. 

I know there are places like this all over the country.  For example, in Cleveland, there is a great place called the West Side Market.  Even in the suburbs of every city I’ve ever lived in, there are small, local produce stands.

I was reading an announcement by the EPA today about tightening up standards on lawn equipment. It really got me thinking about how we maintain our yards and what kind of landscaping we put in.

In most of America, we have green grass lawns that we mow every week during the summer and always wanting the bigger yard. It seems to me that people (generalizing here) are obsessed with getting all kinds of power equipment to maintain their property. Not just lawn mowers, but weed whackers, leaf blowers, snow blowers, the list goes on. The only reason we need all these powered machines is because we strive for that larger property that we can’t take care of on our own.

I am currently in the midst of shopping for a new home and yard size is something that we have considered very carefully and put towards the top of our priority list. Now my husband agrees with me to have a smaller yard, but I think that is merely for the laziness factor. Our goal is to be able to mow and trim the entire yard in less than half an hour. We don’t want to achieve this by buying bigger machines that suck more gas and put more pollutants in the air. So we are intentionally buying a house with a smaller yard, and even then I may consider putting in more landscaping (flower beds or a vegetable garden) to keep the part that needs mowed smaller.

My brother used to have a rather small yard. Instead of buying a gas or electric powered lawn mower, he bought a push reel mower. I often think of these as old fashion, but I really think they are on to something here and much cheaper too. If you are pushing a mower using man power anyways, do you really need something powered by gas?

My parents live in the desert of Arizona. They have opted to go the landscaping route. What that means is that their “yard” is entirely made up of rocks/stones with only desert thriving plants in it. They don’t mow their lawn and they don’t water their grass because they don’t have any grass. The only yard work they have is to pull the occasional weed.

Think about the equipment you use and the type of landscaping in your yard. Perhaps it is time to consider reducing the size of your lawn, change the landscaping or changing equipment to better suit the size of the job.

Ok, well not my litter box, the litter box my cats use. Ever since we moved I’ve been trying to figure out a better litter to use for my cats. I had been using Fresh Step but I would often find that there would be little bits of litter caught in their paws and sometimes their entire coat would smell like the litter after they had been in there. So I wanted to see what I could do to make it better for my cats and I’ve tried a few different kinds.

I first tried Feline Pine and got the clumping kind. It seemed to work ok for the cats and there wasn’t much smell to it, but I ended up with little crystals all over the floor of my bathroom. Then I tried Swheat Scoop. The first thing the one cat did was eat it, proceeded with throwing up all over my bath mat. The smell was also not at all pleasing. Then I decided it was time to try the LitterMaid, and oddly, my cats are afraid of it. They would sit on the bathroom floor and just wait for it and watch it while it raked the litter. I ended up with more stuff that should be in the litter box on my bathroom floor because of their fear. The LitterMaid also wants you to use their “premium” clumping cat litter. Again, the smell was not something I could live with.

At this point, I’m back to using Fresh Step, still using the LitterMaid but keeping it off most of the time and just turning it on once a day to rake the litter for me. I’m hoping the cats slowly get used to it. I would still like to find a better cat litter that is healthier for my cats but still controls the smell and doesn’t end up all over my bathroom. If anyone has any advice, ideas or products I should try out, please let me know.