Clean House Clean Planet [Paperback]

The basic message of the book is this: Clean your windows and mirrors with plain club soda. Clean everything else with one or more of the following: baking soda, vinegar, Dr. Bronner's soap, or distilled water. The trick is to scent your baking soda or vinegar with a few drops of your favorite essential oil.

The cool thing about the book is that it gives detailed recipes for exactly what proportions of these main ingredients (plus a few others) work best to clean each different thing in your house, and it goes into some detail about what spray and squirt bottles work best, too. It's very practical and useful and I learned some new things from reading it (did you know that in the United States, you can't legally say that tea tree oil is a disinfectant?).

Unfortunately, she does repeat herself a lot, and she encourages you to buy more than you really need. WAY more. You won't save any money at all if you buy all the things she suggests you buy! I would say start out with one gallon of vinegar, one or two boxes of baking soda, one or two essential oils, some distilled water if you don't already have it, and maybe some Dr. Bronner's if you can afford it (you can use regular hand dishwashing liquid for most of these recipes). Spray bottles are nice, too, but I had a hard time finding the right size.

Back to the merits and un-merits of the book: The Table of Contents and the Index are well organized, but the book itself isn't quite so much. It would help so much if the topic headings on each page pointed to what was actually on that page instead of giving a general chapter name. If you're trying to look up a particular recipe, it can take a long time to find.

In conclusion, this is a good book that I definitely recommend buying. I love being able to clean nontoxically and this book is a huge help. I just wish I had bought a lot less stuff at the outset.

I'm enjoying learning and experimenting with the recipes in this book. My church recently had a cleaning day and I mixed up a few cleaning solutions based on the recipes or inspired by the recipes. I was not taken seriously by most people but I can tell you that I enjoyed cleaning with these safe solutions. One mom of six really appreciated that her helpful kids were not exposed to harmful chemicals. Consequently, I got loads of help on my projects.

I just washed a beloved, but very grimy wooden and wrought iron patio set with baking soda and a very diluted castile soap solution. Who would have thought that these homemade products would cut through the grease, grime, and mildew and restore my set to looking new again? Inspired by the book I rubbed the set down with olive oil instead of smelly mink oil that I've used in the past. After it "bakes into the wood" out in the sun tomorrow I'll enjoy sitting outside once again. In the past I would have felt guilty spraying who-knows-what in my front yard or may not have undertaken cleaning it at all.

Thanks Karen. I look forward to learning more and slowly changing my habits.

Make the investment in your health and the health of your loved ones and get a copy of this book (or one like it). Even if you change one cleaning habit it will make a great impact.

Note: Mark you favorites. They may be difficult to find again. The recipes could be better organized.