Living Organically

This blog is mainly about two things: My life as a treehugger, and my life as an urban designer. This explains why my posts switch back and forth, focusing at one time on the city in which I live and then another on how I strive to live an eco-friendly, compact life. This particular post, is a quick snippet into some of my "green" habits that are ridiculously easy for anyone to pick up! It all goes back to the bathroom!

Gross! No, not at all. You'll find very little toilet talk in this post- I'll save that for a later time. All I want to do right now is show you some products you can purchase which make bathroom activities environmentally friendly (I promise, one day I'll talk about green cleaning!). These products are: Preserve's toothbrush, Ecover Toilet Bowl cleaner, Biokleen's drain cleaner, Preserve's razor, and castile soap.

1. Preserve's Toothbrush: What subscriptions do you keep in your bathroom? Time magazine? The Local News? Playboy!? Too personal, sorry. Well I only have one, but it's a different sort of subscription. It's my toothbrush! The handle of the Preserve toothbrush (I've chosen blue) is made from 100% recycled materials, specifically yogurt cups {vegan yogurt!? I wish!}. The bristles, of course, are new. With a subscription, you'll get four toothbrushes (either every 3 months, every 2 months, monthly, or all at once) and in exchange you return your toothbrush via the package in which your new one arrives. You can mail back their store-bought brushes, too, but this is so much easier- and no more forgetting to change your toothbrush! I have the 3 month program, and I love it! Sign up for your own Preserve Toothbrush Subscription!

2. Ecover Toilet Bowl Cleaner: As I mentioned above, I promise to one day write a post on how to clean your home without using harsh chemicals, but today, I have to products I'd like to mention. I use my own homemade toilet bowl cleaner most of the time. When I was living alone, that was perfect, but now that I live with my fiance, the task of cleaning a toilet has become even more dreadful. My solution? Use a store-bought cleaner ever so often, and in between cleans use my homemade recipe. I tried a few different products before I settled on this one. A while back, when my mom and I lived together, she bought Clorox's Green Works products. They worked fine, but I just don't trust Clorox to be environmentally friendly. It is a legitimate cleaner, it bears the Sierra Club mark of approval, and it contains no bleach, but it wasn't sold in health-food stores, and that did it for me. After testing a few more products, I settled on Ecover's product. It's eco-claims sold me: "Plant-based ingredients — not based on petrochemical ingredients; no chemical residue; optimum level of biodegradability (far exceeds legislative requirements); safe for river and marine life; no animal testing" That list of "eco-claims" comes from Grist.org's review of toilet cleaners, and they are awesome selling points. If you check out Grist's list, you'll see their only complaints were the scent and the fact that the liquid was clear. To be honest, the scent is refreshing (they say pine but I think it's more like peppermint) and the fact that it's not an eerie blue color reminds me that there are no scary ingredients in this product! I give it two thumbs up! Do your own research at the Ecover website!

3. Biokleen Drain Care: Okay, again, cleaning recipes come later. I do want to point out that you can unclog your drains using household ingredients, but that doesn't always work as awesome as I'd like it to. So I had to resort to a stronger concoction. Enter Biokleen Drain Care! I've used Seventh Generation, I've used Earth Friendly Products, I've used Mrs. Meyer's (side note- is Mrs. Meyer's actually eco-friendly? I need to do more research)....non have worked that great. Biokleen's drain cleaner is good with regular use, but you do have to work at those tough clogs! Still, I recommend it! Here's Biokleen's website for you to look over.

4. Preserve's Razor: Back to the really exciting stuff! Did I mention I love Preserve!? I don't think I did, but they're a great plastics company, for all you plastic lovers out there. For things kitchen and bath related, they've got tons of recycled plastic products for you! This little guy is great. To be honest, it's blades could be better designed, but the fact that it's made of recycled yogurt cups is just terrific!

5. Castile Soap: Last but not least (and there are actually millions of other green bathroom products I could talk about), we have castile soap, specifically, Dr. Bronner's in (my favorite) peppermint scent. As a vegan, I am very pleased to tell you that castile soap, unlike other soaps, is made without animal fats! Who would want to clean with animal fat anyway!? How is this used in the bathroom, you ask? Toilet cleaner, counter cleaner, floor cleaner, spray cleaner, body wash, hand soap, shampoo, teeth cleaner...you get where I'm going with this, right? It can be used for practically anything. Thus, I love it. Especially in the bathroom! I have liquid and bar soap forms in my bathroom. Check out all the other awesome products made by Dr. Bronner's.

 There are a plethora of environmentally friendly products to use in the bathroom, these are perhaps just my personal top 5! The important thing to remember in the bathroom is that your drains lead somewhere! Imagine all the chemicals and crap (no pun intended!) that escapes through your drains each day- we have to take responsibility for all of that! All that gets washed away ultimately ends up in our rivers and oceans. So from now on, get clean with the cleanest products you can find! From shampoo and soap to toilet and sink scrubs, there's an alternative out there. Find what works for you and stick with it!