boulderorganic's Profile

31 parts water, 1 part Bronner's castile soap, in a spray bottle - cuts the fingerprint grease nicely. Alternatively, just water in a spray bottle.

Where did the extruded aluminum shelf above the desk in slide 27 come from? It would be perfect for expanding storage in my office nook.

Thanks!

Home Depot has a fairly good assortment of inexpensive window films. These films apply with a soapy solution rather than windex as mentioned above. I prefer this as I am trying to detoxify my home.

Someone above mentioned cutting the film 1/2 in smaller than the window dimensions to ease installation. I second that motion. Getting a perfect fit is difficult because windows are not necessarily perfectly square.

In my area, moving boxes appear on freecycle.org all the time. It's an easy and fast way to reuse moving boxes.

I despise a dirty shower and I hate cleaning a shower even more. Nothing worse than scrubbing soap scum off the shower walls. So, I keep a cleaning towel in the shower and wipe it down every time before getting out. It takes but a second. The shower is always clean. And I never have to scrub. I also keep a spray bottle of vinegar in the shower. On occasion I give it a light spray of vinegar before wiping it down. Simple...?

Use Ball mason Jars when buying from bulk. They're work beautifully. The half pint size would be perfect for spices. Not only that but they serve double duty as drinking glasses. The kids use the half pint size and the adults use the pint size. And when one of the kids doesn't finish their milk, they simply put a lid on the glass and put it in the fridge for later. How cool is that...!

Greetings...

Here's a couple of additions to add to my previous post on my shower habits... These were added since my orginal comment was posted. There are so many ways to conserve that take so little effort...

7) Since my eyes are closed most of the time when showering, I decided to conserve electricity by using a 4 watt night light to light the bathroom rather than the recessed overhead lights (even though they are CFLs). My bathroom has no windows.
8) I leave a 2 gallon plastic bucket under the tub spigot to catch the water that goes down the drain at the beginning of my shower as I wait for the warm water to flow. This amounts to about a gallon of water each time I shower. This captured gray water serves as a free flush for my toilet which happens to be right next to my tub/shower.

Not long ago I was truly addicted to paper towels and I used a lot of them. I began so wonder how much in the way of paper towels ends up in the landfill? So, I've now ended my addition to paper towels and replaced them with bulk cotton terry cloth car washing towels from Costco. I installed additional towel racks in my bathroom and kitchen to accomodate these towels for cleaning. I also rinse them regularly in the sink, then hang them back on the towel rack to dry. This minimizes laundrying. Like any addiction, ending it was not easy, but now that I'm clean (pun intended!), it sure feels good...!

There are a number of changes I've made to my shower habits to reduce my environmental impact and reduce my exposure to environmental toxins. I've affected water consumption, energy consumption, laundry load, shampoo/conditioner usage, and commercial cleanser usage.

1) I've reduced my hot water temperature to 110 degF to save on energy.
2) I use less than one minute of water time by turning the water on and off as I shower, using it only to rinse. I typically cycle the water on no more than four times for less than 15 seconds each. My shower water consumption never exceeds 2.5 gallons.
3) I use a home recipe for a combination body wash & shampoo using Dr. Bronner's castile soap, tea tree oil and water. Bronner's castile soap is fair trade organic and about as biodegradeable as it gets.
4) I use white vinegar in a spray bottle as a hair rinse to remove the buildup left behind by the castile soap. It leaves my hair fairly soft and silky. I use the Heins brand because it is vegetable based not petroleum based as some of the other brands are.
5) I dry off using a hand towel rather than a bath sized towel. It's perfectly adequate, and not only saves on raw material because of the smaller size, but also laundry and closet space.
6) When I clean the shower, I do it from within immediately after I finish using the spray vinegar and a dobbie pad. It's very effective combination in removing soap scum left by the Bronner's and it's far less toxic than any of those commercial spray cleaners.
7) Finally, I shower less frequently, usually every other day. On the off days, a quick hand wash under the arms does the trick. Shorter hair helps too.

Hope some of these ideas help...