I Used a Paper Towel on EARTH DAY! (It was recycled, but still.)

Any parent of a school-aged child knows that today is Earth Day...and, in fact, has probably been forcibly coerced into a litter pick-up walk at some point, if you are lucky--like me!  (Thanks a lot, Mrs. Hoover!) 

Alyssa and I put on our raincoats...and covered Brooke with a blanket...and picked up litter from, not only our current yard, but from our new lot as well.  The funny thing was that Alyssa became bored with the litter pick-up about 10 seconds and 2 pieces of litter in, although she was the one who had pestered me mercilessly to join her Earth Day crusade.

Being the excellent mother that I am, I forced her to at least accompany me while I cleaned the litter out of our yards.  She didn't enjoy the process nearly as much as she must've thought she would because (a) she has the attention of a gnat with ADD and (b) she doesn't like to touch "dirty" things. 

I'm not sure what she thought litter was exactly...

After playing this Earth Day charade, we came in to clean up for yet another showing.  Losing all track of what day it was, I used a (recycled) paper towel instead of a fiber cleaning rag and became a total Earth Day hypocrite! 

Clean and Green

Update: Almost a month ago, I told you that I was going to start making my own cleaners to save money and, well, THE WORLD! 

Well, I have been slowly integrating these homemade, eco-friendly cleaners as I have run out of my old ones...and, I have been running out of them more quickly than ever with the non-stop cleaning-fest that is having one's house on the market and showing it sometimes multiple times per day!

Currently, I am using:
-vinegar and baking soda to clean my toilets (fizzy and fantastic!);
-vinegar on the windows (stinky but effective);
-water and vanilla steams for the microwave splatterfest (you may be tempted to lick it clean);
-sea salt for baked on crud in oven (who knew?!);
-baking soda and a scrub brush for my sinks (amazing shine!);
-steam and peppermint essential oil for my hard floors; and
-liquid Castile, water, and almond oil for handsoap (not as pretty as my old soap, but who really cares?).

I plan to continue to swap out ALL of my cleaners/soaps/detergents :-)  I have also been trying to be much more disciplined about using washable/reusable cleaning cloths instead of paper towels. 

Please let me know how you are doing with your own green cleaning!