Snuggle Wool and Medi Wool products use an organic cotton backing.
I’ve got some friends that, for a long time now, have been trying to persuade me to switch over to a completely green or organic household. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as environmentally-minded as the next person… if that person just happens to be interested in green products that are actually affordable and don’t turn life into one massive inconvenience.
That’s how I’ve been for the last few years. I’m happy to recycle anything and everything, as long as I don’t have to go out of my way to do so. That’s why every time my friends started talking about switching to laundry detergent that grew on trees or a range of other organic cleaning products and food I was more than a little skeptical. Luckily, I’m also susceptible to repeated suggestion, and eventually they got me to try out some of those products around the house.
Organic Products at Home
I started making this switch by taking small steps. I started with the food in the house. My friends never tire of telling me all about the pesticides and genetic engineering going into the average apple, so I figured that was a good place to start and began buying organic fruits and vegetables. They couldn’t convince me to get prepackaged goods yet, because I always believed that was just some kind of marketing ploy. It turns out I may be justified in this, too, because there is some concern in the industry about the confusion over products that are “certified organic” and products that are simply labeled as “natural” by large food corporations.
My experience with the foods was alright – good enough that I decided to go another step and looked into the organic cleaning products on the market. This meant personal cleaning products (hand soaps, deodorants, and moisturizers), and household cleaning products (laundry, all-purpose, etc). Most of these I ordered online because it they weren’t really common at the local stores, and I could find some pretty good deals. The one that really surprised me was the soap nuts. These literally grow on trees and are picked, dried, and thrown into the laundry. I gave them a try because for the same price as the leading chemically-laden detergent, I could get a lot more washes out of them. (Like I said, I’m cheap when it comes to environmental activism.)
Getting the Right Products
“Organic” and “all natural” are big buzz words right now, and companies will stick it on almost anything if they think they can get away with it. So if you are ready to try and make the switch to organic products in your home, you should be careful about how you make your selections.
Take a closer look at those organic cleaning supplies or that bottle of natural shampoo. Does the company disclose all the ingredients that went into it? Can you pronounce all the names they list, or are there some unknown chemicals sneaking in? If you’re going to make this switch, you might as well do it right. Find the green products that really are green, and you can start living a healthy and environmentally-friendly (not to mention cost-effective and convenient) lifestyle.
