Getting My (Green) Clean On

When you ask a bride to list some of her favorite wedding gifts, cleaning products don't generally make the cut.  But they make my list.  Not because I'm a germa-phobe.  Quite the opposite actually.  I tend to believe that a certain quantity of germs is an essential part of building a healthy immune system.  But I digress.  The point here is why do I love my new cleaning products?  The story actually begins a couple months before the wedding.

I was in Ohio visiting Alex, and while I was grading papers, Alex decided it was time to clean the bathroom.  Never one to discourage his productivity, I gave the plan my full approval.  Until I heard shouting from the bathroom. And saw Alex dashing frantically between the bathroom and the kitchen.  Not normal cleaning behavior.  Turns out whatever cleaning product he was storing in his utility closest had leaked into its bucket.  Two different cleaning chemicals mixed together and formed a rather destructive substance, which Alex didn't notice until he took the cleaning product out of the bucket splashing chemicals all over his skin and his BRAND NEW TOMMY BAHAMA linen shorts. (Why, you may ask, was he cleaning toilets in expensive linen shorts?  Because he's a guy.  And he doesn't do the laundry.)  He noticed an uncomfortable burning sensation on his skin and started to panic.  I raced over in time to see the cleaner dripping onto the carpet and holes immediately burning into the carpet.  Not pretty.

This whole situation panicked me a bit about what exactly goes into these cleaning products.  I mean, I sit on that toilet after the chemicals that can burn through carpeting supposedly clean it.  I told Alex that we were getting rid of all our old cleaning products and investing in quality supplies that were organic and environmentally friendly.  He groaned as 'organic' typically translates to 'expensive' in his brain, but staring at the holes in his carpeting he was hard-pressed to argue.  (Incidentally, thanks to an immediate cold water rinse, the linen shorts were saved!)

This brings me to one of my favorite wedding presents: a Shaklee Get Clean Starter Kit!

These products are amazing for so many reasons.  First, they are SAFE!  Being organic, if my dear of a husband once again decides to clean in his good clothes, I won't panic at their well-being.  We aren't breathing in chemicals in the name of cleanliness.  We aren't sitting on bathroom fixtures that have been bathed in chemicals.  And if two bottles happen to leak, and the contents mix together?  It won't matter cause they are made from the same concentrate!  Second, they are actually cost-effective!  That first bottle is the concentrate.  A tiny amount (like a teaspoon, seriously) mixed with water will make a spray bottle of glass cleaner.  Different amounts of the same concentrate are used to mix up all-purpose cleaner, degreaser, floor cleaner, and more.  That one bottle of concentrate is going to last me a very long time.  Third, look how small that set-up is. If I haven't mentioned before, my townhouse is tiny.  I don't have the space for a special cleaning product for every single appliance, type of flooring, and piece of furniture.  This is super convenient.  Fourth, they do a great job of cleaning.  Because that is, after all, the point.  And at the end of the day, my house feels even cleaner than it did before I started using Shaklee.  No chemicals in the air or on my household surfaces or on my husband's clothes.  And no dirt or germs either.


So, seriously, freak that I am, I love my cleaning supplies, and I even like cleaning (or at least more than I did).