Some people have a negative attitude about their moms raising them with "Depression Era" consciousness. However many years ago when I was washing clothes in my bath tube, instead of my attitude being "poor me" I realized how much better so many things I was doing that I learned from mom, or picked up from "necessity is the mother of Invention" and "waste not want not" were so right for the environment,. Making me feel good about doing it, and changed my outlook on all of it.

So here's my morning, sharing this hopefully to help inspire you. It's chic to be green, and Ethnic ways are very in. Which I really believe was more of what my mom was doing then about cost of living. She did what she saw her Sicilian mom do. And thus I do.

Dusting I used to buy a package of cloth diapers just to use for cleaning. Now I recycle old T-shirts cut up and best are flannel shirts. These are my dusting tools. I lightly dampen the flannel pieces and away I go, dusted the whole house with just this damp cloth. It picks up dust without hurting anything. I went from hard woods, to book case, book spines (Oh Books I learned from the book repair people at the library, should be shelved on their sides. This eliminates stress on the spines of the books and the books last longer and less dust collects on books stacked this way)
Continued dusting..plant leave, glass jars and glass boxes, picture frame and glass on entertainment system . Also OK to dust my oil paints and acrylics that are not behind glass.

Now into the bath areas. Here all I use is white vinegar and or 10 Vol. hydrogen peroxide, both very good to disinfect and inexpensive. Shower doors and all, then to rinse instead of wasting all the water to rinse off chemical scrubbers, I recycle my liquid dish detergent bottles, fill with water then squirt to rinse shower walls, doors and great on those glass shower door tracts that are hard to clean. The pressure from the squirt bottle is enough to get those hard to get places. So now shower is clean and hardly any water was used. Of course you can shower and clean shower all at the same time, I've done this too. Thus saving water, squiggie glass doors and walls of shower. Or dry with towel or be lazy like me and let them air dry, actually it adds moisture in my home and here in AZ that's a good thing.

Also I learned from the cleaning crew at an apt. I lived at, we had really hard to clean windows, no matter what I used they looked streaked. I asked what they use, all they used was rubbing alcohol in a bucket of water or spray bottle and a squiggie. Looking good!

So what do I have white vinegar, 10 Vol. hydrogen peroxide. When I wash floors I use one of the swifter mops my husband bought me, he said I shouldn't be on my hands and knees and he was right. But instead of buying refills of the cleaning solution and refills for the pads. Again I use some liquid detergent and white vinegar in the refill bottle. Instead of the pads I use T-shirts or old towel pieces I push those into the sockets where the pads are supposed to grab onto. Works just fine and I wash and re-use of course.

When I do spot cleaning on kitchen floors I wet a cloth using my left over dish washing (OF course I don't use a dish washer, goodness how much does that cost our environment$$$)
And I put the wet rag on the floor and with my foot I clean up spots.

Now think about this, in my years of learning Yoga and Chi Kung and acupressure meridians, I realized I was healing myself while I was cleaning the floors with my feet.

Meridians end at the foot, hands, and ears. so massaging and rubbing feet/toes/hands/ears, work on ALL the internal organs and thus a healthy you.
Cool!

So at 62 years of age, I can still lift my leg to clean my feet in the bathroom sink. My toes and hands are Arthritis free, and my whole body is limber and relaxed and I am healthy. The environment is healthy and everything is happy and healthy....just being silly now.

I also did a few loads of laundry, this too is energy cost effective. Haven't used my dryer much at all, saving many dollars, putting moisture in my home. I only wash on cold setting and use "delicate" cycle=shortest cycle. I might use dryer just to fluff towels, and the guys pants are all cotton with those pockets all over. But no longer than 3 minutes, then I hang up and they do not need ironing. Dress shirts and all my tops and slacks I hand wash in bath tube. By colors. My tops I have made over the years from batik cloth/sarongs, made in Bali. I fold in half, cut a 7" hole for head, and sew up sides leaving about 10" for my arms to go through. This I saw in Ethnic Custom and Costumes books. And I first bought a few then when I found a place here that sold the sarong material I started making my own.

So because the material is not color set I have never put them together in a washing machine. The colors would run and it would wear out the fabric. I have had these tops for 10-15 years now and they still look new.
Remember folks LINT from dryer is your fabric threads wearing out. WHY do this??
Keep the environment healthy, and save some $$, and keep cloths looking new. now how much common sense is in this...LOTS I'd say mom was very smart and kind to the environment....cool!



So I hope this helps you to be green and save some bucks and feel really chic and hip, being
Ana