Customer Reviews

GREEN CLEAN: The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Green Clean provides an excellent resource to greening your home environment. The book briefly begins with the history of cleaning, the toxic chemicals that are contained in our modern cleaning agents, and an introduction to green cleaning including the tools needed and steps to the process. Next, the book dives into a room-by-room green guide to cleaning. Included are how to clean different types of surfaces such as walls, floors, countertops, sinks, appliances, furniture, carpeting and clothing. The latter part of the book talks about storage, disposal, and recycling of hazardous household products including a handy chart with the type of product listed with the best way to dispose of it.

Many recipes for creating your own cleaning products such as an all-purpose cleaner, carpet cleaners and deodorizers, dishwashing, disinfectants, drain cleaners, floor cleaners, air fresheners, furniture polish, laundry detergent, metal cleaners, window cleaners, oven cleaners, sink, toilet and tile cleaners. There is a stain guide for how to get out tough laundry stains naturally as well. Additionally, a product guide along with resources and readings are included.

This book includes an index and is made out of durable synthetic paper. You could leave the book in the bathroom and not have to worry about it getting wet and ruined. Using the tips and recipes contained in the book can save your family money, but more importantly you'll learn how to green your environment. I had already been using cleaning products similar to those recommended (baking soda and vinegar can do wonders) and find they work excellently, and I do not have to worry about having toxic cleaning products in my house near my child and dogs. Overall, I learned from this book and highly recommend it to anyone looking to green their cleaning routine.

C.J. Wong, M.S.(Biology), M.S. (Lib. Info. Sci.)
Editor, Organic Family Magazine

I purchased Green Clean after reading the positive reviews from this Amazon site. I was so disappointed in this purchase that I only made it half way through the book and had to come on line right away to warn others of this useless publication. The first half of the book details why you should clean green, as I am a novice to green cleaning I felt I would learn at least something new I had not heard before. Unfortunately, this was not the case as the author's state well known issues with our societies over use of toxic substances and the hazards of many of the chemicals on the market today. Not only was the information common knowledge and very basic but the authors stated these points over and over again in relentless fashion until I gave up reading the book in a linear fashion and moved on to try to find information regarding the actual cleaning of my home. This publication offers few recipes on creating your own homemade cleaners only about 10 real pages of recipes in a 200 page publication and short changes the readers by simply encouraging them to just buy green products already on the market. To make matters worse I felt the advice given on cleaning in this text condescending and ridiculous. Who doesn't know to hang up towels to dry, to attend to stains immediately if they can, or how to sort laundry? Green Clean seems to me better suited for a simple website than a publication, I recommend you save your money or purchase Better Basics for the Home.

This is an excellent resource for those of us wishing to remove the pollutents from our homes. The authors give detailed information on exactly what is in those 'wonder products' we currently use, like dishwashing liquid, floor waxes & cleaners and innumerable other items we use on a daily basis. The information in this book will shock you, prompt you to change the way you clean and give you the necessary tools and information to not only purchase SAFE products but create your own and live a 'greener' life.

Creating your own cleaning products is not only less expensive then purchasing premade cleaners, but you KNOW what went into them!! You know how safe they are; for example - would you rather accidently drink windex and hope for the best? Or accidently ingest home made window cleaner (club soda)? Did you know that dishwashing liquid is the number one cleaning product accidently ingested by children? I didn't. And even though my cleaning products are kept well away from my 2 year old son, it is possible that accidents happen and I am not willing to take that chance.

This book is filled with information so that you as a consumer can make informed choices about what you will and will not tolerate in your home, the chances you are willing to take with cleaning products and how to change what you use...and even our impact on the planet.

"Green Clean" is a treasure for every household. Even if you do not care about the environment or about your health, this book is definitely worth its money. It contains not only the expected environmentally sound advice but also strategies for keeping your home clean and orderly. There are also great do-it-yourself recipies for cleaning products (my favourite: DIY air freshener, it smells exactly the way I want it), and countless invaluable little tips on how to make life easier, e.g. how to load your dishwasher most efficiently, how to organize your kitchen appliances.

I used to hate cleaning, truly hate it. I would put it off all the time and if I finally got around to it I never got it all done, and I always felt deep down inside what a hopeless task cleaning is because even the most sparkling bathroom looks messy again the next day.

Since buying this book I haven't started to love cleaning but it's not so bad anymore. Cleaning has become easier and less time-consuming and way more efficient. It's now part of my daily routine, no big deal. I save money, water and electricity. My home stays clean and good-looking every day and it smells great, too. Mother-in-law, you're welcome to drop in any time!

You don't have to read this cover to cover (although that's nice too) to begin benefiting from its content. It's great for quick reference. I've used several of the "recipes" for cleaning products and have been pleased with the results. The format of the book is user friendly and I love its stain-resistant, washable pages. Lots of good info. about having a green household! I highly recommend it if you're thinking about making some positive changes for your home and the planet!

This is a very good book for someone just starting out or who is thinking of "going green" for the first time. It has a lot of common sense information and guidelines on how to clean. It has good basic information on the hazards of commercially made products. Everything is very clearly laid out and the non-paper book is a very good idea for an environmentally friendly cleaning book.

What it is not good for is for someone who already knows the hazards and has been green cleaning for quite some time. I had been looking for something more up to date than my first edition of "Clean and Green" by Annie Berthold-Bond but this one is not it. I am looking forward to trying the "Vinegar of Four Thieves" and maybe a few other of the recipes and I have never seen a guide to laundry labels before (now I will know what all those triangles and little irons really mean). But the rest of the book is full of stuff any environmentally aware person would already know and if I had seen the book before buying, I would not have bought it. I will photocopy a few pages and then recycle the book on to someone to whom would like to begin going green.

Tonight is New Year's Eve. My kitchen drain became severely clogged. I am against using chemical drain cleaners for environmental reasons. After a couple of hours of plunging, I decided to call a plumber in the morning (New Year's Day) and pay the holiday fee. As a last resort, I got out this book and tried their environment-friendly recipe for cleaning drains (boiling water, vinegar, and baking soda) and in about 15 minutes, my drain cleared. I could buy many more copies of this book for what I would have paid the plumber. Thanks Linda and Mikki! Happy New Year!

I would have given this book more than 5 stars, if I could!
I checked it out via my local library, but will be purchasing it, for sure.
The book is well laid out; you don't have to read the whole thing to get to what you need. There is a section for each cleaning zone of your house, kitchen, bathroom, laundry, etc...
The recipes for cleaning (also in their own section) are easy to make, and come from readily available, healthy alternatives...and perform much better than their toxic cousins.
I am so impressed at the performance of club soda; I never knew Windex and Glass Plus weren't working that well, until I tried club soda instead. My shiny surfaces look fantastic; at 50 cents a liter, who would want to pay more for chemicals?!
I have also been pleasantly surprised at how soft baking soda makes my laundry; goodbye fabric softener.
This book does a good job of encouraging you to become "more" green; not just for people who want to throw everything out and start over, but for people who want to change one or two things in their house to reduce the negative impact they may have on the environment. The awesome side-effect is, many of the "green" alternatives really do clean better, and are wayyyyy cheaper; trust me, I've cleaned houses for a living, and was one of those suckers who bought a diferent cleaning product for every surface in my home.
I have a 9 mo old in the house 2 days a week, as a part-time nanny, and I am proud to say, there is now nothing in my cleaning cabinet, that I would worry about her getting into; it will remain child-proof, for sure, but, if she drank my window cleaner, now, the worst that would happen is a big club-soda-burp.
Thanks, Green Clean!!!

I bought this book after a glowing recommendation over at the Apartment Therapy: Green site. I thought that this would be just acollection of cleaning recipes and tips for my sensative skinned, allergenic self. However, it is so, so much more! This book really breaks down the real meaning of "green" cleaning, explores the ingrediants in "normal" cleaning products and reveals their effects on the environment (and you), and it also helps you create and make a habit of a regular green cleaning plan. A must for any home!

I bought this book after flipping through it at a friends house. I use the book all the time and it offers some very practical, affordable and non-toxic tips for cleaning. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to use less chemicals in their cleaning process or anyone who likes trying new things. Very helpful. Very impressed.