It was, as you can imagine, a difficult situation, made all the worse by the fact that this happened when she was sleepily making morning coffee and really looking forward to that first cup right then.

The entire coffee maker didn’t break, just the glass pot, which was both good and bad. (Okay, at that moment, it was all bad.) A quick online search to the coffee maker’s manufacturer showed that Recycla could easily order a replacement glass pot. Unfortunately, the cost of that pot + shipping was going to be more than just buying a whole new coffee maker.

Recycla dithered for hours. Should she spend more money and get just the glass pot or should she buy something new for less money? This normally would be an easy decision — she’d just get the replacement coffee pot and keep the set-up she already had — but Recycla has had a few experiences with appliance parts breaking and then she has been unable to order a replacement part because it has been discontinued. Should she buy something that could easily break again? And what if the next time she couldn’t get a replacement part?

At the same time, Recycla started wondering what the most environmentally friendly coffee maker option would be.These days, traditional coffee makers are mostly made of plastic with either glass or metal coffee pots. Recycla really didn’t want to buy another piece of plastic. And, not only are many coffee makers made with plastic, they also require paper filters. While it is possible to buy filters made from recycled paper and then compost the filter and grounds afterward, Recycla is guessing that most people do not. And even if everyone did, the fact is, making those paper filters takes resources and chemicals.

So let’s look at other options…

What about a French press? Most do not have much or any plastic pieces. They also do not require paper filters. All you do is boil water in a kettle or the microwave, then pour it into the French press.

Recycla has had a French press and it was a simple, low fuss way to make coffee. Unfortunately, there is the glass component and Recycla’s joined the pantheon of small appliances in her life that eventually shattered. So she decided not to get another French press.

Recycla also considered good old fashioned metal percolators. You pour water into the pot, scoop the coffee into the metal basket, and set the whole shebang on the stove top to heat up. From start to finish, you can have coffee in about 10 minutes and you don’t need paper filters, nor are there any glass parts.

She also has very happy memories associated with these from when she was growing up and would visit her grandparents for overnight visits. Every morning at 5:00, even after they retired, her grandparents would start the day off with coffee brewed in their percolator. In her mind, Recycla could still smell the coffee wafting through the house and hear the sound of the coffee percolating while her grandparents talked quietly.

That sealed the deal. Recycla got a new metal percolator and has been happily brewing coffee in the weeks since. She buys organic free-trade coffee, knowing that the extra expense means better working conditions for the coffee bean growers.

(Recycla packaged up the coffee maker and filters, stuck in a note about where to find the replacement pot, and donated it to a local thrift shop.)

There are a few gaps in Recycla’s coffee considerations. First of all, she did not consider instant coffee because that’s not her particular preference. However, she does keep some Starbucks Via single serving instant coffee packets for those occasions when she’s in a huge hurry and needs to brew up some coffee in 90 seconds or less. They are not a daily habit for her because: 1) the coffee packets are expensive and 2) they are wasteful. So this is not a good long-term coffee solution for Eco Warriors.

Recycla also knows quite a few people who absolutely love their Keurig coffee makers with the K-Cup flavored packs. She also does not consider this to be a reasonable eco option, for two reasons: 1) Again, those packets are served up in little plastic containers that add a lot of waste to landfills, and 2) while you can get organic coffee packets, many others are not only not organic, they contain other chemically-derived ingredients. If Recycla wants to add flavor to her coffee, she’ll add the real thing. (She can attest that a few chocolate chips stirred in add a delightful touch of cocoa to coffee.)

So that’s Recycla’s coffee report. What say you, fellow Eco Warriors? Are you coffee drinkers? If so, what’s your java of choice?

Disclaimer: The Eco Women are not employees of any of the companies mentioned, nor were they asked to review any products. Photo credits: Amazon.

We’ve all been there–stinky situations abound in houses where food rots, kids vomit and drains plug up. Before you head out to buy dangerous toxic chemical fixes like Febreze or Glade Plug-Ins, check your pantry for these items that will naturally purify the air AND not pollute the environment:

* Equal parts distilled white vinegar and water will clean any carpets and fabrics, leaving them smelling like nothing at all once dried. Use this for pet stains, people stains, food stains and mystery stains.
* Bowls of vinegar set around a house will absorb any odors, including cigarette smoke, by the next morning.
* Baking soda sprinkled in a drain or in a garbage will take out the stink.  So will grinding up a chunk of lemon or lime in your garbage disposal.
* A box of baking soda will eliminate fridge odors–just keep another box in your pantry for baking needs.
* An old sock stuffed with coffee beans will keep coolers and freezers smelling fresh whether in use or in storage.
* Stuff shoes with newspaper to absorb odors and moisture when you’re storing them for any length of time.
* Chewing parsley will help fend off bad breath (on you, not on others!).

Each of these items cost less than a dollar, so they’re easy on both your budget and our planet.

It’s important to note that clean surfaces don’t carry odor, as in Enviro Girl’s kitchen, once she took out the trash and wiped out the inside of her garbage bin, that nasty kitchen smell was nothing but a bad memory.  You can layer good smells over bad–burn candles, spray air fresheners, sprinkle potpourri–but if you address the cause, you won’t have to sweat the smells.

When Enviro-Girl lived in town, she marveled at the gigantic snow blowers her neighbors employed to clear 20-40 feet of sidewalk and a short driveway to the street. Enviro Girl’s  garage was set back from the road and she shoveled three times the area her neighbors blew out with snow blowers.  Shoveling is a heck of a work out, inducing sweat and heavy breathing  within minutes –- but it’s the friendliest way to clear the snow. The trick to making shoveling a reasonable task is using the correct tool –- a shovel appropriate for your build and height – and attacking the snow in manageable bits. If 6-8 inches are expected to fall, shovel two to three times during the snowstorm so you’re only clearing a few inches at a time. If you can’t do this, only clear what’s necessary in the first round and clear the rest later.  A 2-foot wide path is adequate for mail carriers and pedestrians, and you might consider only clearing a path to one entrance of your house and leave the other access points alone.  If you get less than 2 inches of snow, you can clear it away using a broom.

Shovels produce no emissions, exhaust, air or water pollution–the person using the shovel might feel exhaust, but Enviro Girl argues most of us would benefit from the exertion of shoveling snow.  Shoveling snow won’t annoy your neighbors because it’s pretty quiet and it’s cost-effective.  You can purchase a snow shovel for $10-30 and they cost nothing to maintain or operate.

If you’re inclined to remove snow using industrial-strength machinery like Enviro-Girl’s husband, remember that bigger isn’t always better. A plow attached to an ATV uses less fuel and makes less noise than his 6.5 hp snow blowing machine.   (Enviro-Girl thinks her hubby is overcompensating every time he buys equipment with engines…you should see his chainsaw.)  An electric snowblower (Toro makes one that runs about $299) uses less energy, makes less noise, and gives off no emissions in stark contrast to its gas-powered counterparts – so if you must blow snow, electric is definitely the way to go.

But snow’s only part of the problem in the winter. Ice simply must be dealt with and there are various methods to employ.  You can chip it away, potentially damaging the concrete/asphalt beneath.  You can scatter other substances on top of the ice to gain traction on the ice until it melts naturally – sand, cat litter, bird seed, and fertilizer are good choices. These things won’t melt your ice, but they’ll help you travel over it safely until sunshine and warmer temperatures do make the ice disappear. (Enviro-Girl is going to try used coffee grounds next time her driveway freezes over.  It’s important to note that she has a strict rule about no shoes or boots in the house!)

If you can’t wait for Mother Nature to take care of things, you can melt the ice. Some places install heated walkways and driveways – radiant heat systems that run hot water pipes below the brick or concrete. These use a lot of energy. Rock salt melts ice and is fairly inexpensive, but it’s really tough on plant life and when it drains away through storm sewers it can mess up ecosystems in lakes and rivers.  Too much chloride is toxic to freshwater plants and animals.  It runs off into water supplies, it kills roadside plants, it builds up in streams and lakes, it can degrade the soil.  It’s also rough on cars, skin, and road surfaces. Rock salt doesn’t work at temperatures below 20  degrees Fahrenheit, either.  In response to the rising costs of road maintenance and environmental concerns, many municipalities have switched to applying brine–rock salt and water combined–before ice can form.  Brine saves money and leaves behind less salt residue.  Sugar beet juice mixed with brine is being studied in several communities because it works well at temperatures as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit and reduces the amount salt required to melt ice.  Many people use Calcium Chloride for melting ice.  It’s three times as costly as rock salt and can still cause skin irritation, but very little Calcium Chloride goes a long way in melting ice.  Calcium Chloride poses the same environmental risks as rock salt.

At the end of all her research, Enviro-Girl plans to use traction on the ice in her driveway.  She’ll chip away at it with her handy chipping tool (a great work out!) and pray for warmer temps soon. One other thing Enviro-Girl has learned: if you let an ice storm fall on a cleared driveway, you’ll have a skating rink that is impossible to clear. If you let an ice storm fall on a snow-covered driveway, you can shovel the ice and snow off pretty easily. In this case, a little laziness paid off on half of her driveway – unfortunately it isn’t the half she needs to drive on!

Disclosure:  Enviro Girl and her family didn’t clear their rural 1/4 mile driveway with a snow shovel — they depend upon a neighbor with a tractor.

1) Go to Work a Different Way:

a) Don’t drive your car,
b) Take mass transit,
c) Ride your bike,
d) Or even run/walk.

You’ll get into better shape, save money and help protect the planet all at the same time.

2) Use natural remedies to heal your ailments.

a) Slice large onions and lay them on your chest, to help clear-up sinus congestion.
b) Steam a pot of water, add a teaspoon of crushed lavender, hold a towel over your head and inhale the warm revitalizing scent.
c) Pour 1/2 cup of Epsom salt into your bath to help soothe aching, tired muscles.

3) Use Products a Different Way.

With the new year here people often want to clean out the old and here’s how to do it without polluting the planet.

a) Use vinegar and water to wash your windows and even your clothes. You can mix 1/4 cup of vinegar in a quart of water. Moisten a dry cotton cloth with this mixture and you can wipe down your counter tops, appliances and even your bathroom.
b) Use a slice of lemon to clean the bottom of your copper pots and pans. Simply rub the copper with lemon juice and salt and you will be awe…mazed.
c) Use baking soda to clean out your refrigerator. Take two tablespoons of baking soda and mix it in a quart of water. Use a sponge and dip it in the liquid to clean your appliances.

People haven’t always had store bought cleansers that were full of dyes, perfumes and chemicals. They used vinegar, baking soda and scrub brushes. You can too!

A simple experiment will demonstrate exactly why the crumple contributes to the Trash Factor, taking up unnecessary room in our garbage bags and landfills.

Procure an empty shoe box and a stack of paper. (Enviro Girl used 8.5″ X 11″ multipurpose paper.)  Lay the paper into the box. How many pieces can you fit? (Enviro Girl laid in one hundred.)

Good. Now pull out the paper and begin crumpling it up and setting it in the box. Now how many pieces can you fit? (Enviro Girl squeezed in ten.)

By resisting the urge to crumple and folding gift wrap flat and layering it in your garbage bags, you’ll be able to dispose of more paper in less space.  You’ll use fewer garbage bags, you’ll conserve space in your garbage bin and you’ll make fewer trips to take out your trash.   Your garbage collectors will thank you (especially the week after Christmas) and your landfills will thank you.

It’s  a simple way to reduce the Trash Factor at Christmastime:  Stop the Crumple.

Since this time of year is by far the most wasteful for Americans, if you can find any way to reduce waste at your lovely soiree, you’ll be doing Planet Earth a huge favor.  Luckily, with just a few easy changes to your routine, you can host your gathering and still make it an eco fete.  Here are some ideas:

• When planning your menu, try to incorporate some local foods and drinks into the plan.  This time of year, Recycla can easily get local cheeses and breads for a cheese board, local beef or chicken for the main course, and local wines and beers are always an option for her.
• Regardless of whether or not you use local, seasonal ingredients, do some cooking from scratch and rely less on pre-packaged or processed foods.  You’ll create less waste and your food will taste much better. Simplicity is key, so don’t feel like you have to pull out Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
• For drinks, use pitchers of water instead of bottled water.  It will save you money, look more elegant, and create far less waste.  If this is a family-friendly party with children present, skip the juice boxes and have pitchers or glass bottles of juice.
• If you’re serving sodas, skip the plastic two-liter bottles and go for glass bottles or aluminum cans.  This might seem counter-intuitive to creating less waste, but plastic is hard on the environment when created and almost never recycled.  Glass and metal, on the other hand, are more easily recycled.
• Make it easy for guests to recycle during the party.  Recycla has a designated spot in her kitchen and she points folks to that counter when she sees them with empties.  If you have a drinks table in your rec room, put a bin underneath and label it as being for recycling.
• You’re setting your table with real dishes, right?  Disposable plates, cups, napkins, and utensils are the largest contributors to your trash can at your party, so use the real thing whenever possible.  If you don’t have enough dishes, utensils, and glasses, borrow from friends.  Recycla has plenty of kitchen storage, so she scoured local thrift shops for enough plain white dishes and accompanying utensils for 40 people.
• If you must buy disposable cups or plates, purchase post-consumer recycled paper rather than Styrofoam.  After the party, compost or recycle them.
• When setting your table, skip the disposable plastic tablecloths and use real ones made from cloth.  If you don’t have enough, borrow from friends, see what’s available at local thrift shops, or simply pull some white sheets out of your linen closet and throw them over your tables.
• Beeswax and soy candles add a nice ambiance to the dinner table without using petroleum or adding toxins to the air.
• Cloth napkins are much nicer than paper and save on waste.  They’re inexpensive to buy and also easy to make. If you really don’t want to use cloth, try to find paper napkins made of recycled content.
• After the party, skip the hand washing and run your dishwasher, which will save water.

Hopefully, these tips will give you some ideas for how you can cut back on waste when you entertain. You don’t have to do everything, so figure out what works for you. Every little bit makes a difference! Even better, each one of these ideas will make your gathering a little nicer and a little more festive.

Tell the Eco Women:  Will you be doing any entertaining during the holidays?

Photo credits: Yahoo Images.

A friend of Recycla’s recently started making her own laundry detergent and has written a guest post tell you how easy and economical it is:

I have always been a good steward of coupons, but they became even more precious to me when I had children. I knew that our cost of living would increase per bundle of joy, but unfortunately, the redemption amount on coupons does not keep pace as families grow. This is especially true for coupons associated with laundry care. While a $0.25 coupon for a small box of detergent may have served my husband and me well, that same coupon fails to carry much weight for the super-duper economy-sized box of detergent that is needed to keep my family of six clean. Family, in my case, means two adults, 2 children, and 2 dogs. Laundry is serious business in my house.

I had heard of people making their own laundry detergent, but never gave it any serious thought. After all, there’s an entire aisle at the grocery store dedicated to laundry care; surely making one’s own detergent would be a time-intensive labor of love, right?

Wrong! Unsurprisingly, a quick search using Google yielded some incredibly helpful advice, products, and recipes, and dispelled the myth that suds is what makes your clothes clean. (It’s not.) But the big question loomed and was favorably answered: homemade detergent is SAFE for high efficient (HE) washers.

Incredibly, I had a need to visit my local Walmart (there’s never really a want to go there; and there’s rarely a need), so I stopped in the laundry care aisle. Voila! There were the three ingredients needed to make your own laundry detergent:

• 1 bar of Fels-Naptha, $0.97*
• 1 box of Arm & Hammer All Natural Super Washing Soda, $3.24
• 1 box of 20 Mule Team Borax All Natural Laundry Booster, $2.98

One of the first recipes I came across had a 1-1-1 ratio — 1 Fels-Naptha bar to 1 cup of washing soda to 1 cup of Borax. Easy enough.

Easy enough until I started finely grating the Fels-Naptha bar as suggested into my washing soda/Borax mixture. Our cheap grater couldn’t handle the task, nor could my arms. I improvised by choosing larger grating slots that resulted in shavings the size of freshly shredded cheddar cheese. Ta-da! We were ready to run the first load of laundry using our homemade detergent.

We wisely chose to run a load of towels first. You know, just in case disaster struck. It takes just one tablespoon to clean a full load and two tablespoons for an extra-dirty load.

It worked!

We then sampled it on our children’s laundry. It worked! We then proceeded with our laundry. Again, it worked!

Then we noticed that some large clumps of Fels-Naptha shavings were blocking the water flow inlet in our HE washer. We simply cleared it away, making note that 1) next time, we definitely need to finely grate the Fels-Naptha bar and 2) we needed to wash with warm water at a minimum for all loads using this batch of detergent.

So we went back to the three original ingredients and improvised to our liking. We bought a grater (again, from Wally World, I’m sorry!) that we could use specifically for this task. It works perfectly.

We did a 1-cup to 1-cup ratio of the remaining washing soda and Borax and grated in 1 Fels-Naptha bar. You can see how much this yields in the photo. Basically, it yields a lot, especially considering you only need 1-2 tablespoons per load.

By finely grating the Fels-Naptha and reducing its ratio in the recipe, we now have no issues with it dissolving in cold water. I have to say the Fels-Naptha smells so wonderful in our supply closet that we’ve considered using it as an air freshener throughout the house. I love swapping the clothes from the washer to the dryer simply because of their smell. Crazy, I know. But I absolutely love the smell. Maybe it’s because it’s natural and not artificial?

Thus far, we have found the benefits of this homemade laundry detergent solution to be plentiful:

1. It’s easier on our wallet. While I didn’t provide a monetary breakdown, my total of just over $7 is better than Walmart’s price of $9.24 for a box of Tide (40 loads). You can tell in the picture that my container has well over 40 tablespoons of washes in it.

2. It’s better for the environment. No scary chemicals.

3. It’s better for our skin, especially our daughter, who has sensitive skin. We tried to buy dye-free detergents, but they’re hard to come by and not readily available in economy-sized packaging.

4. It’s efficient. No stain treatment needed, unless you want to pre-treat directly on the stain with Fels-Naptha. No fabric softener needed. Just this mixture and that’s it.

5. It’s a great way to get the kids involved. Think of everything they learn: financial rewards for a little hard work, fractions, environmental awareness, etc.

6. The products have multiple uses. The Fels-Naptha can be used to pretreat stains. According to the website, it removes poison ivy oil, too. The Borax and the washing soda can also be used as general household cleaners.

7. It can even be made into a liquid detergent. Simply reference our dear friend Google to learn more.

*Please note that you can technically use other soaps to replace Fels-Naptha. Some swear by Ivory soap. I purchased (again, at Walmart) Colgate’s Octagon soap for our next round of experimentation. It also serves double-duty, cutting grease and grime in the kitchen, cleaning dishes (by hand, I assume), and removes oil from your FACE. (I’ll let you know how it goes on that later.

Many thanks to B.L. Vernon for sharing her experience and advice with the Eco Women! She shared some of her laundry soap with Recycla, who has been happily using it on her family’s laundry this past week. She is very impressed with the results and plans to mix up her own batch of detergent soon.

Have you entered the Eco Women’s VZ Wraps giveaway yet?

The Green Queen and her husband love to recycle, reuse and re…do. The Green King (TGK) – or would that be Prince by virtue of marriage…? Well whatever the title may be, he likes to grab old wood that’s been thrown away. If he sees sticks, and slabs of old wood at the side of the road, or in dumpsters and even discarded in landfills… that’s not garbage to him. He can’t leave it laying in waste, he grabs it and smiles like he’s just rubbed the side of an old lamp and found an old treasure…or a genie in a bottle. Then, with a schoolboy giggle he’ll load that wood in the back of his car and drive off into the sunset with visions of how he’s going to put that piece of lumber to use.

And old electrical wire spools are no different than beautiful pieces of unutilized wood to him.

He found this broken spool outside an electrical supply company and asked if they were throwing it away. They were. So he asked if he could have it. Just like in Beauty and the Beast, they said, “Be my guest.”

He took the spool home and went to work repairing and repurposing that old drab oversized spool.

Now it’s a beautiful garden table and chairs.

Think what you might be able to do with garbage you find laying on the side of the road, who knows, it might be a beautiful piece of garden furniture in your future.

For example, how many of you have electric can openers? Unless you have a dexterity issue, manual hand-cranked can openers are the more eco (and less expensive) way to go.

Other examples:

If you live in an old house with radiators, forgo humidifiers and simply put pans of water on top of a couple of radiators. This also works well if you have a wood stove.

French press coffee pots can replace electric coffee makers — some coffee purists say the non-electric version makes a superior cup of coffee anyway. (Bonus: No paper filters!)

Air dry your hair instead of using a blow dryer.

Use an old fashioned pencil sharpener instead of an electric version.

Use a regular toothbrush instead of an electric one. (Recycla confesses she uses power tools to brush her teeth and she’s not sure she could go back.)

And then there are the big things, like hanging your laundry up to dry.

That said, sometimes, switching back to the old way won’t work for you. For example, studies have shown that using a dishwasher ultimately uses less water than handwashing. And in Recycla’s house, laundry is hung up inside in the laundry room, but never outside because both Recycla and one of her daughters have seasonal allergies, so wearing t-shirts covered in tree pollen is not going to work for them.

You don’t have to do all of these things, but you might want to consider trying even just one.

Tell the Eco Women: What other ideas do you have?

Photo credits: Yahoo Images

Enviro Girl declared her status as “neutral” and admitted she doesn’t really buy Proctor & Gamble products–and then on Sunday while reading through the weekly coupon offers from that company, discovered why.  You see, it’s not that Enviro Girl is against Proctor & Gamble, per se.  It’s not even that she’s buying goods produced by a competitor.  She doesn’t buy Proctor & Gamble products because as an environmental activist and “green” housekeeper, they don’t make much that she needs!

Let’s take a quick look at their brands and product lines and why Enviro Girl doesn’t buy them:

Always:  well, maxi pads are gross and Enviro Girl prefers tampons.  She sees panty liners as a total waste of plastic-lined trash.

Clairol, Aussie, Herbal Essences:  Enviro Girl goes au natural with her hair color and prefers a paraben-free, synthetic-fragrance-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free shampoo/conditioner experience.  She’s an Avalon Organics girl all the way for her hair care products.

Secret:  Not strong enough for this woman.  She prefers Certain Dri.

Tampax:  Is it just Enviro Girl or have other people noticed the “designer style feminine hygiene care products?”  Bottom line:  An applicator is a waste of plastic or cardboard.

Ivory:  Actually, Enviro Girl swears by bars of Ivory soap at her house, so Proctor & Gamble do get her money for this product.  Tried and true, it’s a cleansing classic.

Venus:  Ditto here–she invested in a razor and likes the disposable cartridges instead of disposable razors.

Scope:  If you brush and floss, mouthwash isn’t necessary.  If you find it is, then you’ve probably got bigger issues going on in your mouth.

CoverGirl:  See the above issues Enviro Girl has with hair care products.  Ditto for her face.  She does not buy most make up products, when she does she opts for brands free of toxic chemicals.

Crest:  Enviro Girl’s household uses Crest.  Not everyone in the household brushes their teeth with crest, so it’s not the main toothpaste brand of choice.

Comet:  (no site link available) Enviro Girl uses Bon Ami or baking soda–not the lung-searing cleaning power of Comet.

Swiffer:  It’s a disposable mop-head/broom product, people.  Disposable.  Enviro Girl won’t even speculate on what they brew to make the floor spray stuff with–she uses a regular mop and vinegar with hot water to clean wood and tile floors.

Tide/Dreft/Cheer/Gain:  Enviro Girl has major issues with chemical fragrances and she likes to use a laundry detergent that’s gentle on the environment.  To that end, she’s a Seventh Generation fan through and through–that detergent never fails to clean her family’s clothes and doesn’t leave a heavy scent behind, either.

Ferbreze:  Speaking of chemically toxic smells, most people already know that a clean house doesn’t require air fresheners.  Never ever in a million years would Enviro Girl buy a product that leaves behind dangerous chemical residue in the name of “freshening up” her household. Enviro Girl cleans well with vinegar and water and leaves windows open for that “fresh air” fragrance in her house.

Duracell:  Enviro Girl has already invested in rechargeable batteries by Energizer.  ‘Nuff said.

Downy/Bounce:  Enviro Girl has posted before about dryer sheets and fabric softeners.  They’re a wasteful and even dangerous product.   If static cling is really an issue, wool dryer balls or a quick spritz with vinegar and water will cure it.  It’s products like these that make the last few aisles of Target an asthma attack waiting to happen for people like Enviro Girl.

Dawn:  Just as she feels about laundry detergent, Enviro Girl likes an environmentally friendly and natural smelling dish soap.  She chooses Mrs. Meyers Clean Day products.  (And is it just Enviro Girl or do other people notice a wonky smell on dish cloths when folks use the “antibacterial” Dawn dish soaps?)

Cascade:  Again, environmentally friendly dishwasher detergents are Enviro Girl’s pick.  She really likes Seventh Generation’s dishwasher powdered detergent.  It’s fairly inexpensive and does a great job getting dishes clean.

Bounty:  Enviro Girl has taken The Paper Towel Challenge and uses about a quarter a roll of paper towel a year.  Paper towels really aren’t necessary–old newspapers or rags do the same job for a fraction of the price and without decimating forests.  In fact, Enviro Girl’s family has even reduced their use of paper towels since she originally took the challenge!  Because she barely ever buys paper towels, she spends a bit more on some 100% recycled paper towels.

Charmin:  Enviro Girl buys the store brand of toilet paper–not super plush, not super scratchy.

Pringles:  Enviro Girl will let the ingredients speak for this product:

RICE FLOUR, VEGETABLE OIL (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: CORN OIL, COTTONSEED OIL, SOYBEAN OIL, AND/OR SUNFLOWER OIL), DRIED POTATOES, CORN FLOUR, MALTODEXTRIN, WHEAT STARCH, MODIFIED RICE STARCH, SUGAR, AND TRIGLYCEROL MONO-OLEATE. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, WHEAT BRAN, DRIED BLACK BEANS, SALT, AND CITRIC ACID. CONTAINS WHEAT INGREDIENTS.

Um, yeah.  Enviro Girl likes potato chips made with 3 ingredients, potatoes, oil and salt.  FAIL, Pringles.  FAIL.  (And this is the ingredient list from the healthy-sounding “Multigrain Pringles.”)

Mr. Clean:  Enviro Girl loves Ecover.  Bless your shiny bald head, Mr. Clean, but the contents of your bottle will never in a million years live up to the high environmental standards of Ecover.
So, it’s not personal, Proctor & Gamble.  It’s more a matter of being friendly to her environment (air, earth and water) and knowing what’s necessary to keep her household clean and healthy and what will probably pollute it more.   Do tell, reader–do you buy Proctor & Gamble products for your household?  Or have you opted to buy more eco-friendly brands?