The FastDay Forum

I decided recently to try and reduce the number of chemicals that are used in my house, particularly for cleaning. I have just completed my housework using water, white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, olive oil and essential oils of lemon and tea tree. I have to say that I am really impressed at the results and wish I had tried it sooner. I've also noticed how naturally fresh the house smells and that I am not sneezing like I normally do when I clean!
Does anyone else use these kind of products to clean? I'd love to hear any tips and advice for natural cleaning, remedies or any other chemical product that can be replaced with natural.

I've used white vinegar for years, on mirrors, tiles, windows, stainless steel anything that shines really, I wouldn't be without it

a pile of bicarbonate of soda down the plugholes quickly followed by a large glug of vinegar produces a very satisfying fizz. I try to do it late and leave overnight.
I use soap flakes to wash my floor cos I dont want my dog walking on loads of chemical.
I clean my teeth with bi carb ,soemtimes mixed with coconut oil.
ACV is suppose3d to be good for the underarms instead of all the chemical laden deodorants.
This is moving slightly away from cleaning products but Mercola advocates showering weekly (or less often) and just washing groin /armpits/ face daily to minimise all the chemicals which we absorb through our skin.Also ,as you get older our skin needs its protective mantle so showering with harsh chemical laden gels /cremes and shampoos.
Sorry, I appear to have used the word 'chemical' four times.Just shows where my pet hates lie dosnt it?

I've nothing against the cleaning methods you list here. They work and can be economical. I will, however, say this:

Snake venom is natural. Should I be getting snakes to bite me? Clothes are an unnatural man-made invention. Should I stop wearing them when going out in winter? There's plenty that is natural that is bad for us and plenty that is unnatural that is good.

Lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda etc. are just as much chemicals as anything that came from a Proctor&Gamble plant. You need to take the safety of any substance on its own merits, and whether it's of natural origin or not has little relevance to me.

Lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda etc. are just as much chemicals as anything that came from a Proctor&Gamble plant. You need to take the safety of any substance on its own merits, and whether it's of natural origin or not has little relevance to me.

I should probably have chosen my words more carefully. Non toxic is what I'm after not necessarily strictly non chemical.
Incidentally, I would rather swallow lemon juice than anything P&G may produce!

I've nothing against the cleaning methods you list here. They work and can be economical. I will, however, say this:

Snake venom is natural. Should I be getting snakes to bite me? Clothes are an unnatural man-made invention. Should I stop wearing them when going out in winter? There's plenty that is natural that is bad for us and plenty that is unnatural that is good.

Lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda etc. are just as much chemicals as anything that came from a Proctor&Gamble plant. You need to take the safety of any substance on its own merits, and whether it's of natural origin or not has little relevance to me.

Indeed, were you previously a lawyer for Lucifer?

Indeed, were you previously a lawyer for Lucifer?

Haha nope. It's just that things are very very rarely as simple as we'd like them to be. If you get down to an axiom as simple as "natural is good, man-made is bad" then you're probably going wrong somewhere.

As we're in a diet forum I could talk about the food we eat. It's pretty much all unnatural in as much as we've bred it to give us more of what we want (bigger fruits and grains, cows that produce huge amounts of milk and are more docile than their wild counterparts etc.) at the expense of having to look after it ourself and protect it from the rest of nature. If left alone wheat and rice would be out-competed by natural grasses, cows and sheep would be easy pickings for predators and would disappear. The idea of what is "natural" is very hard to pin down...

I agree, but Foraging, Self Sufficiency, and not being reliant on carbon producing chemical cleaning products is a better way of life surely ( I know for that to work we should grow our own lemons, make our own vinegar etc)

Back in the good old days hey, where life expectancy was 40, and all but the richest people lived in abject poverty and filth!

[carorees]

Ha ha boboff, that's the mistake we all make when looking back at the good old days and thinking 'things were better then'...we always assume we would be among the rich folks not the serfs!!

I know my place...



You rang my lady!

[wildmissus]

This has turned into an interesting thread! My way of thinking is to try and keep things simple.

For many years now I don't use furniture polish - I just use a damp e-cloth. For cleaning the bathroom and much more I use a product called Simple Green - yes man-made but non-toxic.

Since the new year I've been applying that to the way I eat. I have ditched ready meals and diets foods and I now cook from scratch now. I buy beef from cows that are 'grown' for eating, I buy whole milk which has not been through yet another process to skim it.

The word 'natural' is in itself a cause for great debate but for me reducing the amount of unnecessary/unpleasant chemicals in my life is a good thing.

[carorees]

I know my place...



You rang my lady!

I've nothing against the cleaning methods you list here. They work and can be economical. I will, however, say this:

Snake venom is natural. Should I be getting snakes to bite me? Clothes are an unnatural man-made invention. Should I stop wearing them when going out in winter? There's plenty that is natural that is bad for us and plenty that is unnatural that is good.

Lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda etc. are just as much chemicals as anything that came from a Proctor&Gamble plant. You need to take the safety of any substance on its own merits, and whether it's of natural origin or not has little relevance to me.

I was alittle miffed by your off hand dismissal of people's legitiamte concerns.

The following arrived in my mail box this morning,timely, I thought .It reinforced in me the belief that we need to cut down on chemicals in our daily lives where it is within our powers..We cant do everyhting of course and being aware of likely hazards is the way to go.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... n=20130309

Ive been concerned about the use of chemicals on the body for a long time now. Esp hair dyes and deodorants. I am convinced 20 or so years down the line there is a huge health scare lurking that will affect the majority of people - horrible thought.

There's no doubt that your concerns are legitimate. I share them and I didn't mean to come across as patronising. It's just that I don't think it's as simple as all that. We need to find solutions for a planet of seven billion people and I think that there's a serious danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater if we just try to return to what is perceived as "natural."

As to using Mercola as a trusted news source, I'd be as skeptical of what he has to say as I would of the PR departments of the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. He seems to me to be taking advantage of people's legitimate concerns for his own profit, selling a lot of products that are not proven to work based on the idea that they are "natural."