Green Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is the period in spring time set aside for cleaning a house, normally applied in climates with a cold winter.

The most common usage of spring cleaning refers to the yearly act of cleaning a house from top to bottom which would take place in the first warm days of the year typically in spring, hence the name. However it has also come to be synonymous with any kind of heavy duty cleaning or organizing enterprise. A person who gets their affairs in order before an audit or inspection could be said to be doing some spring cleaning.

Green cleaning is a term that describes a growing trend in favor of using cleaning methods with environmentally-friendly ingredients and chemicals to preserve human health and environmental quality. Green cleaning techniques and products avoid the use of chemically-reactive and toxic cleaning products which contain various toxic chemicals, some of which emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) causing respiratory and dermatological problems among other adverse effects. Green cleaning can also describe the way residential and industrial cleaning products are manufactured, packaged and distributed. If the manufacturing process is environmentally-friendly and the products are biodegradable, then the term “green” or “eco-friendly” may apply.

Harmful chemicals are prevalent not only in general consumer cleaning products but also in foods, cosmetics, home construction, clothing and many industries. In the average American home, around 63 synthetic chemical products can be found. This equates to approximately 10 gallons of hazardous chemicals.  By using more ecologically-friendly products, including green cleaning formulations and products, consumers may be able to reduce human health risks by reducing exposure to these and other harmful chemicals.
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So when you are working on your Green Spring Cleaning, you may want to donate your excess to charity.  There is a website called excessaccess.com that matches you to local charities that will come and pick up your donations and the website will give you a receipt that can be used at tax time.  Also if you go on to the EPA.gov website and click on ecycling they will advise you on how to recycle those old computers and cell phones.

For Green Spring Cleaning your home office,  think paperless and go to Billeo.com that will let you download a software tool that stores all your passwords and connects you to your vendors that you pay online. 

If you have baby clothes or baby items that you want to trade or give away to others who need them, go to zwaggle.com where you can join a “swapmeet” where you get points for your trade to use for other things you need.

Here on Green Earth Friend we have a recycling widget where you plug in your item and zip code and it will tell you where you can bring your item to be recycled.  Check it out at the end of the far right column on this website.

Good luck to everyone with your Green Spring Cleaning and I hope all these tips help everyone to keep their spring cleaning eco-friendly and green.