Archive for July, 2007

July 21, 2007 | Kitchen, Cleaning products

My poor house. It’s become the staging ground for Broom Huggers, and the testing site for cleaning products. It comes easily to us, what with 2 toddlers. But today, for the sake of science, I smeared fresh cherries all over my white laminate counter tops. And then (start ominous music) let it dry. (As an aside: I’ve always wanted to change out my laminate counters for hard surface… ah, the thought of granite… but the laminate has proven quite useful when it comes to testing products. So much for kitchen upgrades.)

Anyhow, wanna know what my experiment found? Natural cleaning products work just as well as their chemical-laden counterparts! There will be more details to come this week, naming names and what not. But I just have to tell you. I tried 3 different chemical-free cleaners - and all of them wiped up dried cherry juice without any scrubbing. So to the nay-sayers out there who claim that natural cleaners require loads of elbow grease, I say don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it!

Mom, if you’re reading, no countertops were harmed in the performing of this experiment.

July 20, 2007 | Food & drink, Pregnancy

This is one of the best giveaways I’ve seen in Bloggityville! Over at 5 Minutes for Mom they’re giving away $300 worth of Horizon organic milk! (Have you ever tasted Horizon organic milk? I warn you, you can’t just drink one glass.)

If you’re struggling with questions about whether or not to switch to organic milk, check out our post from February about organic milk. And if you’re pregnant, put down the skim milk! Miscarriage rates rise a bit in women who drink skim milk, so enjoy the creaminess of 2% until you have the little bundle in your arms!

July 19, 2007 | Health, Shopping

You bet! I found a report in the Parenting magazine that showed up in my mailbox today about I,4-dioxane. This is a probable human carcinogen, and it’s in my kids’ shampoo! In fact, I went to Skin Deep, where you can check your personal use products (cosmetics, soaps, lotions, etc.) for toxicity information and I found that the Gerber Grins & Giggles (Oatmeal) I’ve been using is known to contain formaldehyde (with its own score of problems), I,4-dioxane, and ingredients linked to the following:

• Cancer
• Developmental and reproductive toxicity
• Allergies and immunotoxicity

EEK! Now, it would be easy to jump off the deep end and get rid of anything with a Skin Deep toxicity rating above, say, 1 (out of 10 - and my Gerber Grins & Giggles is a 5) but that wouldn’t be practical. Let’s face it. A lot of what they’re testing for is suspected carcinogens, and even sunlight can be deemed a carcinogen. So let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water (ha! or the baby with the carcinogenic bath wash!). But, take a look at the Skin Deep website and see what it says about what you’re using - it’s run by EWG, a non-profit advocacy group and they’re goal is to help consumers. Unfortunately my preferred baby wash isn’t listed there (Bath Junkie - it’s truly awesome, but now I’m afraid…).It pays to be an informed consumer, so that at the very least you can weigh the risks against the price and convenience of the products you purchase.

Food & drink, Health, Shopping

School shopping time is just around the corner. We’ll all be heading out the shops to buy pencil boxes, glue sticks, new shoes, and … cha-ching! … lunch boxes too. But as it turns out, the vinyl in many lunchboxes contains lead. Many lunchboxes use vinyl either on the inside or the outside, and a frightening - yet decreasing - number of them contain lead.

As far as I see it, any amount of lead is too much. But when some lunchboxes tested had amounts of lead 90% higher than the limit for lead paint, that’s a real problem. Here’s a PDF that tells more about it. In children, exposure to lead can to decreased IQ, stunted growth, ADD, kidney damage, along with other behavioral and developmental problems. That’s some pretty bad stuff. The younger the children, the more susceptible they are to lead poisoning. My little girl - we’ll call her Bean - has been using a potential deathtrap regular lunchbox for a year. And her little brother - Little Man - will be starting preschool this year too.

As for me, I’ll be buying a couple lead-free lunchboxes this year. Go ahead, google it. You’ll find some good choices.

July 18, 2007 | Broom Hugged, Water, Food & drink, Being Green, Lifestyle, News

Next week will be a big week here at Broom Huggers - thanks to all the negative attention bottled water has been given (see here and here), we’ll be giving away TWO SIGG reusable bottles. As featured on Oprah, Time, Elle, and over a dozen other magazines, these bottles are cool and highly durable.Broom Huggers will be giving away one adult bottle and one child’s sippy-cup SIGG. So don’t forget to come back next week and enter the drawing!

Bathroom, Cleaning tips

Truth be told, toilet bowl cleaners are nothing more than marketing genius. Those porcelain thrones get special attention due to the special nature of the ‘nature’ that happens there. Companies have played on our sensibilities (and sense of smell…) long enough.

What they’re really selling is: a fun shaped bottle; chemicals to alter the way your nose senses smell (they call them ’scents,’ but really they just trick your nose); more chemicals to make it ‘cling’; still more chemicals to allow you to see where it clings. Other than that, it’s just regular all-purpose cleaner. In fact, your regular all-purpose cleaner will do the job just fine.

So next time you run out of toilet bowl cleaner, don’t run to the store to replenish your supplies. Your potty can be perfectly clean without it. And don’t give in to those ’sanitary’ flush-able disposable toilet cleaners (they don’t work; they literally assault and kill all the good things that help your nose work the way it should; and they’re rotten for the environment and your house too.) They’re not even sanitary - they just give the illusion.

My favorite toilet bowl cleaner? Buy one of those kitchen shakers - I like the kind that you would use to sprinkle flour on the counter before you roll out a pie crust (yes, a little assumption there that you do roll out pie crusts - but if you don’t maybe you’d use one to sprinkle powdered sugar over your store-bought pound cake), but a regular salt shaker works fine too. Fill it with Borax (20 Mule Team brand Borax is sold at most grocery stores with the powdered detergents) and sprinkle some into your toilet bowl at night. The next morning give it a little swish-swish, making sure to get up around the underside of the rim, and you’re good to go!

Need to tackle it fast before your guests make their way from their car to your front door? Sprinkle the borax, pour in a healthy splash of vinegar or lemon juice, and swish until the doorbell rings.

July 17, 2007 | Reviews, Broom Hugged, Cleaning products

After 9 long hours on the road coming home from Florida, I was greeted by a gratifyingly heavy white box with the familiar red and blue of Priority Mail. It was sitting on the front doorstep, welcoming me home in all it’s simplicity. The moment I saw it my heart soared - I knew perfectly well that it was the products from Barefoot Home Essentials that I’ve been anticipating. Getting home past the kids’ bedtime I didn’t really have time to test it all out yet - but stay tuned, there’s a review coming just around the corner.

I will tell you that as I opened the box and pulled out each elegantly packaged bottle I was greeted with a natural, yet gently sweet scent that awakened my home-y senses after 9 long hours in the car. Though I was too tired to clean house, I did open up the room spray and mist it around the family room and playroom. And let me just say, heaven is a clean, welcoming-scented home after a long trip. Stay tuned for a full review, but for now, I assure you there will be no shortage of lavender-disinfected surfaces in my home for some time.

Broom Hugged

Thanks for hanging in with us while we had a hurricane of big, gigantic, frustrating website-destroying hosting issues a few minor technical setbacks. Broomhuggers.com is back for good, settled well into its new web host, and we’ve got all our kinks out of our system.

And thank you ever so much to our good friend Stuart, who rescued us from the abyss of cyber-pergatory. Stuart, consider yourself (((Broom Hugged))).

July 16, 2007 | Reviews, Broom Hugged, Health, Cleaning products

Thyme is used in worldwide cuisine for its earthy, aromatic, and slightly nutty flavor. No self-respecting cook would make Thanksgiving stuffing without it (or its most appropriate friend, sage). But did you know that it has a host of medicinal uses too? Historically, thyme has been used as a disinfectant, as well as an immune booster to ward off illness.

Add to that, it’s fully sustainable, quick growing, hardy, and doesn’t require the use of pesticides, and you have a Mc-Dreamy herb.

The folks over at CleanWell have harnessed the power of thyme to create a perfectly healthy sanitizer, complete with gel, wipes, and all sort of products to keep your hands and your kids’ hands clean. It’s the perfect antidote to all those alcohol-based sanitizers out there that have recently come to light as being serious health hazards.

So head on over to CleanWell and check out their product line. I can’t wait to get my hands on some (or, more accurately, to get some on my hands - oh, that was corny!). And when you get there, tell ‘em I sent ya!

July 15, 2007 | Food & drink, Shopping

If you’re looking for a simple step toward sustainability, your coffee could very well do it for you. Go for the eco-trifecta: organic, shade-grown, and fair trade (doesn’t that just sound nice?). Organic ensures that your coffee is free of pesticides - good for you, good for the planet. Shade-grown beans mature more slowly and therefore have a fuller, richer flavor. The added plus? They ensure that rainforests weren’t destroyed for your cup of joe. And fair trade? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that the men and women who harvested your precious beans were paid a decent wage, and sent their kids to school instead of using child labor?

One of our favorites is Larry’s Beans. You can purchase just a few of their products online. But they have retailers in most major cities. Check their website to find where you can get your hands on some Larry’s Beans.