Archive for September, 2007

September 29, 2007 | Health, News

The FDA released a new recommendation yesterday that children under 2 not be given decongestants and children under 6 not be given antihistamines. They want to remove the caution on the labels that says “Consult your physician” for ages under x.  Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore’s health commissioner says, “It does not make sense, in the absence of information, to say ’consult a physician,’ because they do not have superhuman powers. They cannot make a product safe or effective.”

There are two problems at hand. One is that these medications have not been proven effective for the ages above, and secondly, they have been associated with childhood death in some instances. The specific active ingredients to be concerned about are:

Decongestant (not for use <2)    Antihistamine (not for use <6)

pseudoephedrine                                 diphenhydramine

phenylephrine                                      brompheniramine

ephedrine                                              chlorpheniramine

I just found that the cough and cold medicine I gave my 3-year old daughter this morning has chlorpheniramine in it, and the medication I gave her last night has diphenhydramine in it. We’ll be ditching those until she’s six. You can find the full story at MSNBC or you can search the FDA site for more information.

September 27, 2007 | Being Green, Health, Lifestyle

Never before have natural products been so close to my heart. I haven’t posted much lately, and that’s because of what’s happening at home. We’ve spent a good bit of the week at the neurologist’s office.

It turns out that my toddler has a benign brain tumor. They aren’t sure if it’s what’s causing the seizures or not, so we’ve had to do 2 EEGs and a battery of other tests.

With all that going on, other things have fallen by the way-side. Cabinets aren’t always being locked, spray bottles get left out when I do find the time to clean… But knowing that there are no chemicals that (a) could be causing the seizures and (b) could harm my kids when my mind is elsewhere - is awfully reassuring. If you haven’t made the switch to natural yet, I highly recommend it. It’s most definitely worth it.

September 23, 2007 | Health

Temperatures are dropping, leaves are starting to change colors, and that ushers in one more annual development - the flu shot. It’s highly recommended for children, pregnant women, and the elderly, but do talk to your doctor to help decide if you should get it.

One of the primary concerns with the flu vaccine is thimerosal, which is a mercury-based preservative used in several vaccines (not just the flu shot). So here’s the scoop. Several flu vaccines are available, and you can ask your doctor which one he or she uses, armed with the following information about thimerosal:

• FluMist (obviously preferable to most, since it doesn’t involve a shot) is preferable for one more reason now - it doesn’t contain thimerosal.
• Fluarix is a shot, but also does not contain thimerosal.
• Fluvirine and Fluzone are available with reduced thimerosal concentrations.

As always, use your doctor as your primary resource for information, but perhaps this will help you ask more effective questions!

September 21, 2007 | Allergies, Cleaning tips

I’ve been reminded by hearing the dry cough-cough through the night down the hall in the kids’ rooms. And by that persistent little itch in my nose. That allergy season is making its debut. So to conquer the sniffles and other not-so-welcome nuisances of allergy season, here are some helpful tips: (more…)

September 18, 2007 | Kitchen, Cleaning tips

What day is your garbage picked up? Mine goes out to the curb Wednesday night. So my task every Wednesday afternoon (when the kids are napping of course) is to clean out my fridge and freezer.

Clean it out the day you take your trash out, so you don’t have food rotting in your trash can and critters free-loading out of your can. Do it once a week and you’ll never have science projects growing in there.

A glass and mirror cleaner will clean most of the spills you have, but Simple Green will take care of anything goopy or greasy. If you have really tough spills they’ll come off easier if you remove the shelves/drawers and let them come to room temp before you clean them.

And do I really need to tell you that an open box of baking soda will eat odors? It’s true. If you don’t want to keep a whole box of it in your fridge pour a few spoonfuls into a small container, like an emptied, clean 2-oz jar pimentos or a tiny Tupperware.  Either way, food is always more appetizing when you fridge doesn’t smell like last year’s taco dinner.

September 17, 2007 | Being Green, Health, Lifestyle

… that I love going all-natural:

My son’s been having seizures lately, and it’s pretty scary. The doctors have all sorts of questions they ask, and I can’t answer them all. They ask things that I’d never have thought to pay attention to. But one of their questions after a seizure is if my child could have been exposed to chemicals. And on that one, I can give a resounding no. At least it rules out one thing.

Along the same lines, when I walk into the kitchen and see the child lock on the kitchen sink unlocked, there’s no need to panic. I know that there’s nothing in there to hurt my kids. And that’s some pretty important peace of mind.

September 13, 2007 | Health

For common ails… I’ve just got 2 to share, but maybe some of our readers can contribute theirs as well.

Bleeding - pat some sugar on it. Somehow it stops the bleeding.

Bumps and bruises - a little olive oil brings the swelling down.

That’s my contribution. How about you? What’s your favorite home remedy?

September 12, 2007 | Cleaning tips

What do you do when your house is a wreck and you only have a small amount of time to clean up? Prioritize! Here’s what I do, starting at the top (the most important things) and moving down the list until I run out of time:

1. Clean up clutter - baskets are great for this. Toss things in baskets and put them out of sight. You can go through the baskets after your guests leave to actually clean and organize.
2. Toilets - make sure they’re shiny.
3. Sweep any sweepable floors
4. Vacuum carpets and rugs
5. Dust
6. Pick some flowers from your garden if you have any and put them in a vase.
7. Use lemon - spray some around the kitchen and bathroom counters and sinks. You don’t want your home to smell like harsh cleaning chemicals, but the faint scent of lemon as your guests enter gives the illusion of clean (even if you know you only did surface cleaning!)
8. Mop if you have time. Another great opportunity for lemon juice! You can make this easier by using a Swiffer (only minus their chemical spray - use your own diluted lemon juice spray instead).

The list may not get you awarded with the cleanest home on the block award, but your guests won’t notice if your blinds are dusty or there are smudges on your baseboards. This gives you a nice surface clean with a few tricks that’ll keep their attention off your baseboards.

Of course the best way is to maintain your home - either yourself with a method like Fly Lady’s, or by calling in help from an all-natural maid service (like, need I say? Broom Huggers!).

That’s what works for me. For more tips head over to Rocks in My Dryer.

September 11, 2007 | Reviews, Broom Hugged, Cleaning products, Shopping

We had a recent question emailed to us about microfiber cloths that I want to share.

Q: I noticed that Method has 4 different types of microfiber cloths. Are they actually specialized or can you just get one and be done with it?

A: In fact, you can find those same 4 microfiber cloths branded by several different company in different places, and so far the prices I’ve seen at Target for them are the best.

I can’t give you the scientific lowdown on it, but the one for glass is most definitely worth it. You can upkeep your mirrors and windows without any spray (unless there’s toothpaste or something) - spray will make it easier if there are a lot of spots, but the glass cloth is most certainly worth its weight in gold. And none of the others do the same job on glass.

The one for dusting does a better job at dusting than the others. It has a different weave on one side, and it catches the dust well. With a little furniture polish it gives a nice finish.

As for the other two, one is for kitchen and bath, and I don’t remember what the other is for, but I found them to be virtually interchangeable.

In short, the 4 are different, and the glass alone makes it worthwhile. I end up washing the kitchen and bath one most frequently, because when cleaning the kitchen and bath the cloth needs to be washed after (you can imagine why). But the one for dusting is probably my most frequently used - daily, or at least every other day to dust something or other.

September 7, 2007 | Reviews, Broom Hugged, Cleaning products

2 well known mild abrasives. Both natural. In my mind, they do about the same job of cleaning up. Sure, Bar Keeper’s Friend cuts grease a bit better, but Bon Ami rinses easier and leaves less residue. Otherwise, they’re pretty close when it comes to performance. But what about health? After all, here at Broom Huggers we’re all about health. That’s the whole focus of our green and natural maid service. So here’s the lowdown.

Bar Keeper’s Friend’s active ingredient is Oxalic Acid. It’s found in nature all over the place (in small quantities) and even occurs naturally in some foods we eat, like nuts, chocolate, rhubarb, poppy seeds, and more. In trace amounts in food, it’s harmless to healthy people. When processed for use in cleaning products, it can be related to breathing difficulties, skin irritation and skin burn, severe eye irritation (don’t use it to clean your contacts), and convulsions, nausea, and shock if ingested. If you compare it to something like Comet, Bar Keeper’s Friend is pretty darn friendly.

The problem is, compare it to Bon Ami and Bar Keepers Friend comes up short. Bon Ami’s active ingredients are Feldspar, Calcium Carbonate, and Sodium Carbonate. All of these occur naturally, and none of them are associate with any severe health irritation. Sure, if you take a bath in it your skin won’t be too happy. And if you decide to use it as flour in your next batch of bread you’ll probably end up with a tummy ache. But all in all, it’s safer than Bar Keeper’s Friend.

You’ll find Bon Ami under my sink, though I wouldn’t be opposed to using Bar Keeper’s Friend in a pinch.