Before I say anything else, let me just say that I hate to vacuum. As in unequivocally, without a doubt, hate with a capital H. Unfortunately, it’s a necessarily evil because my apartment has carpet in every room except the kitchen and bathrooms. The result of my vacuum hate is that I’ll procrastinate. So though we take our shoes off at the front door 90% of the time to minimize dust, dirt and germs being trekked through the house, carpet is carpet, and there’s no avoiding some accumulation.
Cleaning
As a family, we’ve been doing our best to cut back on clutter. That doesn’t always work out as well as I’d like. So spring is here, and it’s time for us to get in gear and get our home in order. For the most part, that means getting rid of things we no longer want or need, but it also means a thorough deep cleaning of the house. In the process, we’ve started using two DIY items that I thought I’d share with you.
Carpet Freshener
Pure Citizen is one of those sites that you just can’t help but love. It is a “Deal a Day” site in the spirit of Groupon, Gilt Groupe and others, but with one important distinction: Pure Citizen offers only eco-friendly products. The sales generally last 24 hours, except on weekends or for special events, and the discounts are notable.
Today, Pure Citizen is having their first home sale, with a variety of housewares and products, including:
- Soy candles by Dirt Candles for 40% off
- Fair Trade pillows, coasters and wooden sculptures for up to 50% off
It always surprises new visitors to my home to learn that we never buy paper towels. I guess it’s just habit for most people to ask for them after washing their hands, but it’s literally been years since my husband or I have bought a roll. This didn’t happen overnight. Eliminating paper towels and napkins was definitely a process, but it was a necessary step toward reducing the amount of waste in our kitchen.
Our goal is eventually to have no waste at all leaving the kitchen, which tends to be the room where most of our household trash is produced.
Last week, I told you about the challenge Seventh Generation had issued to myself and several other Walmart Moms: In four weeks, do what we can to make our homes greener. Last week, I talk about greener cleaning. This week, the topic is saving water.
Disclaimer: I hate making videos, so watch at your own peril…lol. I hope you learn something from it 
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I’m Jennae Petersen, and I’m a lot of things. A mother, a graphic artist, a connosieur of beautiful interiors and a purveyor of all things design. Green Your Decor was borne of frustration in my attempts to find eco-friendly housewares that were also beautiful, and inspiration to do something to reduce my own carbon footprint and help others do the same in a beautiful way.
