4 min read
Green, fragrance-free house cleaning, and what it should actually mean
Green house cleaning should mean fewer, milder products used correctly, with microfiber and hot water doing most of the work, rather than a word on a bottle. Fragrance-free matters most in winter, when Northwest Indiana homes are shut tight and whatever is sprayed stays in the air for days. The EPA's Safer Choice program has a separate fragrance-free label. At Golds Cleaning green, fragrance-free products are there on request, at no extra charge.
Most of what makes a home clean is not the product. It is a damp microfiber cloth that actually holds dust, water hot enough to cut grease, enough time on a surface for the cleaner to work, and a rinse. Get those right and a mild product does the job a harsh one was being asked to cover for.
Why fragrance matters more here in winter
From November to March most homes in Porter and Lake counties are closed up with the furnace running, and very little outside air comes in. A scented spray or plug-in that would blow away in June hangs in the rooms for days instead. If anybody in the home has asthma, headaches or a new baby, that is the season it shows.
How to tell a real one from a label
Words like natural and eco on a bottle are not regulated. The EPA's Safer Choice program is: a product carrying its label has had every ingredient reviewed, and there is a separate Safer Choice fragrance-free label for people who want no added scent at all. Unscented is not the same thing, since it can mean a masking fragrance was added to cover the smell of the others.
What I use, and what I will not
Ask for fragrance-free and I bring it, and you do not pay more for it. I keep vinegar off marble, travertine and other natural stone, because the acid etches it. I never mix products, and bleach comes out only for a specific problem, never as a way to make a room smell clean. If you have a product you trust, leave it out and I will use it.
The smell of a clean home
A clean home should smell of nothing much. If it smells strongly of lemon or pine an hour after the cleaner leaves, you are smelling the product, not the clean.
Sources
- Learn About the Safer Choice Label, US Environmental Protection Agency
