Keeping it green, clean and pretty

Two of my pet peeves? Liquid soap and disposable hand towels. I was recently sent a hard-plastic liquid soap-dispenser with a battery-powered motion sensor, and a box of paper towelettes; the manufacturers were touting both as a way to fight germs in the home. I just don’t buy it. Institutional settings are a whole other ball-game, but in your own home – unless you’re called on to perform an emergency tracheotomy on Aunt Edna at Thanksgiving — I think a bar of soap and cloth towels that get washed on a regular basis provide an adequate level of hygiene. (If the house is hit with the Norwalk Virus, of course you'll have to ramp up your defense plan.)

I’m queasy about (although admittedly ignorant of) the additives used to keep soap liquid, and I hate that it comes packaged in plastic containers. My solution for our tiny powder room? I buy up large vintage linen napkins (no, of course, they don’t have to match!), plunk them in an old wooden tool box and keep pretty bars of soap on hand, as in the pic above. I actually ironed these napkins, because I wanted to impress you, dear reader. But normally, I just line-dry them in the sun (which kills bacteria!), fold them and plop them in. Why use energy when the sun and wind will do the job for you?

I pick up wrapped and boxed soap at one my favourite discount stores, HomeSense  and use them as needed. The boxes are used on my vanity to hold hairpins, tweezers and lipsticks – all that necessary but slightly unsightly girlie stuff, which I stack on a little tray, made from an old cabinet face and two handles from Stanley’s excellent hardware collection  

The pot of flowers on it were a little treat to me from myself — and got plopped into an old biscuit barrel that long ago lost its lid but which now has a second life. Take a look below. You like? 

Are you lovin' the green tips? Then check out the uber-useful Practically Green website, and tune in to their Twitter party today at 9 p.m. It's where all the cool kids will be, including me! I can't wait to get in on all the good  ideas  from fellow Greenies. 

Comments

[Margaret Blake]

Advice. People are often stunned when I tell them the technique to washing cup is not chemical substances, its the squeegee.
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