Sunday, May 13 is not just another ordinary day, but a special day for all those moms out there; it’s Mother’s Day! It’s a day where we recognize all those wonderful women out there who go above and beyond to set examples and raise their children in a safe, loving and happy environment. If you’re struggling to find that perfect gift for your mom or another special woman in your life, here are some eco-friendly presents that will surely put a smile on her face and give back to the environment.

1. Love is the Best Ingredient

Isn’t it great when mom cooks us an amazing meal? Nothing says “I love you” like a great recipe crafted by mom. This year, why not create a vegan masterpiece for her? Have your mom put up her feet, rest and relax all day, while you cook up a storm in the kitchen. Instead of fatty dishes, make it healthy and cruelty-free. Here are some vegan ideas from SheKnows.com for you to create delicious breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert specialties!

2. Garden Full of Love

Steer clear of the traditional bouquet of flowers and give your mom something to plant outside. Maybe create a garden of her favorite flowers, but don’t do it yourself, do it together. Spend all day outside in nature with the woman who has given so much to you. If you don’t want to plant flowers, try a vegetable garden instead. Then, your mom can have fresh veggies whenever she wants!

3. Rescue for Your Mom

Do you really want to go above and beyond for mom? If you know that she wants a furry companion, why not make a date with mom to go to a nearby shelter to get her an adorable pet? Be sure to rescue and adopt a dog, cat, hamster, rabbit or any other of the many other loveable animals who need a home. You can show your mom how much you appreciate her and spend time with her, all while rescuing a pet in need. Thanks to AdoptAPet.com, you can find that perfect furry creature close to you.

4. Honor your Mother. Honor Another.

This Mother’s Day, you can give a meaningful gift to mom and help others all at once. So, what is this spectacular gift? Water.org is hosting the “Honor your Mother. Honor Another.” initiative for anyone to honor their mother or another special woman in their lives. All you have to do is create a custom card for your mom and tell her what she means to you. In addition, you can donate money – $25 gives someone safe water for life – in your mom’s honor. You can show your mom how much you love her by helping those suffering from the global water crisis.

5. Give Mom a Clean, Toxic-Free Home

Keeping a nice, neat, clean home can be a lot of hard work. Hire a cleaning service for the week, month or year to help your mom around the house. For example, Maid Brigade offers an efficient, safe cleaning business that uses the greenest of cleaning products. They are also Green Clean Certified. You can give your mom not only a break from cleaning, but a toxic-free home through this green cleaning service. To see if Maid Brigade is near you, click here for all locations.

Remember to give your mom a special, memorable Mother’s Day. We hope these gifts give you helpful tips on how to give mom a meaningful gift and support the planet at the same time.

-Allyson Koerner

Photo Credit: Flickr/Markles55, Flickr/Guy Dickinson, Flickr/Five Furlongs, Petfinder.com, Water.org via Flickr, Maid Brigade

We all know household items such as soaps, cleaning products, pet stain remover, dish soap and many others can be toxic. Instead of contributing to our home environments, they release harmful chemicals into the air, so how safe and clean can our homes really be? Thanks to Ed Begley, Jr. we can now ensure our homes, offices, classrooms and other areas are truly clean.

In addition to his acting skills, Begley is known for his green activism. Whether he’s building a new net-zero home or riding his bike or lending a helping hand to an eco-organization, the actor is constantly giving back to the planet.

In the past months, Begley has been making headlines for his new line of green cleaning products called Begley’s Earth Responsible Products. All products are made from plant-based, sustainable and rapidly biodegradable ingredients. The cleaners give off an aroma-therapeutic smell, thanks to botanical essentials and oils. Lastly, the products are 100 percent cruelty-free and come in recyclable packaging.

“Most people would switch to greener products, but have justified concerns about the overall effectiveness of these products,” Begley said. “Many green cleaners simply can’t handle the grime and dirt of modern-day living. Now there is no excuse not to go green, because these plant-based products clean just as well or even better than their non-green counterparts.”

Choose from an affordable line of hand soaps, glass cleaners, dish soaps, stain and odor remover and cooktop cleaner to name a few.

“It is a fact that non-green products can be harmful, and indeed toxic to our minds and bodies and the planet at large,” Begley added. “My priority is to ensure that quality products do not come at the expense of compromising our safety, health, or the environment.”

-Allyson Koerner

Photo Credit: Begley’s Earth Responsible Products

Air fresheners and candles and perfumes! Oh my! Are you sick of the everyday sprays and scents that you buy to freshen up your home? And, do you know that they might actually be making you sick? Well, now thanks to Moso Natural you can remove unpleasant odors and unwanted pollutants from a room, without toxins, creating a healthy, odor-free environment.

So what exactly is Moso Natural? The company offers an all-natural room freshener that utilizes 100 percent bamboo charcoal that lasts up to two years.

According to the site, bamboo charcoal is known as a “healing property, and is renowned for its ecologically friendly purification properties.” The Moso Bag contains carbon, which self-activates to absorb and filter harmful pollutants and odors.

Each Moso Bag goes above and beyond the average air fresheners by naturally removing odors, bacteria, harmful pollutants and allergens. The Moso Bags also dehumidify to prevent mold, mildew and excess moisture.

No need to buy refills or throw out the Moso Bag and buy new, like many fresheners out there, but all you have to do is let the bag sit in the sun for one or more hours to help release and disintegrate pollutants. This naturally revitalizes the all-natural bag. Presto! It’s almost as if you have a brand new Moso Bag.

Use it at home, in the car, at your office or wherever you see fit. They come in 200g ($9.95) for smaller areas and 500g ($22.95) for larger areas.

Now, after two years the Moso Bag’s “life” will come to an end. But, do not fret. You can cut your bag open and is use it as a type of fertilizer to help your plants and gardens grow.

Moso Natural also offers links on its site for information about non-natural air fresheners and home fragrances and their effect on our daily lives. Click here to learn more and see why you should change to an all-natural air purification product.

-Allyson Koerner

Photo Credit: Moso Natural

Maid Brigade shares six natural cleaning substitutes to combat allergy season.

Spring is finally here! This means warmer weather, blooming flowers, and . . . ahhh those pesky allergies. Not only has this year’s mild winter caused allergy season to begin about three to four weeks early, but over the past 10 years allergy season has started to last longer!

One of the best ways to minimize the onslaught of allergies is to avoid using common household cleaning products that contain bleach, ammonia, alcohol, formaldehyde, or fragrance. The toxic fumes of these chemicals are known to ignite allergy symptoms by causing irritation of the eyes and respiratory system – not to mention being linked to many other serious health concerns. Using natural cleaning products is healthier, safer, and more economical than their chemical counterparts.

The green cleaning experts from Maid Brigade compiled a list of six simple and inexpensive green cleaning ‘must haves’ to help fight off this year’s prolonged allergy season.

1. Baking soda. A natural sodium bicarbonate, baking soda is an excellent all-around cleaner that can be used in lieu of an abrasive cleaning product. Use it to clean kitchen surfaces, as a natural deodorizer in refrigerators, closets, and basements, or as an odor absorbent on carpets. Mixing baking soda with water and spreading this mixture in the oven will loosen baked on grease and grime. Safe to use around food, a baking soda and water paste is also ideal for cleaning the refrigerator.

2. Borax. Borax is a fantastic alternative to bleach – although remember to keep it well out of the reach of children and pets. Use it as a natural mineral to kill mold and bacteria or as a clothes deodorizer and tough stain remover. It can even flush out garbage disposals and shine china! Pour three tablespoons of borax down the garbage disposal and run hot water 30 minutes later. Shine china with warm water mixed with half a cup of borax.

3. Lemon juice. Lemon juice is a terrific cleaning aid. It cuts grease in the kitchen and cuts through soap scum and hard water deposits in the bathroom. Lemon juice also helps deodorize, remove stains, and acts as a bleaching agent when exposed to the sun. Mix half a cup of lemon juice with one cup of olive oil to make polish for hardwood furniture. Stick some lemon peels in the garbage can to keep it smelling fresh.

4. Distilled white vinegar. About as multipurpose as baking soda, vinegar is a natural deodorizer, disinfectant, and fabric softener, breaks up grease and dirt, lifts out mineral deposits, and helps cut through mold and soap scum. Use vinegar and water mixed together in a spray bottle to clean the bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, and windows. It can even act as a natural spider repellant. Vinegar mixed with hot water is also an excellent floor cleaner. Mixing vinegar with organic salts gives it extra power and scrubbing action.

5. Olive oil. An excellent pure treatment for wood, use olive oil alone or mix it with lemon juice for a safe and effective furniture polish.

6. Plant-derived essential oils. Use essential oils as natural disinfectants, added fragrances, and even antifungal agents. Peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender, and tea tree oils are popular essential oils.

About Maid Brigade: Headquartered in Atlanta, Maid Brigade is the only house cleaning service that is Green Clean Certified® with more than 400 franchise service areas in the United States and Canada. Established in 1979, Maid Brigade is the green cleaning industry leader and has a longstanding legacy of providing quality customer service and consistent and thorough cleaning using the most advanced techniques and equipment. The company has also implemented a consumer advocacy program in response to reports from the Environmental Protection Agency linking chemicals in traditional cleaning products to a wide range of health risks. For more information visit maidbrigade.com.

It’s a tradition to usher in the spring season with a good spring cleaning to get your house looking and feeling like new. If you’re concerned with more than the status of your home, and care about the environment too, read on to find out how your spring-cleaning may dirty the environment and how you can adjust it today.

1. Know the contents of your cleaning supplies

Phosphorus, nitrogen, ammonia, glycol ethers and monoethanolamine are some of the many substances known to have negative effects on the environment—and make up a range of cleaning products. Whether they are in surface cleaners (as phosphorous is) or waxing products (as ammonia is), many of these chemicals are in common cleaning supplies without us knowing. Responsible for eutrophication (a deficiency in oxygen and consequent organism death because of an excess of nutrients), air contamination and damage of water and wildlife quality, these chemicals are the words you should look for on the labels of your next batch of supplies.

2. Know how your products are made and packaged

Before you purchase your supplies for cleaning the bathroom and kitchen, consider knowing the company behind the product. Researching a brand name can tell you if they have a formal environmental management system dedicated to reducing its eco-footprint. You can see whether the company is compliant with the International Organization for Standardization, that sets guidelines for sustainable production, or is partnered with the EPA’s newest agenda of making cleaning products more environmentally-friendly.

Aside from looking at the corporation’s management system and missions, know how the products you use are packaged and where they come from. Are the bottles recyclable? Are the packages they come in already recycled? Are they shipped in bulk? These factors are important in weighing how much energy and material were used before you even begin using the products.

3. Use your cleaning supplies sustainably

After you’ve done your research on the chemical and ideological substances behind your cleaning armory, use your products responsibly. Purchasing liquid cleaners in bulk and refilling bottles keeps your plastic use down and the consequent waste compilation low. Companies like Green 11 are dedicated to this refilling idea, providing customers with the materials they need—without the packaging. Using newspapers to clean mirrors, cloths instead of paper towels and other household products like vinegar, lemon, and baking soda to make your own sustainable supplies are ways you can change your cleaning mentality to a greening one.

Spring-cleaning can be a more involved experience this year, and years after, if you research and assume more responsibility. Get your friends and family involved, so you can make your cleaning habits safer and cleaner.

For more information on making your cleaning habits more environmentally friendly, check out the EPA’s guidelines for sustainable cleaning and give your cleaning agenda a fresher feel with your own research.

-Alivia Ashenfarb

Photo credit: Flickr/Alan Cleaver, Flickr/go_greener_oz, Flickr/bobmendo, Flickr/atf300

A new product line launched at Bed Bath & Beyond this week, where customers can purchase bedding that helps reduce allergies and improve health.

Yesterday, interior designer Robin Wilson launched a new hypoallergenic textile product line on the Bed Bath & Beyond website. She is the first woman to license her brand to eco-friendly kitchen cabinets, which are made in the USA by Holiday Kitchens.

Her initial products include pillows, comforters and protective covers — all with hypoallergenic and energy efficiency qualities due to the unique weave technology to allow the drying process to be energy efficient and to prevent allergen triggers from penetrating the bedding.

Dr. Joy Touchstone, a Board certified physician in internal medicine and pediatrics based in Plano, Texas says, “Hypoallergenic products are very important to both adults and families with children – as more individuals are suffering from reactive airway disease, rhinitis, asthma, allergies, eczema and itchy eyes. These symptoms can be caused by internal (food) and external (environmental) factors. And hypoallergenic products are helpful as they can both improve one’s quality of life and decrease medical visits due to sensitivity reactions.”

FACTS TO KNOW
Did you know that 1 in 4 children suffer from allergies?
Did you know that 1 in 6 inner-city children suffer from asthma?

Wilson is authentic in launching a hypoallergenic line of products because she has both asthma and allergies and knows what it is like to “wheeze and sneeze” through life and she understands how this condition affects you, your family and lifestyle.

If you’re looking to purchase new pillows, Wilson’s contain a 240 thread count, allergy proof with 2.25” side gusset and have an allergy proof removable zipper cover. The line also offers comforters with oversized cotton allergy proof fabric and silky down alternative fiberfill.

In June 2011, Wilson was named an Ambassador to the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America and has learned that over 60 million Americans live restricted lifestyles due to allergies and asthma—that’s one out of every four people in this country. These branded products will ensure that you have healthy indoor air quality and limit the toxins in your home.

“I am inspired by a lifestyle focused on wellness and the Robin Wilson Home collection brings a beautifully designed aesthetic with hypoallergenic qualities. It will allow a consumer at any budget level to afford an eco-healthy bedding option,” Wilson says.

Wilson seems to know what she’s talking about and how to design rooms with eco-friendly flair, after all she did work on projects for President Clinton’s office and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s private residence.

To see the collection, visit Robin Wilson Home and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Photo Credit: Robin Wilson Home

Maid Brigade’s Work/Life Balance Survey Explores How Women Cope with Life, Health, and Home

What women would want to do if they had spare time along with their attitudes and knowledge regarding creating a healthy home environment is the focus of a new survey targeting busy women. The survey is available through April 31 and all busy women and working mothers are encouraged to participate. All participants will be entered to win $1000 of house cleaning from the green-cleaning experts at Maid Brigade.

This is the third annual survey conducted by Maid Brigade, the nation’s leading green cleaning service company. It is part of the company’s goal to better understand the basic and profound needs of a multi-tasking demographic and to help women improve their quality of lives by eliminating some of the common barriers to well being. The survey findings and methodology will be available to the public in May.

More than 72 percent of women feel that they work a ‘second shift’ when it comes to balancing work and keeping a clean home, as found by Maid Brigade’s 2011 Work/Life Balance Survey. This year’s survey has an enhanced focus on how women cope with life, health, and home – along with what they would do with their spare time if they had a few minutes (or hours!) to themselves.

All busy women and working mothers are encouraged to partake in the online survey starting now through April 31 by visiting http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e5j0y3v2gxta97zt/start  

Anchor Hocking Glass
Who doesn’t love beautiful glassware in their home? Well, thanks to Anchor Hocking Glass you can now own stemware, servingware, ovenware and many other home goods.

For more than 100 years, Anchor Hocking has manufactured glassware products, but as a company they have changed to better the environment. For example, once a glass item meets its life’s end, it is 100 percent recyclable reducing trash in landfills and cutting down on pollution. Anchor also reuses reclaimed waste glass, known as cullet, in their furnaces to create new glassware. Another benefit is none of the products contain lead and all plastic lids are BPA free. Click here to learn more about their green initiatives.

Now, let’s get to the fun items you can purchase for your home! Choose from glasses, non-stick pans, glass pantry storage dishes, vases, candle holders or even compost pails! They offer so many options you won’t know what to choose from.

Visit Anchor Hocking Glass at their website, or to gather information in person attend IHHS and see them in booths booth S605 and S505.

Photo Credit: Anchor Hocking Glass

Capstone Industries Eco-i-Lite
During a bad storm the power goes out and you’re left with blindly walking through your dark house to find that dreaded flashlight. You finally find it, but wait no batteries! Now, what? Well, fortunately Capstone Industries has the answer to your problems.

It recently released the first Eco-i-Lite rechargeable LED headlight that uses induction charging technology. This convenient light is not only sustainable, but also makes it easier on the consumer as no bulbs or batteries are needed.

Besides using LED bulbs that are five times more efficient than incandescent bulbs and help save money, the lightweight devices can also be used for everyday household needs and as nightlights.

Choose from a full size, a midi and a mini light for your best convenience. The device also features two red LED lights for emergency/safety flashing and a great power failure function that prompts the light to turn on if or when the power goes out, even if it’s plugged in for recharging. You can also wear the light on a cap or hard hat.

Sounds like flashlights will soon be out of style!

For more information visit Capstone Industries’ website, and be sure to stopover at IHHS and check out their booth N8457.

Photo Credit: Capstone Industries

Despite this year’s flu season being the slowest to start in three decades, Americans aren’t out of the woods yet.

The mild winter temperatures and lack of snow are contributing to the late start of the flu season but according to The Weather Channel, California is reporting widespread flu outbreaks and more than a dozen states are reporting regional and local flu outbreaks.

Dr. Lyn Finelli with the CDC says in an article for The Weather Channel, “It [flu season] usually peaks in February or March and lasts until about May.”

So, if you haven’t already been bit by the flu bug now is the time to take the necessary steps to avoid flu exposure and contamination. Below are seven green cleaning tips from the nation’s leading green cleaning service company – Maid Brigade – to help limit flu exposure.

1. Focus on key surface areas. Pay special attention to clean and disinfect highly trafficked areas prone to harboring germs and bacteria like kitchen counters, desks, doorknobs, light switches, bedside tables, bathroom surfaces, and children’s toys and books.

2. Wash before sharing. Make sure towels, bed sheets, dishes, and eating utensils used by those who are infected with the flu are thoroughly cleaned first before sharing. Avoid embracing the laundry prior to washing to prevent contamination and make sure to immediately wash your hands after handling any infected linens, dishes, or utensils.

3. Let it sit for proper disinfection. Three out of four consumers disinfect home surfaces incorrectly by spraying and immediately wiping the surface, according to the 2011 Maid Brigade Work/Life Balance Survey. When cleaning to eliminate flu germs, remember that the disinfectant needs to remain on the surface being cleaned for up to 10 minutes to successfully kill lingering bacteria. Also remember that proper disinfection occurs on a surface that has been pre-cleaned.

4. Invest in microfiber cleaning products. Wiping products are used in all areas of cleaning and are crucial in eliminating the spread of germs. Microfiber technology is extremely effective in preventing cross-contamination as microfiber products such as microfiber cloths, mops, and rags absorb about 95 percent of bacteria on a surface – while traditional cleaning products often spread bacteria around. Even though the initial cost is more than a cotton cloth or mop, microfiber products are more effective and are 400 to 700 times more washable.

5. Dispose of infected waste immediately. To prevent the spread of the flu virus, infected tissues and other disposable items should be thrown in the trash at once. After touching, make sure to wash your hands with soap and water, or use an alcohol-based hand rub, to stop the spread of germs.

6. Use natural cleaning remedies. For tough kitchen stains, squeeze lemon juice on the spot and let sit for 10 minutes, then wipe. To kill germs, mix 2 cups of water, 3 tablespoons of liquid soap, and 20 to 30 drops of tea tree oil.

7. Bring in professionals. Cleaning to help prevent the spread of germs and disease can be a daunting task in your every day life, not to mention when you’re feeling under the weather. Call in the cleaning experts when you need help. Many house cleaning companies offer seasonal cleaning services that can help eliminate bacteria and the spread of infectious disease. Also make sure they are using green cleaning products and practices that protect the health of your family and the environment.

Photo Credit: Maid Brigade