I was just thinking about something that happened a while back and thought it might be a "good story". Sometimes we all need a pickme up when there is so much bad news about. Anyway I will set the scene, its the corporate/yuppy world of Canberra and.... It is funny how people perceive what "clean" is in the household. I had a mothers group over for morning tea early last year (The only one I think I bothered to host in 3 years as the ladies weren't really "my type"), and most of them are sterotypic former public servant types, very much caught up in the "building empires by material aquistition" lifestyles. These women often hire cleaners that come in with their 6 different bottles of commercial cleaners to do floors, windows, bathrooms, kitchens etc, and one mum commented that day how she doesn't feel like the house is clean unless she can smell a slight disinfectant smell after wiping surfaces down. She then went on to say how lovely my house was and that I obviously had a cleaner in too. When I told her that all I used was hot water, vinegar and a bit of bicarb, she almost had a heart attack! I did admit that I washup in almost boiling water with a little green earth dishwashing liquid, and rinse with the same (as it air dries the plates quicker) , and she couldn't believe it, so I opened all my cupboards in kitchen bathroom and laundry to show her I did not have a single bottle of commercial cleaner. AND then something wonderful happened, suddenly all the women started to ask me questions about how I do all the cleaning like that, and hold down a full time job and manage to do the garden and doing preserves etc etc, and the rest of the afternoon was spent getting out all my "natural" books and arranging times to help people in looking at their gardens etc. They had all noticed how my 3year old was the only one in the group who wasn't always sick, or on antibiotics at sometime or other, or had any skin allergies/asthma probelsm etc! In fact the nly antibiotics my daughter has EVER had in 3 years was a propholatic we all had to have when my husband got whooping cough! (Docstor couldn't believe none of us had had antibiotics since my daughter had be born!) Best part of the story, is that a couple of them have now COMPLETELY changed the way they do things. One woman didn't tell her hubby for 6 months (as he was quite anal about cleaning regimes) , had fired the cleaner, just did things the "natural way" and donated the cleaners salary to a charity. She told him 6 months later and as he hadn't noticed any change he couldn't dispute her changes in doing things, and best of all, in that 6 months, for the first time since she had had her little girl (now 3) her little girl didn't have chronic asthma or skin conditions! Its hard for people to get away from what the advertising companies convince them of, and the association with the senses such as smells of what "clean" means. These guys have the study of human behaviour down to a fine art, and often I think that green groups could make quicker progress in education if they got the top advertsing agents in!!
what does clean mean Hey Honeydale – THAT IS MORE THAN A GOOD STORY, ITS FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC!! well done. And well done on you for giving your time to tutor people on the “how” beyond the text books and articles.
Honey, What a wonderful story! And how true. We are so easily manipulated. My major cleanliness problem is processed food. Slaughter houses are really aweful, and many horrible diseases come from them. But packaged meat under cellophane looks "clean". Milk that has been pasteurized is "sanitary". The only cleaning product in our life besides soap is the bleach that Dawn keeps for her white clothes... and it drives me crazy! I hate bleach! Um, well, I hate Round Up more... but bleach is terrible! Very good points, and hopefully paradigm shifting for someone who Thanks for that! C
After reading your post I scurried off to an online dictionary to clarify your use of the word "propholatic". I couldn't think why you would need one for whooping cough. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prophylaxis refers to any medical or public health procedure whose purpose is to prevent, rather than treat or cure, disease. Roughly, prophylactic measures are divided between primary prophylaxis (to prevent the development of a disease) and secondary prophylaxis (where the disease has already developed and the patient is protected against worsening of this process). Vaccines are prophylactic: they are used before illness develop, either being administered to large numbers of people in order to prevent infection, or in some cases (such as the smallpox vaccine) to people who have been exposed to a disease but have not yet become ill. Antibiotics are sometimes used prophylactically: for example, during the 2001 anthrax attacks scare in the United States, patients who were believed to be exposed were given ciprofloxacin. Similarly, the use of antibiotic ointments on burns and other wounds is prophylactic. Condoms are sometimes referred to as "prophylactics" because of their use to prevent the transmission of syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Well done Honey...quiet example nearly always works best I reckon. It's a very satisfying victory and no small feat when you consider the other people your 'friends' may have talked to about this topic...and so on...
Yes, well done Honeydale. I must admit that my family isn't the most cleanliness oriented... We have actually been called "filthy and disgusting" for letting our daughter cruise around the house and verandah of a shared home with no nappies (diapers for you yanks) on. The same family used disposable diapers and put them in the common garbage bags that I had to take to the dump at the end of the week! I guess we just weren't very compatible as housemates
I'm no master of the english language but it was last definition that raised my curiousity whilst reading your post, not your typo Condoms for whooping cough ?
what does clean mean In response to Derek – under my once-held understanding of the meaning of "prophylactic", then there would be no need for nappies/diapers, disposable or not!
It's an interesting point in Aust. that the appearance of anti bacterial dish washing liquid and home use anti bacterial disinfectant washes appeared a little while after the hospital system went back to using neutral detergent as it's main cleaning agent....few hospitals now use disinfectant like products routinly. All those chemicals had to go somewhere My personal choice is an essential oil mix for the benches...pine, lemon, eucalyptas...occasional bleach. Cheers Cathy
Great story Honey. Any tips on household cleaning? I struggle with housework generally, but your way sounds so satisfying I would love to know more. E
what does clean mean? Hey, I've got a truly brill idea – Ydoncha come up here and provide me with a comprehensive, in-house personal interactive demonstration (!) I'd be truly converted, ( I mean grateful) I promise!
goodonya honeydale I wish more people would see the light and then I wouldnt have to live in virtual isolation cathy hospitals here still use all the nasties :cry: I just keep hoping I never need to go to one because at present the atmosphere in a hospital is a bigger threat than anything else :shock: frosty
Tips on house cleaning...my first would be have wooden floors, whilst the carpet maybe good for insulation, I find wooden floors are much more forgiving of having a toddler around :lol: . As we have our dog inside to, a quick sweep every day is easier than a "quick vacuum". My hubby gets chronic asthma (too much flour in the lungs as a baker), so its easier to keep "floor dust" down with floor boards over carpet. I also just use a lot of VERY hot water for cleaning. It dries quickly on surfaces when wiping down, and is the best way to cut through grease. White surfaces a little bicarb and vinegar, and for REALLY hard stuff...a lot of elbow grease. I mop the floor with boiling water once a week, and if I do need to disinfect anything, usually use a little dettol in ...yep you guessed it VERY HOT WATER LOL. We are careful to keep extra industrial greasey stuff to the garage, where it doesn't matter so much. For air freshners, I put rosemary or mint leaves in boiling water and when its cooled put it into misting bottles. Thats about it really. I buy some soap from a company here called Beauty and the Bees (https://www.beebeauty.com/) , which makes lovely olive oil soaps with NO petrochemicals in it. Washing clothes is done with dissolved lux flakes, and whites are done in EXTRA HOT WATER which seems to be the trick. Thats about it really.
Well Heuristics, next time I am popping back to Canberra to see my folks I will pop into Sydney! How does that sound? I do sympathise with you, I developed "boy in the bubble" syndrome (over-toxicity levels were reached) in 1999...which took 6 months and lots of hospital tests and stays to diagnose. I had such severe reactions to things that I would go into Kidney failure or develop such severe tonsillitis that I would be fine one minute and 2 hours later be complete delirious from the high fever, I also started to lose my mental capabilities and became severely depressed and no-one knew why for the longest time! But lots of support from friends and hospital staff, and good sense from open minded doctors, and a fair bit of positive thinking and hard work from me, and I am fully recovered and can life a normal healthy life in town. I gave up smoking, alcohol (Of which I only drank about a glass a week anyway) drinking tea/coffee using ALL chemicals, soaps,shampoos, cleaners, only ate organic food (which was expensive then for a PhD student) etc. Drank fresh fruit and veg juices every morning...and low and behold, in 6 months I was better. My then partner (now hubby) was very supportive and was really proactive about helping to find organic produce and alternatives. We now have a lifestyle which borders on "normal" and "alternative" I guess. I no longer have to isolate myself from things and we get takeaway once a fortnight which is a treat. I still have a mild reaction to some things, and am grossly overweight which I am working on (have been told by doctors that its a result of the 4 weeks of intravenous antibiotics mixtures I had after the emergency birth of my daughter by a caesarian that has "mucked up" my metabolism..and the antibiotic therapy also almost killed me as a result) . But like the chemical thing, I will work through the weight thing as well. Mostly living simply means a bit more physical work in doing things...which can only be a good thing really!
what does clean mean? Honeydale, I am always amazed at the “life-stories” of so many people meeting at this board. I guess people are here looking for “another way” after finding the “conventional” way doesn't work for them . You and Frosty have some health issues in common then. Talking of health, - Bazman – how's your asthma? You look after yourself moving that mulch, OK.
