What do you think?
Rate this book
Green This #1
Green This!: Greening Your Cleaning
Change the way you clean and keep your family's home wholesome and healthy with the help of expert and activist Deirdre Imus.
We all grew up thinking chemical smells like bleach and ammonia signaled "clean." But as Deirdre Imus reveals, some of the chemicals we use to maintain our homes are doing us and our families much more harm than good. In Greening Your Cleaning , the first in her Green This! series, Deirdre shows how cleaning house the environmentally responsible way can be as effective and often cheaper than the more traditional, toxic, means. This volume
Filled with tips and testimonials, Greening Your Cleaning will show you how to streamline your cleaning products and practices, and how easy it is to make "living green" your way of life.
We all grew up thinking chemical smells like bleach and ammonia signaled "clean." But as Deirdre Imus reveals, some of the chemicals we use to maintain our homes are doing us and our families much more harm than good. In Greening Your Cleaning , the first in her Green This! series, Deirdre shows how cleaning house the environmentally responsible way can be as effective and often cheaper than the more traditional, toxic, means. This volume
Filled with tips and testimonials, Greening Your Cleaning will show you how to streamline your cleaning products and practices, and how easy it is to make "living green" your way of life.
240 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2007
5 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Deirdre Imus
15 books12 followersDeirdre Imus is the Founder and President of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology® at Hackensack University Medical Center and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer. Deirdre is the author of two New York Times bestsellers -- the newest book in the Green This! series, Growing Up Green, Baby and Child Care; a practical family guide to raising children in an ever increasing toxic world; and Green This! Volume 1: Greening Your Cleaning, offering a wealth of insights and expertise for protecting families from harmful chemicals. She is also author of The Imus Ranch: Cooking for Kids and Cowboys, a national bestseller, and a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
November 21, 2008
Informative book about why chemicals in our cleaners are dangerous (especially for our children) and how we can clean in a safer, more ecologically friendly way.
It was interesting, but over half of the book is about all the bad things chemicals in our cleaning supplies can do to us. One of the main recommendations was to buy 'organic' cleaners. There was some information on making your own cleaners, but that was what I hoped most of the book would be about. Motivating, but not as helpful as I hoped it would be.
It was interesting, but over half of the book is about all the bad things chemicals in our cleaning supplies can do to us. One of the main recommendations was to buy 'organic' cleaners. There was some information on making your own cleaners, but that was what I hoped most of the book would be about. Motivating, but not as helpful as I hoped it would be.
October 24, 2007
I didn't care for this book too much. I was looking for recipes and practical tips on how to clean more naturally, and what I got was a deluge of information on toxins (which I'd already briefed myself on) and a continuing plug for the author's line of cleaning products (so annoying!). I think there are better books on green cleaning out there.
August 31, 2009
Lame, lame, and totally lame. Readers need to dig through the author's shameless self-promotion and recommendations of expensive products to find any practical tips.
September 26, 2017
A topic I love! The beginning had information on hazardous chemicals. The end was more practical.
I'd not thought of the hazard of chlorine in our water, but found it fascinating that we absorb more from a 15 minute shower than we do 8 glasses of water and that there are specific shower heads to combat the chlorine.
Coffee grounds for ants was a practical tip.
I'd not thought of the hazard of chlorine in our water, but found it fascinating that we absorb more from a 15 minute shower than we do 8 glasses of water and that there are specific shower heads to combat the chlorine.
Coffee grounds for ants was a practical tip.
June 8, 2021
Good not great book. Good for those new to environmentally friendly cleaning. A little too alarmist for my tastes but not wrong. The tips are worth looking into and adapting. Definitely in need of updating as new information and products are now available. But still recommend as a good quick read.
January 17, 2021
Absolutely terrible scare tactic book.
January 9, 2008
This book is worth while for anybody who has realized just how inundated our lives are with unregulated hazardous chemicals - often known or suspected carcinogens, neuro-toxins and endocrine (hormone) disruptors.
The fact is that many, if not all, of our daily cleaning and personal care products contain these toxins. And while these toxins have the potential to affect us greatly, they affect children even more. And, as it happens, the environment usually gets screwed too.
When you stop to think about, how healthy can a product that forces you to step from the room for fresh air be? Chlorine? Ammonia? Teflon? Are we really spraying these things all over our house (and bodies) on a daily basis to improve cleanliness and, presumably, health? Believe me, the facts speak otherwise. The long-term potential for health damage is astounding.
The fact is that numerous safe alternatives exist in the market that don't pollute ourselves, our children, or the environment.
In this quick read (it took me roughly 45 minutes to scan), the author gives the facts and shares the alternatives. With the help of additional research, I've put many of them into practice and the results are not too surprising - everything is still clean AND I can still breathe. I'm safe from (some) seriously messed up chemicals, and I'm no longer contributing to a chemical lobby that keeps US consumers in complete darkness about their products.
If you want some quicker info - on both cleaning and personal care - the following sources work great; in fact, they are probably more useful than the book itself. They are worth the time to read:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/uplo...
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Or - just ask me - I've experimented with and switched out just about every personal care product and household cleaner I use since this summer so have some potentially useful insight.
The fact is that many, if not all, of our daily cleaning and personal care products contain these toxins. And while these toxins have the potential to affect us greatly, they affect children even more. And, as it happens, the environment usually gets screwed too.
When you stop to think about, how healthy can a product that forces you to step from the room for fresh air be? Chlorine? Ammonia? Teflon? Are we really spraying these things all over our house (and bodies) on a daily basis to improve cleanliness and, presumably, health? Believe me, the facts speak otherwise. The long-term potential for health damage is astounding.
The fact is that numerous safe alternatives exist in the market that don't pollute ourselves, our children, or the environment.
In this quick read (it took me roughly 45 minutes to scan), the author gives the facts and shares the alternatives. With the help of additional research, I've put many of them into practice and the results are not too surprising - everything is still clean AND I can still breathe. I'm safe from (some) seriously messed up chemicals, and I'm no longer contributing to a chemical lobby that keeps US consumers in complete darkness about their products.
If you want some quicker info - on both cleaning and personal care - the following sources work great; in fact, they are probably more useful than the book itself. They are worth the time to read:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/uplo...
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Or - just ask me - I've experimented with and switched out just about every personal care product and household cleaner I use since this summer so have some potentially useful insight.
September 11, 2008
This book is worth while for anybody who has realized just how inundated our lives are with unregulated hazardous chemicals - often known or suspected carcinogens, neuro-toxins and endocrine (hormone) disruptors.
The fact is that many, if not all, of our daily cleaning and personal care products contain these toxins. And while these toxins have the potential to affect us greatly, they affect children even more. And, as it happens, the environment usually gets screwed too.
When you stop to think about, how healthy can a product that forces you to step from the room for fresh air be? Chlorine? Ammonia? Teflon? Are we really spraying these things all over our house (and bodies) on a daily basis to improve cleanliness and, presumably, health? Believe me, the facts speak otherwise. The long-term potential for health damage is astounding.
The fact is that numerous safe alternatives exist in the market that don't pollute ourselves, our children, or the environment.
In this quick read (it took me roughly 45 minutes to scan), the author gives the facts and shares the alternatives. With the help of additional research, I've put many of them into practice and the results are not too surprising - everything is still clean AND I can still breathe. I'm safe from (some) seriously messed up chemicals, and I'm no longer contributing to a chemical lobby that keeps US consumers in complete darkness about their products.
If you want some quicker info - on both cleaning and personal care - the following sources work great; in fact, they are probably more useful than the book itself. They are worth the time to read:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/uplo...
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Or - just ask me - I've experimented with and switched out just about every personal care product and household cleaner I use since this summer so have some potentially useful insight.
The fact is that many, if not all, of our daily cleaning and personal care products contain these toxins. And while these toxins have the potential to affect us greatly, they affect children even more. And, as it happens, the environment usually gets screwed too.
When you stop to think about, how healthy can a product that forces you to step from the room for fresh air be? Chlorine? Ammonia? Teflon? Are we really spraying these things all over our house (and bodies) on a daily basis to improve cleanliness and, presumably, health? Believe me, the facts speak otherwise. The long-term potential for health damage is astounding.
The fact is that numerous safe alternatives exist in the market that don't pollute ourselves, our children, or the environment.
In this quick read (it took me roughly 45 minutes to scan), the author gives the facts and shares the alternatives. With the help of additional research, I've put many of them into practice and the results are not too surprising - everything is still clean AND I can still breathe. I'm safe from (some) seriously messed up chemicals, and I'm no longer contributing to a chemical lobby that keeps US consumers in complete darkness about their products.
If you want some quicker info - on both cleaning and personal care - the following sources work great; in fact, they are probably more useful than the book itself. They are worth the time to read:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/uplo...
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Or - just ask me - I've experimented with and switched out just about every personal care product and household cleaner I use since this summer so have some potentially useful insight.
January 8, 2008
This book is worth while for anybody who has realized just how inundated our lives are with unregulated hazardous chemicals - often known or suspected carcinogens, neuro-toxins and endocrine (hormone) disruptors.
The fact is that many, if not all, of our daily cleaning and personal care products contain these toxins. And while these toxins have the potential to affect us greatly, they affect children even more. And, as it happens, the environment usually gets screwed too.
When you stop to think about, how healthy can a product that forces you to step from the room for fresh air be? Chlorine? Ammonia? Teflon? Are we really spraying these things all over our house (and bodies) on a daily basis to improve cleanliness and, presumably, health? Believe me, the facts speak otherwise. The long-term potential for health damage is astounding.
The fact is that numerous safe alternatives exist in the market that don't pollute ourselves, our children, or the environment.
In this quick read (it took me roughly 45 minutes to scan), the author gives the facts and shares the alternatives. With the help of additional research, I've put many of them into practice and the results are not too surprising - everything is still clean AND I can still breathe. I'm safe from (some) seriously messed up chemicals, and I'm no longer contributing to a chemical lobby that keeps US consumers in complete darkness about their products.
If you want some quicker info - on both cleaning and personal care - the following sources work great; in fact, they are probably more useful than the book itself. They are worth the time to read:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/uplo...
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Or - just ask me - I've experimented with and switched out just about every personal care product and household cleaner I use since this summer so have some potentially useful insight.
The fact is that many, if not all, of our daily cleaning and personal care products contain these toxins. And while these toxins have the potential to affect us greatly, they affect children even more. And, as it happens, the environment usually gets screwed too.
When you stop to think about, how healthy can a product that forces you to step from the room for fresh air be? Chlorine? Ammonia? Teflon? Are we really spraying these things all over our house (and bodies) on a daily basis to improve cleanliness and, presumably, health? Believe me, the facts speak otherwise. The long-term potential for health damage is astounding.
The fact is that numerous safe alternatives exist in the market that don't pollute ourselves, our children, or the environment.
In this quick read (it took me roughly 45 minutes to scan), the author gives the facts and shares the alternatives. With the help of additional research, I've put many of them into practice and the results are not too surprising - everything is still clean AND I can still breathe. I'm safe from (some) seriously messed up chemicals, and I'm no longer contributing to a chemical lobby that keeps US consumers in complete darkness about their products.
If you want some quicker info - on both cleaning and personal care - the following sources work great; in fact, they are probably more useful than the book itself. They are worth the time to read:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/uplo...
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Or - just ask me - I've experimented with and switched out just about every personal care product and household cleaner I use since this summer so have some potentially useful insight.
Want to read
April 19, 2007Ashleigh and I discovered this gem within one day of each other and both plan to read it, or at least browse it at our local bookshop. If you watch that Ed Begley, Jr. show or you happened to see An Inconvenient Truth, your inner environmental conscience starts to mess with you...
Here's the B&N blurb:
"We all grew up thinking chemical smells like bleach and ammonia signaled "clean." But as Deirdre Imus reveals, some of the chemicals we use to maintain our homes are doing us and our families much more harm than good. In Greening Your Cleaning, the first in her Green This! series, Deirdre shows how cleaning house the environmentally responsible way can be as effective and often cheaper than the more traditional, toxic, means. This volume includes:
Simple, efficient cleaning methods for every room of the house
Spotlights on everyday products (all purpose cleaner, glass/window cleaner, laundry detergent) and the toxic ingredients you should be wary of
Summaries of the latest research on the toxic effects of ordinary chemicals
Resource lists of widely available "green cleaning" products and retailers
Filled with tips and testimonials, Greening Your Cleaning will show you how to streamline your cleaning products and practices, and how easy it is to make "living green" your way of life."
Here's the B&N blurb:
"We all grew up thinking chemical smells like bleach and ammonia signaled "clean." But as Deirdre Imus reveals, some of the chemicals we use to maintain our homes are doing us and our families much more harm than good. In Greening Your Cleaning, the first in her Green This! series, Deirdre shows how cleaning house the environmentally responsible way can be as effective and often cheaper than the more traditional, toxic, means. This volume includes:
Simple, efficient cleaning methods for every room of the house
Spotlights on everyday products (all purpose cleaner, glass/window cleaner, laundry detergent) and the toxic ingredients you should be wary of
Summaries of the latest research on the toxic effects of ordinary chemicals
Resource lists of widely available "green cleaning" products and retailers
Filled with tips and testimonials, Greening Your Cleaning will show you how to streamline your cleaning products and practices, and how easy it is to make "living green" your way of life."
December 2, 2009
I ended up doing a lot of skimming in this one. Too much "your cleaning products are filled with TOXINS!!!!!!111111!!!" just gets annoying after awhile. Half the book was why cleaning products are toxic and all the bad things they can do to you. Well, sometimes you have to make a choice. Do I want to spend an hour scrubbing burned-on grime off of my gas stove grates with a nylon sponge, or do I want to use oven cleaner and get it done with far less effort and better results? I don't have an hour, or the energy to scrub for an hour, so yeah, I'm probably going to go for the oven cleaner. Don't get me wrong. The majority of my household cleaning now uses green cleaners (I love Method and Seventh Generation). But there are some chores that really require chemicals.
My biggest problem with the book, besides being way too heavy on the TOXINS!!!, is that many times she never gave specific recipes for homemade cleaning products. Just generic "make a paste" of X and Y. Well, I'm not very good at creating a paste of X and Y. Usually my ratio is off, and my paste is too thick or too runny. Or maybe "add a squirt of X to water." Well, how how much water? How hard should I squirt? I like to know specific measurements, so it was aggravating to not always have them.
My biggest problem with the book, besides being way too heavy on the TOXINS!!!, is that many times she never gave specific recipes for homemade cleaning products. Just generic "make a paste" of X and Y. Well, I'm not very good at creating a paste of X and Y. Usually my ratio is off, and my paste is too thick or too runny. Or maybe "add a squirt of X to water." Well, how how much water? How hard should I squirt? I like to know specific measurements, so it was aggravating to not always have them.
September 5, 2007
I can sum up my reaction to this book with the following phrase: Holy crap! It scared the heck out of me with its message of doom. Basically, all the products we use to clean our homes and even wear on our bodies are full of toxic chemicals that most likely are the cause of increased cases of cancer and childhood diseases. Deirdre Imus has remodeled her entire life to rid herself of the chemicals, and the book is her instruction manual for us to do the same.
She concedes that the whole thing is overwhelming and urges you to take it little by little. I wish she had included some sort of step by step approach, but instead she organized the book room by room. It will take a long time and a paradigm shift in the philosophy of cleaning but I think it can be done.
yikes. Great book, great resource, but a bit overwhelming and confusing.
She concedes that the whole thing is overwhelming and urges you to take it little by little. I wish she had included some sort of step by step approach, but instead she organized the book room by room. It will take a long time and a paradigm shift in the philosophy of cleaning but I think it can be done.
yikes. Great book, great resource, but a bit overwhelming and confusing.
February 16, 2008
With this last pregnancy, my "mild" chemical sensitivity was kicked up to "totally annoying." I can't be around perfume, bleach, bathroom and kitchen cleaners, etc. Nor can I use anti-persperant, but that's another story. This book talks about how dangerous all those cleaners are, not just for people who are bothered by them, but for all people, especially our young children. She gives practical suggestions, which are few, because you really don't need all that much to keep a clean house. And yes, she is married to Don Imus.
January 15, 2008
I did read all her cancer statistics, because I knew they would only stress me out. As weird as it sounds, until my husband told me last year, I had no idea vinegar cleaned. And until I read this book, I also had no idea, that Windex might have toxic chemicals in it, the bright blue color never indicated that too me. I always thought it was a mild cleaner safe for anything. It was a good read because I was looking for less ways to have my family ingest chemicals.
August 12, 2008
More infomercial for the author's cleaning products than green clean how-to, this book felt flat and uninspiring.
Too much background noise about toxins and the oh-so-wonderful things the author is doing as a celebrity. Not nearly enough practical how-to.
That said, many of the "recipes" are straightforward and easy to apply. In fact, they're all things my mom was doing back in the '70s and '80s, and she wasn't a hippie. For me, it didn't feel fresh.
Too much background noise about toxins and the oh-so-wonderful things the author is doing as a celebrity. Not nearly enough practical how-to.
That said, many of the "recipes" are straightforward and easy to apply. In fact, they're all things my mom was doing back in the '70s and '80s, and she wasn't a hippie. For me, it didn't feel fresh.
Read
January 22, 2008Great reference guide to those who really want to try and make a difference in the environment and their own home starting with their home. As someone who has a dog and cat, family members (including my husband) who have allergies and just for our overall health it has great tips for reducing cleaning pollutants and helps you save money too.
June 4, 2008
This book has some good insights and recipes, but I have a list of recipes for home cleaning products I acquired from a community class that I really love. If anyone wants them, let me know and I'll email them out. They are so, so cheap to create and work really well--without all the gas masks and fumes. :)
February 6, 2009
This book was well researched and explains why chemicals in daily cleaning products we all use in our home are harmful to our families. I would disagree with other reviewers who felt that she was only trying to sell her line of cleaning products. This was a very good book, although it needs an index.
February 20, 2009
I did like this book better than the Go Green, Live Rich book. I found the information more interesting and am somewhat motivated to buy "Green" cleaning products. This lady is a true believer though and passionate about her cause. Good thing I spose, she's done a lot of good. She offers some really great tips.
September 8, 2009
I gave this book 4 stars only because of the great ideas to clean things w/ green products. The advice is good, but rest of the book wasn't the most well written. You pretty much can clean anything w/ baking soda, lemon juice, and vinegar. It's scary about the chemicals that are in cleaning products.
October 23, 2017
A friend of mine introduced me to this book and it changed the way I care for my house and the people that live in it. I made small changes to adopt a "green cleaning" state-of-mind since it can all be a little overwhelming at first. Once implemented, the green way of life is so simple and the fact that it is so inexpensive makes it very gratifying to me. This book just makes sense to me.
May 29, 2013
An AMAZING book. I *highly* recommend everyone to read this book. Full of useful/helpful information on what is in our cleaning products & how harmful they are to us & the environment.
She also gives green tips on how to either make your own products to clean with or if you are too lazy to make your own, then she lists helpful books & websites to visit to buy green/nontoxic products.
She also gives green tips on how to either make your own products to clean with or if you are too lazy to make your own, then she lists helpful books & websites to visit to buy green/nontoxic products.
July 31, 2007
The first couple of chapters I could have skipped...but very informative book about the chemicals we use to clean and how to chose safe alternatives. I will never buy another bottle of clorox again!
January 16, 2008
I wasn't as impressed with this book as I hoped I'd be. I wanted to see more strategies/ideas/recipes for cleaning but I felt more like I was being lectured. I learned a lot of good things that I will use, for sure, but I wouldn't go out and buy this book. Definitely a library read.
February 24, 2008
Lots of great ideas for cleaning green. I switched from bleach, toilet bowl cleaner and soft soap to baking soda and lemon juice have never looked back. Its a necessary read if we are going to stop polluting every time we clean our bathrooms.
July 7, 2008
I love most of the ideas of using natural, non toxic cleaners from this book. She is, however, a little on the radical side for this eco-friendly beginner! I may take just a few steps at a time, and when I do, this book will be a good resource!
July 14, 2008
Helpful ideas for how to eliminate toxins from your environment and green your cleaning. My favorite tip is to put a few drops of essential oils on a tissue and then to put it in your vacuum cleaner bag. It infuses your entire house naturally.
July 26, 2009
This book had a lot of good information about the chemicals (and their awful side effects) that are in commercial cleaning products. I also learned quite a bit of good information for best practices for cleaning our house.
June 19, 2009
Highly recommend this as well as her third edition: "The Essential Green You!" It will change the way you look at household cleaning agents, beauty products, and food! All the better for your environment.
September 18, 2011
I did alot of skimming on this book, alot of info, when i really wanted to get to what are the alternatives that wont break the bank and smell offensive, some good tips, but way too long of a read to get info that i wanted.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews