Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living

• Clean House Clean Planet
• How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants that Purify Your Home or Office
• The Naturally Clean Home: 100 Safe and Easy Herbal Formulas for Non-Toxic Cleansers
• Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of (Lansky, Vicki)
• Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Non-Toxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping

This book represents the culmination of her search for a more sustainable lifestyle. Taking her cue from an earlier time, Berthold-Bond, former editor in chief of Green Alternatives for Health and Environment, offers more than 800 simple and practical alternatives to common household toxins, covering everything from skin care to gardening. And the good news is that adopting her suggestions and formulas isn't hard at all. "Mixing up face creams or wood stain isn't much different than cleaning the windows with vinegar, soap, and water instead of using Brand Name X, or making a cake with flour, eggs and milk instead of buying a mix," see asserts. "With a few simple staples we can clean our houses, wash our hair, rid the dog's bed of fleas, and do many other things as well." If you have your doubts, here is her formula for metal polish:

3 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon flour, and enough white distilled vinegar to make a paste. Scoop the paste onto a clean sponge, and polish the metal clean. Rinse with hot water and buff dry.

Sure, these days it's literally impossible to lead a life that is completely toxin-free. But you can significantly reduce your exposure, and picking up a copy Better Basics for the Home is a great way to get started.

This book is full of practical recipes for almost anything you need, and safe for the environment as well. I am really enjoying it, and feel like I'm making a small difference for the environment, and a big difference for detoxifying my home. I use it like a recipe book, whenever I need to mix a cleaner or make a product, I look up the thing that I need, and the variations of it, and make it with the basic supplies that I bought.

This is an absolutely great book for anyone interested in "greening" their home. Their recommendations are great for the enviornment, for your health, home and save you money.

Too bad, because it was good. This book is filled with natural and non-toxic cleaning products, personal care products and more. I have made a number of cleaning potions from Better Basics and am loving the way my house smells when I clean it. However, if you want similar information, check out Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your PlanetBoth of these books deal with the next steps to take once your home is non-toxic, including ways to make your home your sanctuary. Meaning.instead of the old days using harsh chemicals, my home smells like almost nothing--just clean.I was going to post a review for Annie Bond's Home Enlightenment: Practical, Earth-Friendly Advice for Creating a Nurturing, Healthy, and Toxin-Free Home and Lifestyle, but noticed it is no longer in print.

And her explanations of how different ingredients work is also very helpful. This is a great book. I got it not really thinking I would use it as much as I have. I now buy very few commercial cleaners (Bon Ami, Ecover laundry detergent) mostly because I can't find washing soda anywhere locally. I use it for body creams, cleansers and moisturizers AND I use if for household cleaning, furniture polish, sachets, and more.

It's amazing all the products you can clean with that are already in your kitchen and, more importantly, not toxic.