Better Life took the time to compile this handy little comparison chart that I think you’ll all be pretty shocked to see. The natural cleaners that I have purchased in the past {and one I reviewed previously} are jampacked full of chemicals that I’ve been trying so hard to avoid.
It’s great that there are so many “green” options out there, but ingredients lists are tricky. Especially when some brands {like GreenWorks} don’t even disclose on the bottle and even on their website they only list a handful of the ingredients used.
Here is a comparison chart of all-purpose cleaners by Seventh Generation, Method, Mrs. Meyers, GreenWorks and Better Life. Hope it’s helpful for when you’re trying to decide on which cleaners to add to your eco-friendly cleaning closet!
P.S. Wondering if this is legit and accurate? Co-founder Kevin Tibbs of Better Life is a professional mad scientist. Read more here.
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About Amanda
Is the Better Life line available in Canada?
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At this point we have very limited distribution in Canada, but we are in the process of solving that. If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter we will keep you posted on it. http://www.facebook.com/cleanhappens http://www.twitter.com/cleanhappens
In the meantime, we have two retailers in Edmonton. Princess and the Pea http://www.princessandthepea.ca/home
and Amylou Boutique http://www.amylouboutique.com/
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Hey Amanda!
This blew my mind, too! Clorox has finally published their list of ingredients.
http://www.cloroxcsr.com/category-detail.php?catName=greenworks
And be sure to check out the safety sheets with each product, too. If they recommend you wear safety glasses and neoprene gloves while using their all-purpose cleaner, I don’t want it around my family! KWIM?
And things like Synthetic Fragrances are hiding known endocrine disruptors called phthalates.
“Phthalates are linked to lower testosterone levels, decreased sperm counts and poor sperm quality. Exposure to phthalates during development has been linked to malformations of the male reproductive tract and testicular cancer. Young children and developing fetuses are most at risk. Phthalates also have been associated with obesity, reduced female fertility, preterm birth and low birthweight, a worsening of allergy and asthma symptoms, and behavior changes.” http://saferchemicals.org/toxic-chemicals/phthalates.html
Just out of curiosity, have you ever tried out the norwex products – cleaning usually just with water? I have just started using some of their cloths, and laundry detergent, and so far am very impressed.
No I haven’t! What’s the product if you just use water?
Amanda, I am an Independent Norwex Consultant and had actually e-mailed you awhile back to see if you would be interested in reviewing some Norwex products, but I never did receive a reply. The core products are a line of high quality, extremely durable microfiber products which have been proven to remove up to 99.9% of germs from surfaces using water alone. In addition to the microfiber and other cleaning items, Norwex also has a line of Ecocert® certified personal care products.
http://norwex.com/norwex.php?lng=7&cnt=38
Amanda,
This is a great chart – we use Greenworks but it is made by Clorox (huge company).
I have started to use vinegar and essential oils to some great effects.
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Yes vinegar and water is great. Clorox, last I checked and the reason why I wouldn’t advertise for them, was still testing on animals. Not sure if that’s since changed, but worth looking into if you use the brand.
Two problems with vinegar.. (I used to be an advocate til I discovered Better Life!). Number one, it smells awful and the smell hangs around, and number two it doesn’t work NEARLy as well as I Can See Clearly Wow! I tried both on my glass patio doors and truly there’s no comparison. The I Can See cleaner was faster, no smears or streaks and of course no stink! I saw a video where they put a flower in a Better Life product, vinegar, method and something else (can’t remember exactlly but I think it’s on the http://www.cleanhappens website. Anyway, the flower stays alive and perky only in the Better Life. I like the idea of eliminating stinky chemicals in my home!! The problem with all of those other products – including ‘treated’ cloths – is that they refuse to disclose ingredients. Better Life ingredients are all listed on the label and on the website.
I use good ole baking soda and vinegar… amazing stuff and CHEAP too :)
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That keeps things simple!
We aren’t a 100% natural family, but we try. I switched to GreenWorks thinking it was a good solution for when I want a reprieve from my stinky vinegar/water solution… but here it is, jam-packed full of chemicals. Nice.
Thanks for sharing this post, Amanda. It’s nice to finally get the truth!
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norwex products are mainly the cloths – microfibre – that actually picks up germs, bacteria etc with just the cloth (the demonstrator I met put raw chicken on a cutting board, wiped it with a cloth, and used a swab kit to test for bacteria and it was clean!). Window cloths just use water and leave windows clean and streak-free. The web-site is http://www.norwex.ca if you are interested.
What a great chart! I hadn’t seen that yet. I’m a huge fan of Better Life. I love that fact that they list everything that’s NOT in their cleaners. Thanks for helping to change the world – one spray bottle at a time! Looking forward to following your blog. Check mine out if you have a minute! More green cleaning tips.
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I spent a lot of money believing that these products were better than the so called chemical ones, but what is great the comparison chart as it really helps people to see that going green is still a business that big business has been trying to monetize as well while duping people into believing that it is better for them. So I went to the dollar store and bought some spray bottles and now I use essential oils to clean my house. They all have antibacterial, antiviral and many other cleaning properties. I use lemongrass, for the kitchen, eucalyptus for the bathroom and lavender for the bedroom. I usually use about 10 drops of oil per large bottle and that does the trick. I also use cloth baby diapers as they do not leave any lint and they make everything buff shine like brand new.