SO Last Century

Per Swiffer, broom and dustpan are SO last century. Yes, that is an ad I caught for them one day on TV. Broom and dustpan. Old technology. We've progressed beyond such old-fashioned things. Brooms. Mops. Snort. We can't possibly expect to get our hands near water or have to bend over or work in any way, shape, or form. Swiffer and its ilk are easy. Convenient. And the chemicals in the cleaner do the tough stuff for you.

You know what else is so last century?? Lower rates of obesity. Lower occurrence of childhood cancer. Less plastic in the ocean. Less trash in the landfills.

But by all means, let us choose the method of cleaning that keeps us lazy and fat, and puts chemicals in the environment, and plastic into the oceans. Get those newfangled wet-jet disposable things for every aspect of your cleaning regimen, and gleefully throw away cleaning pads that last for one small room before you need to get a new cleaning-product-soaked plastic-backed thing for the next room. Never mind that steam cleans great, no chemicals needed. Don't give it a second thought that sometimes a good "old-fashioned" hands-and-knees cleaning is just what was needed. Pay no attention to the fact that these things really do not clean all that well, and you find you get crap building up in corners that you have to hit on hands and knees anyway, and that your pets and children get that chemical assault right in their faces all day long after you "cleaned".

Don't worry about that. Convenience is key. You go ahead and be easy like Sunday Morning.

I like my steam clean and I don't mind the hands and knees method (works a LOT better) and I don't mind getting my hands wet or dirty. Heck, I use cleaning as core exercises. Ever throw your core into vacuuming? It's amazing. Beats paying for a gym membership any day. We used to be thinner when housework was not so easy and convenient.

Coincidence?

How Many Are in YOUR Home?

"The safest cleaning products are cheap, widely available and have been around for centuries: baking soda, water, and vinegar along with some elbow grease. The EWG says these ingredients can be used to clean everything from countertops to hardwood floors to ovens."

Funny, I have said this over and over and over and over. And again. And yet, most people I know will STILL have one or more of the products on this list in their home, check it out:

http://shine.yahoo.com/green/worst-household-cleaners-health-152200302.html

Remember this guy??

How many of those can you dig out RIGHT NOW from your cupboards? In your bathroom, your kitchen?

Do you have to run out of the room after using your cleaners, so you can breath? Do you have to wear rubber gloves? Do you have to wear clothes you aren't afraid to ruin? does this NOT seem like a problem to you?

I was scrubbing my Pyrex dish and thinking about commercials where women hold up stuff that has "baked-on stuck-on" messes. I was thinking, really, nothing actually STICKS to glass. It comes off. Sure, it might take a little muscle. So.... so what? Are we too frail to use elbow grease anymore? Was that for our grandmothers who didn't have the luxuries we have now?

All those commercials... those companies do not CARE if your nails look good because you don't have to scrub a pan. They don't CARE if their product, used too much or improperly, is actually bad for the environment. They don't CARE if it's bad for our health. They put the warnings on it they need to, then happily take your money for their shareholders. If you think for one second that they want YOUR quality of life to improve, you are sadly disillusioned. I don't know quite where you got that idea. Get rid of it. And if you think everything should magically float off your pots/pans/bathtub and you shouldn't have to work on it at all, get rid of that, too. Life takes a little work. It should. We shouldn't be replacing a little bit of actual work with toxic cleaners, just because we can't be bothered to do the right thing. Don't have time? Tough. Our planet doesn't have time. Our kids don't have time. WE are killing time for them with what we have done and what we have become.

You ask, "What do you mean, what have we become?"

Lazy.

Let's rewind and go back to the better way. Simple, frugal, hard-working. Just because we get a little dirt under our fingernails doesn't mean life is hard. It means we appreciate Life and will do what we can to preserve it.

And let's stop thinking that "clean" means we have to run outta the room so we can breathe again. I mean, really.