The Queen of Green Clean!

Few of my friends know of my neurotic passion for green cleaning supplies. It started with my stepdaughter’s allergic reaction to laundry detergent when she was just a wee thing. She had terrible eczema and so we switched to All Free and Clear. When I got pregnant, I couldn’t be around cleaning products because of all of the terrible chemical ingredients. I began looking into green cleaning products that were better for the environment and safer for all of us to be around. I tried several of the brands at Whole Foods (then Fresh Fields), but found them expensive and not all that great. I used Dreft for the baby clothes and that, of course, was also expensive. I tried Shaklee for a while and found that OK, but also wasn’t crazy about how well most of the products cleaned.

Then one day I was setting up my Silpada jewelry at a fall market next to a woman selling Melaleuca. Her name was Marsha Bove (marshabove@verizon.net) and we have since become great friends. She, like me, has the philosophy of let the product sell itself. Both of us were bored out of our skulls at the market, so I started looking at her booth. She had two jars with pieces of fabric in them and what looked like laundry detergent. One looked absolutely disgusting and the other looked brand new. She told me they were both a year old and one was Tide, the other was Melaleuca detergent. It was pretty easy to tell the Tide by the familiar blue color. It was the disgusting one. The fabric was disintegrating.

What interested me most, however, was that Melaleuca products are green. They are based on tea tree oil. The laundry detergent is safe for people with eczema. I decided to give them a try. I have been a loyal customer now for years.

Now with my background story told, let me tell you about my darling little 6-year-old who decided to do her nails in a pair of adorable designer jeans that I was SO proud of having found for a bargain price in a consignment shop. She had worn them exactly three, yes, THREE times. My little love spilled purple and yellow nail polish on said jeans. Oops! Nail polish remover would probably take the color right out of the jeans. She through them in the laundry and Daddy promptly washed and dried them. Permanent stain I thought.

I decided I’d give it a try anyway and tried Melaleuca’s Solumel on the stain plus a shot of Pre-Spot and scrubbed. Wouldn’t you know it, I saved the designer jeans! They look beautiful again. I feel like the Queen of Green Clean again! I am amazed at the stains I have removed -- even permanent marker on occasion.

Yes, I am moved by the little things in life.