Chemical Free Cleaning with Enjo: A Natural Challenge

 

Welcome to the June 2013 Natural Living Blog Carnival: A Natural Challenge. This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Natural Living Blog Carnival hosted by Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project through the Green Moms Network. This month, our members took 1-2 weeks to explore a natural practice that they had yet to try. Today, they're going to tell you about their experience! Hopefully, you'll find some inspiration to try something new on one or more of the posts.
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I mentioned a few weeks ago my re commitment to living a more natural life, and the recent asthma attacks in the family reconfirmed how important that is. Two separate hospital visits meant that I needed to seriously look at the chemicals that were still floating around our house, and my housecleaning was one of the last areas where I was still using some pretty heavy stuff. I've considered Enjo cleaning products for a while, so this was the perfect time for me to make the leap.

In the past I have toyed with making my own natural cleaning products, and while they worked wonderfully and were very frugal, they were much more time consuming to use than regular chemical laden products. So, they tended to get used a couple of time, then discarded. Enjo appealed to me because the makers claim that they are just as easy to use, and often quicker, that regular products.

For those of you that don't know, Enjo is made with micro fibre technology, and you literally just use them with water to do your cleaning. Unlike other micro fibre cloths, you need different ones for different areas of the house, and this does push up the cost. I started with a mid-range bundle, which included kitchen, bathroom and floor cloths. I have now been using them for the past month (they have a 30 day, full money back guarantee) and I am so impressed!


The bathroom fibre is what made me a true convert. One side is for more delicate surfaces, like mirrors and chrome, while the other is for tougher grime, especially lime scale and mould. This is the perfect fibre to test out Enjo's claims, since we have a lot of lime in our water here and nothing has ever been able to get rid of the buildup on our shower screens. After just one clean with the bathroom fibre, and just a little elbow grease on the particularly bad spots, the screen looked almost brand new, and I think in a few more cleans, it will look brand new. The best thing is that the system is so easy even the kids can do it, and since it is literally just water, I have no problems with them cleaning unsupervised. In fact, they often fight over who gets to clean the shower screens - I can only hope this lasts through to the teenage years!


I still harboured a few doubts about needing the different cloths for different areas, but after seeing them all in action, I am a completely convinced. While the bathroom one made quick work of the lime scale, the kitchen cloth looked and felt completely different, and worked wonders on not only my benches but also my greasy stove top and range hood (there is one side for general grime, and one side specifically for grease). Again, it took no more effort than wiping over the surfaces, just like you would with a regular sponge and cleanser. 

The best bit is that you can throw the lot into your washing machine (on cold, not hot, and no fabric softener) with your regular stuff, so cleaning them is very convenient. Unfortunately, we are not completely chemical free yet - I haven't been able to bring myself to use them on our toilets and I'm still using disposable disinfectant wipes for that job - but at least we are almost there, and without any pain or trauma!! After just a month, it's too early to say whether switching to chemical free cleaning is helped with our asthma - my son's has improved but mine is still pretty bad - but even if it doesn't, it can only be a good thing for us as a family, and the environment in general, to reduce our chemical exposure.

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PS: this is not a sponsored post, and I am in no way involved with Enjo.  I have purchased all of the products mentioned.
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Visit Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project to learn more about participating in next month’s Natural Living Blog Carnival! Please take some time to enjoy the posts our other carnival participants have contributed:

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