| By :
Nick Vassilev
You might like the idea of using natural cleaners. However, you may have a bit of a job persuading other members of your household to switch from the chemical-laden proprietary gunk they use to the natural products. This can be a bit of a chore - harder work than actually doing the cleaning, at times. These points might help you get your message across. * "Baking soda and vinegar are cheaper." This is a good one to trot out if you're in the supermarket aisle trying to buy the household cleaners and the household bean-counter has the calculator out. * "Can you eat that stuff? You can eat baking soda and vinegar?" This can be followed by challenging them to eat a spoonful of their chosen cleaner while you take a spoonful of either baking soda or vinegar, which requires a bit of willpower but won't kill you. * "What do you want to use that in the fridge for? The fumes will make the cheese taste weird." This especially works for highly scented cleaning products. * "So what if it takes a bit more elbow grease to use my stuff? It burns calories." * "That stuff always makes my hands really itchy after I use it." And then ignore remarks that you're just a wimp and why don't you use rubber gloves. Or else proceed to the next argument. * "Last time I used that stuff, I accidentally breathed some of the fumes in and was coughing for the rest of the day and/or had itchy eyes and a headache." * "The chemicals in those cleaners have an effect on hormones, and might make my PMT worse." A good one for women to use on husbands. Pregnancy makes another excellent reason for switching to natural house cleaners. * "Did you know that those artificial fragrances are some of the worst carcinogens around?" * "People have killed themselves by using too many chemical cleaners." Yes, there have been cases of people dying after mixing ammonia-based toilet cleaner with chlorine-based cleaners - these react to form chlorine gas as used in the trenches of World War I. Then the silly person, in a small, enclosed space bends over the toilet bowl to scrub it out... Some added arguments that apply to chemicals for use in the garden vs. organic methods. * "Some of that stuff's going to still be on the lettuces when you come to eat it." * "How are you going to stop the cat/dog/baby eating that snail bait?" * "I can just use old coffee grounds/eggshells/wood ash to keep the snails off - no need for that expensive bait." * "All those chemicals will kill off the good bacteria in the soil that protect the plant from disease." * "That spray will kill the bees that pollinate our flowers." * "The carrots taste better when you use organic fertilizer." * "Why can't you pull the weeds out by hand - the exercise will do you good." Still more arguments for natural pest control inside the house: * "I don't want that mouse poison anywhere near the food." * "Using a flyswat is more fun. Why not pretend it's a shoot-em-up computer game?" * "That flyspray will hurt my pet fish." * "Don't bother with that mouse poison - get a cat. A cat's amusing and good for relieving stress." * "You saw the rat? Kill it yourself with a cricket bat - it's the closest you'll get to being a dragon-slaying hero... darling." Another good one to use on husbands, especially if they have a taste for action movies of the historical/fantasy type.
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