Some days it’s hard being green. You try and you try, but you just can’t find everything you need in an eco friendly variety. And too many products appear to be merely greenwashed, not really green at all.

Simply put, the selection of eco friendly, high quality products available locally sucks sometimes. It’s better than it used to be, but still not great in some areas.

But you aren’t as stuck as you think you are.

Make Your Own Cleaning Products

When it comes to things like cleaning products for around the house, you don’t need to figure out which brand to trust in a lot of cases. You can make your own.

In some areas this is incredibly easy. Just get the big size of baking soda and vinegar and you can do an amazing amount of cleaning around your house with just those two products.

You can find recipes online to make your own laundry detergent from products that are pretty easy to find locally. Be ready to experiment to find the ones that work best with the water you have in your area.

When you make your own cleaning products you don’t have to worry about the greenwash. You know what went into it. You’ll know if anything is even mildly toxic. You’ll know which products you can hand to the kids and make them do the work without worrying that they’ll taste it, no matter how young they are.

That’s the beauty of using things like baking soda and vinegar. No more locking cabinets due to dangerous chemicals. You can let the kids explore.

Shop Online

If you can’t find it locally, online is a pretty good choice too. You can find cleaning products that really are better for the environment. You can research the claims and find out which companies to believe and which are taking advantage of the lack of regulation on most green claims.

And you don’t even have to drive to get to the internet.

You can find eco friendly cosmetics that are also better for your skin. You can find organic or fair trade clothing and home decor items. You can find just about anything you might need.

Shopping online and having things shipped to your home can be more eco friendly than driving around to buy the items. The products have to be shipped to your area anyhow. Buying online means the delivery truck takes them to your door.

The disadvantage is that buying online means you aren’t supporting a local business. But especially for products that you might have bought from a big box store if you shopped locally, it’s not necessarily all bad.

You should of course shop locally for food. Local produce is one thing the internet can help you locate, but it probably can’t get it sent to your door.

Online shopping still requires a good bit of research to get it just right. But once you know what you’re doing it’s really not all that hard to find your way around the greenwash and to the products that really are kinder to the environment.

A Few Sites to Consider

EarthWaveLiving.com offers Modern Homesteading, Sustainable Living, Emergency Preparedness, and Much More…

Green Nest – More natural products for your home.

Only Natural Pet Store – Natural, holistic and organic supplies for your pets.

Greenbatteries – Offers great prices on rechargeable batteries, battery chargers, battery cases and holders.

ReusableBags.com – A critically acclaimed line of reusable shopping bags plus a growing family of smart, earth-friendly products all designed to help you reduce, reuse and save.