It is important to me that I only clean my home with products that are safe, natural, and green. Conventional cleaners might be effective in cutting through dirt and grime but they do so at the expense of our health and the environment. While many might use cleaning products like Windex or 409 with very little prior thought or concern….I actually like to know what I am spraying all over my home. These cleaners contain many chemicals that can be toxic, reactive, corrosive, or flammable. There is also the potential that they can cause serious health issues and environmental damage. Technological advances allow us to do things faster, easier and more efficient than ever before but those advances and products have to be safe!
Remember my story awhile back about how my son reacted to chemicals in toilet cleaner? All he did was sit down at a toilet that had toilet cleaning chemicals in it and I ended up calling 911. I don’t want my children to be exposed to harmful chemicals day in day out and I get hives at the drop of a hat so I avoid conventional cleaners all together.
Usually this means I make my own with simple and natural ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, pure castile soap, vegetable oil, lemons. etc. They work so well and they are so easy to make I usually won’t bother with buying any of the green cleaners on the market. I have tried many of them and they just don’t live up to the hype or they won’t disclose their ingredients like a certain company that Oprah endorses…ahem.
That said though, I was REALLY impressed with the BabyGanics line of cleaners. So much so that a few of these products are going to have a permanent home in my cleaning cabinet. These products are specifically formulated for the safety of children, pets and growing families, and they are environmentally safe. The BabyGanics line of cleaners is:
- All Natural
- Organic
- VOC Free
- Non Caustic
- Free of Harsh Chemicals
- Without fillers or dyes
- Completely safe for people, pets and the environment
And a big plus for mommy…they work! Below I have given my thoughts on each of the BabyGanics products. I tried the unscented and the lavender scent versions alike.
BabyGanics All Purpose Household Cleaner – You just can’t beat and all purpose cleaner that cleans a multitude of surfaces through out the house. Instead of petroleum-based ingredients, or added dyes that are common triggers for respiratory and skin irritation, BabyGanics created an all-natural cleaning blend that is based upon natural soybean and palm kernel oils. I used it on kitchen and bathroom counters, on my stove and range, on my hardwood dining table, on walls decorated with crayon, and probably dozens of other places. I LOVE this cleaner and the lavender scented version is scrumptious. I am not big on fragrance so my kids noticed the yummy scent immediately and they liked it.
BabyGanics Tub & Tile Cleaner – Normally I use baking soda and vinegar to clean my tubs and showers. It works well but it I have to admit that the BabyGanics tub and tile cleaner is more more simple and just as effective. And of course it has none of the harsh chemicals and harsh acids in conventional tub cleaners that can be corrosive and toxic. The BabyGanics version is a special formula that is based upon a naturally derived urea salt which provides tremendously effective cleaning without the negative corrosive aspects many other products can leave behind. I used it extensively in my home recently and it works pretty darn good. I have been keeping a bottle in the shower to do a quick clean-up every week…otherwise it might be a once a month job in my house. ;)
BabyGanics Glass and Surface Cleaner – This product contains a unique, naturally derived biodegradable surfactant system that eliminates the need for solvents, glycol ethers and ammonia. I usually use a vinegar and water solution but I have to admit the BabyGanic glass cleaner is less streaky. It did a good job getting my car windows clean too and they were pretty grimy from all the salt spray on the roads this winter. I will likely just stick to plain old vinegar and water for indoor jobs but if you don’t like to make your cleaners or you hate the smell of vinegar this could be what you are looking for. I might keep some of this on hand for outdoor windows on my home and car.
BabyGanics Floor Cleaner Concentrate – This was my favorite BabyGanics product and I think it deserves a permanent place in my home cleaning repertoire. Its unique formula includes a combination of all-natural soybean and palm kernel oils and it is designed for use on tiles, laminates, and hard floors. I used it on the tile in my bathrooms, the linoleum in my kitchen and hall, the stone in my dining and foyer areas, the wood laminate in my family room, and get this…my carpet! When I was reading the back of the bottle I was super surprised to see a mention that it could also be used on carpet in addition to hard floor surfaces. So I diluted it according to the instructions and put it in my carpet cleaner and I cleaned some carpet in the bedrooms and in my kids play room. In the playroom the white carpet was starting to look gray and it had some stains from strawberry smoothie. The BabyGanics floor cleaner worked wonders. In fact I think it is one of the best carpet cleaners I have ever used. I have always tried to use soap nuts for my carpet but I find that harsh chemical cleaners are the only ones that can usually lift stains. Well not anymore…I will be using BabyGanics exclusively. Woot! I was very pleased. :)
So overall I REALLY like these cleaning products. They are safe and natural and they work good…a winning combo. I know I will definitely be keeping some of the All Purpose Cleaner and the Floor Cleaner on hand in my own home.
No babies left in this house but two furry pets, one daughter and a set of parents who would love to try out some safe new products!
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I currently use “natural” cleaning products and want to switch over to completely Organic products. I’ve seen this line at Babies R Us and have wanted to try it out once my current cleaner runs out. I would love to win the kit! That would just tickle me pink!
Awesome! I have to admit, I have been too lazy to make my own cleaners, much to my own dismay. I’d love to switch to these products if they are as good as you say they are! What better way to know than to win some! :)
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i currently use another product line, but i would love to win and learn about more great products!! i will be back once i post about it!
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Thanks for the product reviews. Could you share your homemade recipes with us as well?
I’m slowly switching over to natural cleaning products – I bought the castile soap to try making some of my own but I haven’t yet. I’d love to win a babyganic product! Thanks for the opportunity, and the review.
Are you refering to SHAKLEE…Ophra endorses?
I use some of their cleaners, and would love to
know if there is stuff in their products that the
company doesn’t disclose. thanks
Denise, yes that is the company. Their products may be aweome and may even be natural but the company refuses to disclose ingredients. I have been in contact with them a half dozen times and they keep saying that they are afraid people will snake their formulas if they disclose. I won’t do business with a company that takes that stance…I have a right to know what I am using in my home.
I also make most of our cleaners, but would love to try out the floor cleaner. We can never seem to get the stains out of the carpet.
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First time reader of your blog, here, fellow green blogger myself, and while I can completely understand your apprehension towards companies that aren’t forthcoming on their ingredients and/or are misleading in products they sell (perfect example, Clorox’s new “Green Works” http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/products/msds/index.html
) I thought you might like to know WHY “the company Oprah endorses” doesn’t disclose ingredients on their label.
Oprah may be endorsing it now, but you can’t beat the fact that places such as The Pentagon, NASA, the National Zoo in Washington D.C., the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Park service- to name a few, are longtime users of their cleaning products.
I applaud your wanting to be safer, I hope you are able to sway others to be safer as well, as is my mission to do the same, but I’d like to ask that, perhaps in the future, not to label companies as being deceitful or imply that they are simply because they wish to keep their formulations private with no intent to harm or dupe the consumer, to prevent competing companies from copying what they’ve been so successful in doing for over 50 years. They’ve spent billions on research and development coming up with these perfect formulations. You know as well as I do business ethics aren’t what they used to be, and people are out to make a quick buck. Other companies would chomp at the bit to get a hold of what and how they make their cleaners, you know?
Anyway, I’ve rambled enough :) Thank you for the opportunity, and for doing good work helping to make others greener :)
Lisa I appreciate your comments….although you might have also disclosed that you are a distributor for said company ;)
As a mother I do not excuse their disclosure policy. I will reward other companies that are more forthcoming with my money. That is just the way it is. In this day an age we need honesty from the companies that serve us.
Would love to give these a test-run, thanks for always blogging about such great products
Hi there, new reader here. Thanks for the motivation to throw out the last of my conventional cleaners (we’ve almost made the switch completely) and maybe even get around to making some from scratch. I would also love to have your tried-and-true “recipes”! Not that I would mind trying out that BabyGanics kit…
Count me in. But not for the lavender: my sinuses can’t take that scent. I have two young children.
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I’d love to give these a try!!
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Wow. These sound awesome! I’ve been trying to convince my husband to switch over to safer products, but he’s completely performance driven. I really like your reasons for switching. I’m going to try them out on my hubby. Thanks so much for sharing!
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I also posted this on my blog. Woot!
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I’m slowly switching my household to all natural items and would really like to try these cleaners.
I too use my own “homemade” products with vinegar, baking soda, etc., but sometimes you need something that works a little quicker & involves less elbow grease (aka scrubbing). I’d love to try these.
I just discovered your blog and I love it! I live in Canada and have no idea if these cool new products are available here yet. I currently use Seventh Generation, some Method products (although I’m not exactly sure that Method is as organic as they claim to be – do you have more info about Method products?) and homemade stuff. Actually, I use straight vinegar the most! Thanks for such an awesome blog – I’ve thought of doing something like this myself, but no need to since you do great work! Thanks!
Thank you for all the helpful information!
Step by step the world is becoming safer for our children!
I haven’t heard of this product. I am always interested in hearing about natural cleaning products, as I only use naturals in my home. I’d love to try this stuff out!
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thanks for always keeping us informed on new products and better ways to take care of our family!
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thanks for the great review! just reading it has encouraged me to want to switch more of products over! it would be great to get to try some for free! :) thanks!!
These products seem really nice. I currently use a different brand of natural cleaning supplies but wouldn’t mind winning some more! Thanks for keeping me updated on new safe things.
I would love nothing more than safe cleaning products in my home for my 8 mo old twins. I hope I win (the unscented especially!)
Thanks for the great review of these products – would love to try them! I love lavender, so cleaning with lavender would be super!
I would love to try these products. I’ve seen them but didn’t want to try them since I too have found that a lot of these more natural products just don’t cut it. I currently use Seventh Gen., Ecover, Method and some conventional products. I too have a husband who is performance driven but we’re working on making a complete switch. I wish I were motivated enough to make my own formulations but I’m not. Thanks for the review. Whether I win or not I’m still going to try these out.
Love the reviews! Just found you from Soft Landing. (Trying to find a good sippy cup.) Keep em coming! Thanks!
this is your second review blog i’ve read, thank you for taking time out of your day to make my life easier!! i think i will be trying one or two of these cleaners.
I agree with you fully on Shaklee’s stance. While they may sell their products to zillions of businesses, and some of whom are mighty impressive-sounding, there is no denying they are denying their customers imperative information. In what way can they claim their products are safe without allowing the general public to read the labels and make that decision on their own? In this day and age of Internet education, many, many people are learning about products that claim to be natural and safe that truly aren’t. They may be 100% amazing, etc., but like you, I will not put family’s health at risk because Shaklee does not want to give important information. And there is no question it is an ethical issue of not disclosing ingredients. We would never put food into our bodies without knowing what is in it, even if the manufacturer tells us it is safe. The government respects this and has made disclosing ingredients law. Why would we bathe, wash our clothing, and clean our homes with products we clearly have no information on other than one company’s claims and Oprah’s endorsement that it is “safe”. Why not be proud of their “excellent” and “safe” product and publish this information? Scads of pro-Earth and pro-health people would flock to this company like they are to Seventh Generation, etc., especially based on how well Shaklee reportedly cleans. I remember grappling with this after viewing Oprah’s glowing recommendation of Shaklee but deciding not to order due to them withholding ingredients. Hmmm, food for thought.
That being said, I’d love to try BabyGanics. What a joy to finally find a green cleaner that cleans as well as it should!
heather h’s last blog post..Oooh la la, I want to win this beauty!
I too use vinegar and baking soda, but sometimes need something a bit better for the shower. Your description of the Tub and Tile Cleaner has me hooked and I would love to win some to try out. Thanks!
Hi, What wonderful products. Our family has been making sincere attempt to live more green. Please enter me in your drawing.
I appreciate it…..Thanks,Cindi
I have been searching for a safe cleaner that actually cleans the tub/tile well. I hate to feel this way but the natural cleaners I use just don’t get it clean enough for me. Has anyone out there found one?
My husband hates the smell of vinegar, which I usually use as the base for mose of my homemade cleaning products. It’d be great to have an alternative, something that is safe and whose smell he won’t complain about.
I would love to find a green cleaner that actually works.
These sound like cool products.Would love to try them.
I would love to try this! The lavendar sounds great!
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We’ve tried the BabyGanics all-purpose cleaner with pretty good success. Would love to try the rest! Thanks for sharing this info.
I also make my own cleaners, but I would love to try these out. Do you know of any good cleaners that work with hard water. My shower is a pain to clean and to keep clean. Thanks for your blog. I read it to my one year old son everyday ;)
Count me in ;0)
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I would love to try the unscented kit – or the lavender. Anything without chemicals and the attached smell sounds good to me!
Enter me please! could be so lucky as to win again?? :)
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I also use vinegar, baking soda and water for most of my cleaning, but I’m excited to see an environmentally-safe floor cleaner that also works on carpets. Thanks for sharing this.
this sounds awesome!! I will be buying some even if I don’t win! :o)
I agree. I wish all cleaning products were all natural!
I just purchased one of the BabyGanics products to try out myself. So far so good, here. I’d love to win one of those kits! Thanks for another good review.
I would love to win either of these kits! My 1st choice would be the unscented one though. :)
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In my ginormous comment referring to that company not disclosing ingredients I forgot to say I’d love to try either the scented or unscented. Like many of the commenters I just need a great and safe cleaner to do a thorough job in my shower/tub. Thanks for hosting such a useful giveaway!!
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I’ve been looking for a safe & effective carpet cleaner and it sounds like BabyGanics floor cleaner just might be it! Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the heads up on all these new products and I love the reviews. Saves us from wasting money. I too make my own basic cleaners, love adding different essential oils to mix them up from time to time, like a brand new product! I would love to win this because then it saves me some time of making my own for a bit! :)
Thanks again!
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Thank you for your excellent blog, I just discovered it a week ago, and I’m hooked! I would love to try these new products, too! I usually make my own with baking soda and vinegar. I am very interested, Tiffany, in knowing how you use your pure castile soap, vegetable oil, and lemons? Do you use vegetable oil for/in furniture polish? Would you mind sharing? Thank you so much :)
This is such a great review,thanks for the help finding these.These would be a great addition to our trying to go green household! I’m pretty cautious when I clean,as I worry alot about what is left behind.My older set of twins mouth everything still at 3.5yrs.They have lead poisoning,so I try to be aware of what is around them.Thanks for the chance in this great give away
Donna E
i would love a chance to try these cleaners! i’m trying to phase out all of our older, chemical-laden cleaning products, and these sound great! thanks so much.
I am very interested in anything that is safe to use around two very sensitive kids and works! I would really love to try these products.
Would love a chance to win and try something new. I have a 9-mo-old son and am looking for safer ways to clean that don’t involve serious elbow grease and yucky vinegar smell!! Thanks for the post and the chance to win!
I have been wanting to make the better less toxic cleaners for some time.
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I usually rely on my huge box of baking soda to clean everything since most natural-type cleaners don’t really work. I’d love to try this stuff though! Thanks for the review!
Woohoo! Same with me – I use another ‘all natural’ brand of household cleaners; and I hate to admit, some pretty nasty chemicals to clean our shower. Id love to try something natural though – as long as it WORKS! I have yet to find something that easily cleans soapscum and hardwater stains.
Mmm… this is an interesting discussion!
I have to say that I do make my own (with vinegar) but honestly it is not as effective. To scrub down our last rental, my husband (oh what a confession) bought a bottle of ‘power cleaner’ (don’t even dare to mention its name), and from time to time we resort to this for heavy duty cleaning, as part of me want to let it go into the world in bits rather than throwing it down the drain in one shot.
So, I am interested in the products you describe. Even though it’s against my policy to put product promos in my Carnivals, I’ll consider including this one. If I leave it out because there are too many posts already, then please resubmit an article for my next carnival, as I’d like to support this blog.
A Lee
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(an initiative you can join free)
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I just found this wonderful site today (showed up as a link for Klean Kanteen sippy bottles). Thanks for the hands-on review; I’m not sure if my local natural foods store will carry this line, so I’ll ask if they’ll stock it (or is this an online product only?)
I’d love to try them!
Do you have any suggestions for a safe automatic dishwasher detergent? I’ve tried 7th generation and wasn’t that happy with it. Dishes weren’t as clean as I was use to and every thing looked cloudy. Thanks for any ideas.
Good morning:
Thanks for contributing this post to this week’s Carnival of Family life, hosted at Health Plans Plus!
Be sure to stop by the Carnival tomorrow and check out the other wonderful entries!
JHS
Colloquium
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I started reading your blog a few months ago because I’m always looking for products that are natural. It seems the older I get the more noxious and foul smelling cleaning products seem to me. Thank you for the review. I would love to give these a try.
Can the BabyOrganics Carpet cleaner be put in a “regular” steam cleaner? I have a Bissell carpet cleaner — it is something you would buy at Best Buy or Sears….not a “steam cleaner” like the Ladybug…Thanks Melanie
i like the way how eco-friendly tools are victoriously coming out of the market.
^ that’s because our world’s now naturally inclined and conscious.
^ well that’s good news. :D
Love your site:) I also am always running into the problem of products not listing their ingredients:(Can you recommend a good, natural, safe hairspray that actually will list all the ingredients?
Good article. I, too, have broke out in hives due to certain cleaners. I had no idea how harmful these cleaners are and I’m sure there’s a lot of others who have no clue of the dangerous chemicals they are inhaling from them.
Glad to see that moms are liking our products. We have launced our new blog and we’re hoping you can join us there too. You can also become friends with us on FaceBook and Twitter.
The blog is here:
http://blog.babyganics.com/
check out the babyganics blogsite
http://blog.babyganics.com/
they give out reviews and tips there =)
As a parent I research all the products I use in my home. I came across BabyGanics by accident and used them in my home for a little while when they were given to me at my baby shower. As an Organics advocate I felt the need to do my research on this company.
I find that their tongue and cheek take on All natural Products to be quite phony in playing up to the Green Generation. After reading two very different reasons of how the company got started I quickly realized that the original story from Founder Kevin Schwartz of that his dog became sick from the cleaning products that were used in his home (New York Times Feb 15th 2007 Article) had quickly changed after Investor Keith Gerber purchased part of the company in the effort to feed off of the growing Green Market. The current story by keith Gerber who joined as an investor in 2008 (not founder as projected to the public as stated below in the http://www.libn.com article on May 1, 2009) Shame on you for taking advantage of Mothers and Families who take their Green lives quite seriously.
“In an effort to develop cleaning products that were pet-friendly, “I realized that the issue is so much bigger – that people, especially small children and babies, are susceptible to reactions to harsh chemicals,” he said. “My wife and I were thinking about starting a family, and Keith was a father. We didn’t want our kids to be crawling around on a floor or taking a bath in a tub that had been cleaned with products that could be harmful.” Keith Gerber
have you tried Melaleuca products? If so, how do they compare to the Babyganics products?
Nice post,information about Babyganic floor cleaner concentrate is very nice.