Give me an "H" Give me an "E" Give me a "P" Give me an "A"

What's that spell? HEPA!

You've probably heard by now that a HEPA filter is a good thing to have in your vacuum cleaner. We at Purely Maid decided it was a great thing for all of our important customers with pets, with kids, with allergies, pretty much everyone! SO, we went out and bought the prettiest HEPA equipped vacuum we could find...The Dyson Animal DC 14 With Telescope Reach. We think its pretty special and we take it with us everywhere we go! Dyson's HEPA filters are guaranteed for the life of the vacuum with no need to do any maintenance to it.

If you're thinking of purchasing your own HEPA vacuum, here are a few tips. HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air. HEPA filters have a standard for the size of the particles they trap. If you are in the market for the best of the HEPAs, you'll want to look for the words sealed HEPA, or true HEPA and avoid things that say HEPA-like. You can also look for the labels to say something like, "an efficiency of 99.7% for microns .3 in size." This means that your HEPA is going to filter out the allergens like pollen and dust mite feces. The less feces you have in your home, the better!

Now, if you'd like the teeny feces out of your life, but you'd rather not buy a new vacuum, send us an email @ purelymaid@yahoo.com and we'll be right over with our pretty Dyson (and all our other great supplies) and we'll do much more than just vacuum!

Soy Candle Update, Etc.

Went to Target tonight (for a lightbulb they don't carry) but came away with two nuggets of information for ya. Method has redesigned their deliciously aromatic soy candles with all the old scents and two new-ish ones: citrus cilantro and pomegranite tea. Mmmmmm. And speaking of scents...Clorox GreenWorks has a new one! The all-purpose cleaner now comes in a fruity tangerine!

Good People

I firmly believe you can judge the integrity and quality of a business by the types of cups they provide a drink in. That said, hats off to bread & cup and Yoga, Body, and Balance of Lincoln, Ne. I have personally sipped water from 100% compostable cups at both establishments. Great, green job, guys! Oh, and if you haven't been to bread & cup yet, its delicious. I'd like to give advice on what to order, but I'd pretty much have to copy and paste the menu.

Soy or Paraffin? The age old question.

It's the weekend, and you're planning a romantic dinner for your sweetie. There is wine, fancy cheese, roses, music...What more do you need to "set the mood"?

Or, more realistically, its Saturday and you finally cleaned out the fridge and threw away those questionable leftovers from last week. There seems to be a funky odor coming from the trash can area. What could you use to mask the scent?

The answer? CANDLES! Now, you're probably thinking, "Allison, how on earth can you tell me that I can get any more ecologically friendly than burning candles? I'm not using electricity, burning coal, using gasoline....Wait a minute..."

That's right. Paraffin wax is yet ANOTHER derivative of petroleum. Is there anything that we can't make out of petroleum??? While paraffin wax candles are burning, petro-chemicals are floating through your air. But not to worry, there is an alternative. Soy candles! Soy wax is made from soy beans and veggies. There are numerous benefits to burning soy candles:

-soybeans and veggies are SO renewable

-soy is non-toxic while it burns

-its residue can be washed away with soap and water

-soy wax is BIODEGRADABLE

-and my personal favorite...purchasing soy supports farmers! (not Big Oil) Raise your hand if you live in the Midwest and know a farmer who grows soybeans. See?

So, snuff out those Yankee's and keep your peepers open for a soy alternative! Actually, just trade the Yankee in for their new model, Beanswax.

Dirty Dozen

In my National Geographic Green Guide magazine, there was a handy little pull-out section with this title that I thought would be beneficial to share. It's a list of 12 ingredients to avoid when selecting any personal care products. If you read through the list a few times, the words should get stuck in your head and hopefully you'll remember them when you're choosing your new shampoo or body lotion.

1. Antibacterials
2. Coal tar colors: FD&C Blue 1, Green 3
3. Diethanolamine (DEA)
4. 1,4-Dioxane
5. Fragrance (containing phthalates)
6. Formaldehyde (diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea and quaternium compounds)
7. Lead and mercury
8. Nanoparticles
9. Parabens (methyl-, propyl-, butyl-, ethyl-, isobutyl-)
10. Petroleum distillates
11. p-Phenylenediamine (PPD)
12. Hydroquinone

some of the ingredients on this list are pretty self explanitory, or just plain sound horrible. Um, petroleum distillates? Does that even SOUND good for you??? Lead, mercury? Common sense. But, some of these ingredients are not even pronouncable so I looked a few of them up to get an overview of why we should avoid them.

*Blue Dye #1, Coal tar colors, and PPD All synthesized from petroleum...Just like crude oil. Yum. Used in rubber chemicals, photo developer, oil, gasoline, dark cosmetics and hair dye. Blue Dye has also been shown to cause behavioral and learning problems in small people.

*DEA A foaming/wettening agent used in things like shampoos and lotions. Considered an "unclassifiable carcinogen" by the WHO and EPA. 'Nuff said.

*Nanoparticles I TRIED to read some journals on this one and they went WHOOSH, over my head. I am NOT a scientist. What I did get from it was that they are really freaking small and get inside of you. Hmmmm. The scientists kept using the word "unpredictable." I like to predict what my conditioner is going to do.

*Parabens/Phthalates They mimic estrogen in the body. Dudes, they will seriously lower your sperm count and make your swimmers weak. Not cool. Chicks, parabens were actually FOUND INSIDE BREAST TUMORS in studies. Just livin' in there.

*Hydroquinone This is found in skin lightening agents, just ask Michael Jackson. It contains mercury and leads to liver/kidney damage.

Now that I've got you all bummed out, here are a few brands of personal care products you could check out. They do pretty well @ avoiding the above ingredients and are pretty easy to find:

Burt's Bees, Kiss My Face, Jason, Aveda, Arbonne, Method, Tom's. Any other suggestions?

A Big Welcome To You!

We were out and about today, cleaning up Lincoln (one toilet at a time) and we got pictures! As an official welcome to Purely Maid's blog, we are offering $5 off an initial cleaning of your home or business if you mention our blog. Now, $5 is a whole bedroom in our world, thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom with all earth and people friendly cleaning products. It doesn't get much better than this. And if any of you out there have connections with the State Capitol, we'd love to clean it! I wonder how many bathrooms are in the place...

Send us an email @ purelymaid@yahoo.com to set up your free in-home consultation ASAP!

Breaking news in the world of Method and Target

This is something that we have been waiting for, holding our breath for even! We haven't been this excited since the invention of Clorox Green Works or Lil' Bowl Blu! It's the little tabs that you put in your dishwasher, done Method-style! Neither of us has tried it yet (waiting for the other, more toxic stuff to run out. yuck) and I couldn't find it on Method's website BUT the San Francisco Chronicle says it's better than the toxic stuff (duh) and smells like pink grapefruit.

The toxic stuff that's missing? Phosphates and bleach. At this point in time I know little about phosphates but Martha Stewart just gave me a very brief lesson and it turns out that it gets into our waterways and hurts the fishies and the plants. That's reason enough for me to be phosphate-free! Some states are even working on banning products with phosphates. Folks in Washington State are going to be BIG fans of Smarty Dish by 2010!

So, if you as a reader have road-tested Smarty Dish, leave a comment and let us know what YOU think!

(Other news I learned today on my quick trip to Target...Method's Granite/Marble cleaner is clearanced, they are carrying two types of Clorox GreenWorks dish soap, and the brand Cherokee makes some ADORABLE little tees for boys and girls from organic cotton. Oh, to be a size 5T again...)

Our best friend. Boyfriend. Lifesaver.

Ok, we admit it. We are having a love triangle with distilled white vinegar. He is just SO hard to resist! He is non-toxic, cheap, comes in many sizes, smells heavenly and can be used for just about anything! And, he's pretty cute in those dark shades. Rest assured, there will be many updates on our useage of vinegar in our quest to clean green.

Here is a sneak peak of things that our friend can be used for:

Killing unwanted weeds or grass, increasing the acidity of your soil (for plants that do well in more acidic homes), freshening and extending the life of cut flowers, cleaning fish bowls, detering ants, cleaning *gasp* animal urine out of carpet, keeping car windows from frosting over, cleaning rust from tools and bolts, polishing car chrome, soothing bee and/or jellyfish stings.

Now, that was just a little teaser! Make sure to check back for more reasons why we sometimes fight over the affections of Vinegar. (I like to call him "Vinnie") If you hurry, big jugs of Vinnie are on sale at HyVee this week!

Purely Maid's First Blog! (We're better at cleaning:)

Thanks for visiting the blog of Tosha and Allison (that's us!) and Purely Maid. Look for updates here on green cleaning products, helpful cleaning tips, specials, and other eco-friendly ideas. Maybe a little celebrity gossip. We'll see!

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