I am also scrupulously “non-corporate” in other ways. I hang my wash out, rather than using a clothes dryer, make do with a small refrigerator that fits under the counter and shop at second hand stores for most of my clothing, furniture and appliances.
Needlessly Wasting $1,000 a Year
Thus I was extremely surprised to discover – after attending a class by local Taranaki mother Lyn Webster – that I am needlessly wasting thousands of dollars on commercial cleaning products and toiletries. Webster (http://pigtitsandparsleysauce.co.nz/) offers classes all over New Zealand and on national TV demonstrating how ridiculously easy it is to make most kitchen and beauty products at home yourself.
Webster's daughters
As a single mother with two kids to support, Webster acknowledges her motivation for learning to make her own kitchen and beauty products was entirely financial.
Dangers of Endocrine Disrupters
My own reasons relate more to my concern about the environmental toxins in most commercial cleaners and toiletries. Women’s cosmetics especially contain a number of endocrine disrupters – chemicals that interfere with human hormonal functioning. Most pass though sewage processing unchanged, which means they wind up in our drinking water – and are found in measurable amounts in all our bodies. This is of major concern to epidemiologists, owing to increasing evidence linking these endocrine disruptors to epidemic levels of breast cancer, early puberty in girls and low sperm counts.
Why Kiwis Tend to be Less “Corporate” Than Americans
Most of Webster’s household cleaner recipes rely own baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), white vinegar and something most Kiwis know as “Sunlight” soap – even when referring to cheaper generic brands – a plain bar soap with no added perfumes, skin lotion, or chemicals. Both baking soda are highly reactive (but safe – both are used in cooking) compounds that readily dissolve oil and grease and kill most bacteria. Webster stores her products in a variety of recycled containers. This is where the savings comes in, as packaging is the second biggest factor (after profit) in the cost of commercial products.
What I find fascinating about living in New Zealand is that multinational corporations were late (thanks to a strong tariff system) in penetrating the New Zealand market. This means there are many women of my generation who can recall their own mothers washing dishes in Sunlight bar soap. They swear it got dishes much cleaner than any commercial dishwashing detergent. The only drawback was that it left an ugly scum in the dishwater owing to New Zealand’s hard water. Webster has solved this problem by adding a “water softener” – calcium carbonate (also known as washing soda) to her dishwashing liquid, as well as her powdered detergent for the dishwasher and laundry. This combines with the calcium and magnesium that make water “hard,” preventing them from combining with soap to make insoluble salts that float on the surface as “scum.”
Buying Corporate Products is an Addiction
For me the most interesting part of Lyn’s presentation was her wrap-up, where she talked about the strong temptation to resume buying commercial products when she used up her first homemade batch. Not because they are any better than the homemade ones – but simply because our dependency on corporate brands is actually a kind of addiction. It helped me appreciate more fully the constant, pervasive messages that make the flashy labels on the supermarket shelves so irresistible.
As always, these products are marketed by appealing to our insecurities. This exploitation of women's insecurities by hawking cleaning products is less blatant now than it was in the fifties and sixties, when a lot of women were still using washing soda, baking soda and vinegar. However I still recall seeing commercials in which neighbors looked askance at women who didn’t get their sheets white or remove the “ring around the collar” from their husbands’ shirts.
After a time, however, women became habituated to using Tide in their washing machine and Joy for their dishes. And the hard sell shifted to high fashion, make-up and cosmetics. At present women are bombarded constantly with explicit messages that they will look old and sexually unappealing if they don’t purchase certain products:
From Adbusters
I encourage people to check out Lyn’s website, which has dozens of other homemade recipes, as well as a range of books, budget tips and other products: http://pigtitsandparsleysauce.co.nz/
Recipes
Dishwashing Liquid
Bar soap cut in chunks
1-2 Tablespoons washing soda (calcium carbonate)
2 Tablespoons glycerine
Mix 1-2 minutes in food processor. Dilute the concentrate that forms overnight with water.
Washing soda can be found at hardware stores (see http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf71947321.tip.html)
Glycerine can be found in pharmacies or the baking aisle at the supermarket.
Kitchen/bathroom Cleanser
Use baking soda on sink stains and bathtub rings. Also good (with or without white vinegar) for burned on grease.
Laundry Detergent or Powdered Detergent for Dishwasher
Bar soap cut in chunks
1-2 Tablespoons washing soda
Mix 1-2 minutes in food processor. Use 1 Tablespoon for light load. Add white vinegar to rinse compartment of dishwasher to prevent spotting.
Stain Remover
Eucalyptus oil
Drain Cleaner
Baking soda, followed by hot white vinegar, followed by boiling water
Carpet Cleaner
Sprinkle dry baking soda. Let sit a few hours. Then vacuum up.
Personal Deodorant
Baking soda in a spray bottle (essential oil optional) or white vinegar (smell disappears after a few minutes). Both work like commercial deodorant by changing skin pH to kill bacteria.
Toothpaste
Baking Soda
Salt
Glycerine
Optional flavoring (peppermint or clove and orange oil)
Shampoo and Dandruff Treatment (works better than commercial products – kills the fungus that causes dandruff)
Baking soda
Follow with vinegar rinse for conditioning
All-purpose Anti-bacterial Cleaner
Baking soda (kills 99% of bacteria)
White vinegar
Few drops of homemade dishwashing liquid
Eco-friendly Alternative to Sanitary Napkins/Tampons
Diva Cup (http://www.divacup.com/) – reusable menstrual cup
***
Webster on TV NZ: http://tvnz.co.nz/good-morning/s2009-e021009-lynwebster-video-3045353
