Orange Crush

(... except in this case, the item I am crushing on smells like tangerines. But there aren't any really good song titles I could thing of to use here, so I went with the old R.E.M. ditty instead. I love R.E.M., still, even though they're only 75% of the band they once were. As long as Mike Mills is around to wear those pseudo-Elvis jumpsuits, and as long as MichaelStipe remains his incomprehensible self, I will always love R.E.M. Sue me. And to my college roommate from freshman year, wherever you are: SUCK IT.)

Anyway. As you know because I told you already, I am trying to be more "green" this year. It's going to be a gradual process for us, because I have had bad experiences with "natural" cleaning products before. Oh, no, this is not my first rodeo. I have had my organic macrobiotic vegetarian phases. Not for long, granted -- I honestly believe that if God did not want people to eatcheesesteaks, then He wouldn't have made them taste so good -- but I have always had crunchy hippie granola pinko commie tendencies.

This time I want it to stick, and I also want to help other people learn from our daring misadventures. So as we try new stuff, I'm going to review it here. If I do this right, this will serve two purposes: (1) all of you will know what to try and what not to try if you decide you want to do this yourselves, and (2) word will get out to Major International Corporations that I am willing to review their stuff on my blog and I will get Sponsorship Opportunities and possibly even fabulous wealth.

Which will be interesting, to say the least, because I don't have ads here, and also because I am going to tell you if stuff sucks.

Obviously, since this post is titled "Orange Crush," I am going to be reviewing something I actually like today: Green Works Natural Dishwashing Liquid, part of the Green Works line by the Clorox Company. This entire line of cleaning products has been recognized by the EPA's "Design for the Environment Program" for environmentally preferable chemistry. Green Works "defined natural using three core principles. The ingredients must come from renewable resources, be biodegradable and free of petrochemicals." They are also not tested on animals.

We've been using the Simply Tangerine dish soap since sometime before Christmas, when I picked up a bottle on sale at Wal-Mart. I had tried another brand of "natural" dish detergent at my mother-in-law's, and I liked it, so when we ran out of our regular stuff -- we've usually been a Dawn family before, although recently we've also used Joy because some of those "flavors" are nice -- I thought I would give this stuff a try. $2! If we hated it, big whoop, it was only $2!

Except we really do like it. It gets our dishes clean, which is what it's supposed to do. It feels just like "ordinary" dish soap -- same general consistency and texture. We use about the same amount as we do with any other product. (In the past I have tried brands that contained more water and so we had to use more of it.) It rinses clean and smells nice. Not a heavy fragrance, just ... nice. I remember that I had the plague around Christmas, and when my head finally cleared and I could smell things again, I was really impressed with how nice this stuff smelled.

My only complaint about it (and it's really so stupid that it hardly warrants mentioning, but I want to be as thorough as possible) is that, if you are prone to leaving the bottle uncapped, as we are, sometimes the soap will firm up and block the spout. However, we are able to resolve this easily enough by snapping the lid shut and then reopening it. (I said it was stupid.) I believe this is from the coconut-based cleaning agents in combination with my cold kitchen. It's definitely not enough of a problem to keep us from trying this again.

PROS: Natural, clean smell, works as advertised.
CONS: Sometimes messy due to operator error.

I don't have a rating system for this stuff -- just know that I like this flavor, and this product, and I would use it again. We will try other scents but at this time of year in particular, I like the smell of citrus, which is why I went for the Simply Tangerine. Other flavors are Water Lily, Simply Lemon, and Free & Clear (no colorants or perfumes). Cost is between $2-$4, depending on where you shop and whether you have coupons or sales. Brand has been endorsed by the Sierra Club and Good Housekeeping. RECOMMENDED.


PS -- Why, yes, I am procrastinating instead of finishing my resolutions list ... but you all already know how much I suck at managing my own life.