House Cleaning Supplies

**UPDATED post to add reviews of items I originally wrote about on the 01/27/2021 post. Pictures of new items have also been added.

Here is another line of everyday items that I never really thought about until I started to go vegan. I’ve definitely bought dollar store cleaners out of convenience or necessity in the past, but now I think I have found some of the cleanest home supplies on the market. I will say before I get into this, I am currently finishing up the dishwasher soap and multipurpose cleaner that I bought when I first moved into this apartment over a year ago. I don’t use the dishwasher often because it such a water waster, and I had purchased a decent sized bottle of Meyer’s multipurpose cleaner that I still need to finish. Once I am done with those, I will be switching over to the company I am here to rave all about, Meliora. The Latin word for, “better” that’s exactly what they are. A small business in Chicago, they are making quality products from basic, clean ingredients you can feel good about putting on your body and home. They make everything in a small factory on the West Side of Chicago, and they don’t cut any corners which provides you with a stellar product. The company I worked for right before this, was based in downtown Chicago so my love for the city runs deep. Any way I can support a small business in a city I appreciate is a win-win to me. Not only do their products smell great and work well, but they have the four certifications I look for with home and body products when applicable.

Leaping Bunny: The Standard is short for the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals, a voluntary pledge that cosmetic, personal care, and/or household product companies based in the US or Canada make to clear animal testing from all stages of product development. A company's ingredient suppliers and/or manufacturers must make the same pledge. The result is a product guaranteed to be 100 percent free of new animal testing. All Leaping Bunny companies must be open to independent audits, and commitments are renewed on an annual basis.

1% For the Planet: 1% for the Planet is a global movement inspiring businesses and individuals to support environmental solutions through annual membership and everyday actions. We advise on giving strategies, certify donations and amplify the impact of our network. Their members have given more than $265 million back to environmental nonprofits since 2002.

Certified B Corporation: These are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.  

Made Safe: A program of Nontoxic Certified, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. They provide America’s first comprehensive human health and ecosystem-focused certification for nontoxic products across store aisles, from baby to personal care to household and beyond. Their goal is to change the way products are made in this country to ultimately eliminate the use of toxic chemicals altogether.

The first of the items I used of Meliora was the Lavender Laundry Powder. Its free of single-use plastic, dye, preservatives, palm-oil, synthetic fragrance, and is not tested on animals. Aka, cruelty free. The scent is subtle, but I can still smell it and I like it. It comes in five scents, and now I currently use the Lemon, Lavender, Clove scented one and it’s great. I like the combo of smells and find it to be a little stronger smelling than the lavender one. It comes with a metal spoon in a cardboard/steel container that can be recycled if needed. The standard container is 64 loads and seems to last me like 6 months. I am just one person, so I don’t have a lot of laundry, but a little goes a long way with this stuff. One of the main reasons I decided to try them was because the refill package for these comes in a compostable paper bag. This means that you just need to buy the one container and all the refills will be zero waste afterwards! How cool is that? Now I never have to worry if the plastic jug the detergent comes in is really being recycled or not. They sell a soap stick for laundry stain removal that I also recently bought to try out. It’s free of fragrances, dyes, preservatives, and plastics. Four simple ingredients yet it does the job of your store brand stain removers. You just wet the stain and rub the stick on it before washing like normal. I wont need to use it often, but they make a point to mention how great this is for cleaning children’s clothes. Lastly for laundry cleaners, I bought their Oxygen Brightener, which is a plastic-free bleach alternative. Like all their other items, it is free of plastic, dye, chlorine, palm-oil, fragrance, and cruelty. I have some white items I want to clean like you would with bleach, without having to use bleach. I also got it because it can used for cleaning the house as well as your clothes. I have been using semi-permanent purple hair dye lately, and this cleaned my tub of any leftover dye. If you are nervous about using bleach in your house, this is the replacement for you.

Next is dish soap. Same issue of trying to get away from the plastic bottle it comes in. Even though I am good at conserving all my home products like dish soap and garbage bags, I still want to do what I can to minimize the plastic waste to begin with. That’s where Meliora’s zero-waste dish soap bar comes in. You can either wet your sponge or brush and rub the soap bar to get sudsy, or you can hold the bar under the water if you need to fill an item with suds. You can keep it on the counter or on a soap dish or tray. I have some silicon flat sponges I find are a good base of these. This comes in unscented or lemon and I chose the lemon. Again, the scent is subtle, but I like that. Since become a minimalist with home and body items, strong scents are too much for me. It’s so nice knowing I have found quality products that are gentle on the environment, my skin, and home.

Going along with losing the plastic waste in my home products, I decided to swap my hand soap bottles for bars of soap. I found little bar soap trays and now all the hand soap in the house is zero waste. I have talked about this and my normal soap brand Perennial Soaps in my Shower Essentials post, but I definitely want to try some of their bath and body soaps next. They have some amazing scents that I bet smell great.

I finally got through the multipurpose cleaner I had, so I purchased Meliora’s All-Purpose Home Cleaner. It comes in a glass bottle and the refills are tablets that dissolve in water. The box the refills come in is compostable, making them zero waste. It came unscented but I added some lemongrass and lavender essential oils to this to make it had a slight smell. I used this to clean my bathroom and I was really pleased with how well it worked. I will use the oxygen brightener for cleaning the house as needed too, like the sinks and tubs.

After almost two years with the same dishwasher soap, I finally needed to buy a new one. I finally got to try Dropps Dishwasher Detergent Pods which I have been wanting to try for a while. The packaging is compostable, made from mineral-based ingredients, are dye, chlorine, phosphate, and phthalate free, and are never tested on animals. The products are 3rd Party Lab Tested and Dropps is the exclusive home cleaning partner of Oceana, the world's largest ocean conservancy organization. They partner with 3Degrees to offset the carbon from every shipment. This year alone they’ve offset over 1,300,046 metric tons based off their website. A quick “Zero-waste dishwasher soap” Google search popped them up right away, showing how easy it is to find quality, environmentally-friendly products for your everyday life. I got the lemon scented 64 count box which I know will last me a very long time. It’s great knowing when I do use the dishwasher, the soap I am using is as clean as it gets. They also make a fabric softener I would be interested in trying sometime just based off the great scent options like Orange Blossom.

Currently I am using Trader Joe’s Lavender Dryer bags which work well, but don’t last as long as the box says they should. They can make a mess if the bag opens up in the dryer. Once they are done being used in the dryer, you can sprinkle the lavender on the carpet and vacuum it up. It lightly scents the carpet which is nice. When I try out the fabric softener I mentioned above, I will stop using these. I got some wool dryer balls for free from work and use those most with essential oils, but they aren’t technically vegan obviously. I wouldn’t have gotten them otherwise.

Well, that’s it for now, I think I have listed my household cleaning staples and I hope I didn’t miss anything. What do you use to clean? Have you ever thought about what you are using to clean the plates and utensils you eat off of, or the detergent that goes on the clothes you wear? I feel so much better knowing I am using People-Safe Planet-Safe products like Meliora’s motto and it’s nice. I always say you vote with your money, and I love knowing my votes are going towards amazing businesses doing great things. This is just another little way to leave a positive mark on this planet.

Have a great day and I hope you found this informative! Let me know in the comments below what you think.

Thanks for reading,

Jessica