Confession: For most of the past year, I haven't been commuting by bike. Without context, this may not seem like a horrible sin - it's been a wet winter, so I get a pass there. And plenty of people don't bike to work, especially in elevationally challenged towns like Asheville....
Category: Courtney Miller
DIY Discoveries
Courtney Miller
In supporting your efforts for a fantastically clean 2013, I've decided to summarize the results of my DIY product experimentation last year. No new info, just streamlined. Here you go: Glass Cleaner Hands down, my favorite discovery and the unequivocal best glass cleaner ever is hydrogen peroxide. It provides a...
A Fantastically Clean 2013
Courtney Miller
It's New Year's resolution time, and one of the most common refrains is to "keep a cleaner house" or "de-clutter my home." Often, people are good at one but not the other. But both tasks - cleaning and organizing - work in tangent to make your space feel clear, stress-free,...
Why Even Hipsters Should Vote
Courtney Miller
Alongside PBR and moustache fetishes, a dangerous hipster credo is snaking its way through society. They’re too cool for bootleg jeans. Too cool for pre-rolled cigarettes. And, yes, too cool for voting. I shouldn’t lay it all on hipsters. I’ve heard yoga moms and academics express a similar philosophy, though...
Label Lessons 101: Surfactants (Repost)
Courtney Miller
If you know to look at labels on household and body care products, you know of at least one ingredient to stay away from - a surfactant called sodium laurel sulfate (SLS). Surfactants are marvels of modern chemistry, because they solve the age-old salad dressing problem - the impossibility of...
GreenWays and Means
Courtney Miller
One of the eco-friendly components of my cleaning business is that, whenever possible, I ride my bike with an attached trailer filled with products and supplies. The majority of my clients live outside of Asheville, so I end up driving often (I offset the miles with a company called TerraPass);...
Bathroom Essentials
Courtney Miller
My cleaning-related research produced a couple of fruit-related ideas that I wrote about in my last blog. While these methods are über-accessible and work well enough for the average homeowner, they don't produce the professional results that I'm after in other people's homes. My experimentation has succeeded, however, in producing...
Fruit-ify Your Home
Courtney Miller
I've been experimenting with simple ways to make eco-friendly cleaning products or co-opt common items for use in cleaning endeavors. I'm sure you're aware of the cleaning power of lemons (they work especially well as a copper cleaner) but here are a couple of other fruit-related cleaning ideas: 1. Shower...
Green Cleaning Goes National
Courtney Miller
The spanking received by the Romney campaign last week for its failure to comprehend the basics of the Venn diagram has provided me a perfect opportunity to discuss the rare intersection of two fields that consume most of my time - house-cleaning and politics. Back in February, several reporters (Glenn...
Label Lessons 101: Surfactants
Courtney Miller
If you know to look at labels on household and body care products, you know of at least one ingredient to stay away from - a surfactant called sodium laurel sulfate (SLS). Surfactants are marvels of modern chemistry, because they solve the age-old salad dressing problem - the impossibility of...