Clean Living Blog

From apple cores to appliances, copies of phone bills to the remains of last night’s carbonara, the contents of your trash are an ode to waste.

Perhaps you enhance your baths with sparkling, multicolored bath bombs and scented salts. Or maybe you prefer a simple soak in steamy, hot water. No matter your method, a bathtub can be a welcome haven after a long day. But when it’s time to clean your bathtub, the method you use can make a sizable difference for the health of our planet.

Some things just happen like clockwork. Like our daily need for a mid-afternoon nap, a midnight craving for salty snacks, and that weekly podcast episode you can’t wait to listen to. When it comes to keeping your bathroom clean, however, there’s no built-in timer to tell you when or how often it needs a solid shine.

Picture this—your toilet is so clean that it sparkles. Yes, that porcelain throne is as shiny and spotless as ever. The best part is, you managed to achieve this gorgeous state of cleanliness with methods and products that don’t contaminate our planet.

Have you ever taken a second to stand in a perfectly clean bathroom and admire the shine reflecting off the surfaces?

If you’re the lucky owner of a dishwasher, you might know what a life-saver it is when it comes to getting your dishes done quickly and easily. Even the fastest hand washers can’t compete with the blissful ease of sitting back and letting a machine do the work for you.

Compared to the chore of hand-washing dishes, our dishwasher can sometimes seem like a lean, mean, cleaning machine. But in an age when most of us are re-examining how our choices affect the health of the environment, you might be wondering if your dishwasher is also green.

Swapping disposable water bottles for a chic reusable one. Tossing your old coffee grounds and banana peels into a compost bin instead of the trash. Opting for public transit instead of a solo ride to work—yes, there are so many small ways every day we can support the wellness of our planet.

As fall begins and the weather cools, our thoughts turn to cozy sweaters and pumpkin-flavored treats. After the busy activities of summer, fall is a great time to get back to our routines and turn our attention back to our health. 

As much as we try to keep our baby’s toys and accessories in spotless condition, sometimes the unexpected can happen.

There are some universal truths in the world—water is wet, the sun rises in the east, and babies are adorable mess-makers. Babies tend to dirty their clothes in dozens of ways, from baby food stains to poop stains, leaving new parents feeling as if they’re constantly doing laundry. You might also find your personal tried-and-true tricks to eliminating stains won’t work for your little one’s wardrobe. 

Becoming a parent comes with loads of questions. How long until the baby giggles? When will they say my name? Is it too soon to introduce them to buffalo mac and cheese? Among the many responsibilities on your plate, however, there’s one thing that can confuse first-time parents.

If there’s one place you can be your messiest self, it’s your home. We’re talking late-night cupcake masterpieces, bathroom hair dye experiments, and post-snowball-fight hot chocolate sipped by the stove (and the floor, and the couch)

Studies show that keeping your home clean can make you feel better in just about every way—you sleep more soundly, you’re more likely to stay physically well, and you reduce your cortisol (AKA liquid anxiety).

Our dishwashers do a lot for us. They can make our plates squeaky clean in a flash, give the baby’s teethers a much-needed shine, and most importantly, save our hands from a lot of scrubbing when all we want to do is sink into the couch and relax

It’s impossible to understate how much a deliciously warm shower can improve your day. A shower helps clear away the day’s sweat and grime, soothes tired muscles, and simply gives us some peace after a long day. 

While most stains come out in the wash, you might not know how to get oil and grease stains out of your clothes. These unfortunate stains can turn your favorite outfit into an unwearable mess.

From bright blue to royal red, colorful clothes can be a great way to display your personality, whether you’re headed to work or out for a night on the town. Of course, with all that wear comes washing, and knowing how to wash colored clothes is just as important as knowing how to wash white clothes.

That classic, crisp tee. That chic, wintry knit. Those jeans. You know the pair. Those bright, tight, brilliant white jeans that once made your backyard barbecue feel like a sunset in Mykonos. There’s a reason why our white clothes make such essential pieces. They keep us looking sharp all year long and they go well with everything.

Sometimes our days require quick thinking and a change of clothes—or three. First, you have morning yoga, then work, then lunch and an afternoon coffee run. Even after all that, there’s still a stop at soccer practice, a dinner with your parents, and a late-night Target run before you finally get to slip on your pajamas and slide into your long-awaited sheets. 

If you were to ask us, “What’s the most surprising thing about your industry?,” the first thing that would come to mind is the state of transparency. Did you know the US has no federal requirement for household cleaners to tell you what’s inside them? When it comes to food that we put in our bodies, every brand must list the ingredients. But with cleaners, you can choose to disclose zilch. Zero. Nada.

We’ve all been there. That moment you go to look at a bottle’s ingredient label and find a list of words you can’t pronounce, let alone identify. Sometimes it feels like you need a PhD in chemistry just to understand what’s safe or unsafe for your home. While we can’t offer you an advanced degree, we can promise to be as transparent and open as possible about what we put in our ECOS products. Unlike many conventional cleaners, we list all our ingredients. And if that’s not enough, we also list all the ingredients we promise to never use, AKA “The Nasties.

This interview was originally published on Three Ships Beauty. Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks joins us on the #HerHustle blog to share her leadership journey with us. She shares the importance of safer cleaning products for your health, and what she does to overcome moments of self-doubt and adversity.

When you’re in need of a little “me-time,”  a good skincare routine can be a perfect go-to. After all, who doesn’t love a nice sheet mask, a few cucumbers, and a moisturizer that makes your skin feel silky smooth? But when it comes to pampering your skin, there’s one thing that often doesn’t get the attention it deserves: your laundry detergent.