Then something strange happened...

A short time after we changed cleaning products, my husband was emptying the dishwasher. No that's not what was strange! I have a wonderful, helpful husband. Well back to the point. He was out in the kitchen and I was in the living room and he called out "Bonnie come here!" Fearful the new dishwashing powder had done something awful to the dishes, I hurried out to the kitchen with fear in my heart.

To my surprise, Jeff whips a drinking glass from the dishwasher and sticks it over my nose saying "Smell that!" Hesitantly, I took a whiff, half expecting some hideous odor. I smell nothing and said as much. "I know. Usually they have a chemical smell that I really hate, but these don't" was his reply.

I never even knew that he didn't like the way the old dishwashing powder made the glasses smell, so this was rather surprising news to me. Thinking about it I realized that if we could smell the chemicals, then there had to be some residue on the dishes. That also meant we were ingesting those chemicals with our food! Yuk!! Reading the new powder's box I learned it is environmentally friendly because it contains no phosphates, chlorine, borates, or nitrates.

Take the time to smell one of your glasses the next time you empty the dishwasher. Can you smell a chemical residue? I this what you want your husband, boyfriend, wife, girlfriend or children to consume?

I want to note that we were using a very popular brand of dishwashing powder. Chances are that it's under your sink too. Look over at the "Link" section to the right to read more about common household toxins that are right in your home.

The other interesting thing is that the non-toxic cleaner is less expensive to use since it's very concentrated. You only use 2 teaspoons per cup instead of filling each cup. I later found out that other dishwashing powders have "fillers". This increases the amount of energy it takes to ship them and is what frequently causes scratching of glass wear.

So it's environmentally friendly, protects my family from harmful chemicals and less expensve to use. What's not to like?