Review by L. Shirley:

This review refers to the Orange Plus Cleaner(Concentrate) by Earth Friendly Products……

Looking for something that is made from earth friendly and biodegradable products that actually works? Look no further..this is it.

I’ve tried several different products along these lines and this is the best I’ve come across. I’ve used it on everything that is washable in my home. It’s marvelous on walls and doesn’t leave those streak marks that some products do. It broke up old grease stuck on my stove and my tea kettle that had remnants of everything I cooked on it.It did a nice job on my tub and my shower doors, I let it sit in my kitchen sink for a while and it actually took out some coffee stains. Finger prints around door knobs are now gone! It also works beautifully on chrome fixtures.

It won’t replace every single item you need to clean. For example it does not work on really hard stuff like rust stains or calcium build ups(what really does?),you will still need a window cleaner, and also there are times when a little elbow grease or a second try for heavily soiled areas is helpful as well. But after using you will really feel like you house is clean. It also leaves a wonderful scent.

It contains Pressed Orange Oil and plant derived Surfactants..all biodegradable. I know when I use this that I don’t have to worry about ruining my clothes! This concentrate(just add water)is a real economical bargain as well. It is also sold premixedEarth Friendly Products RTU Orange Plus All Purpose Household Cleaner, 22 Ounces (Pack of 12), which can be refeilled with this concentrate.

An excellent and safe product that make life a little easier that is earth friendly as well….Don’t work too hard…Laurie

Review by Laura Raile:

This comes concentrated you use a little and it goes a long way. It works and smells great. We love it that it is safe for our environment, our lungs, and after you clean a counter you wouldn’t mind if food feel on it you could eat it anyway. Safe products are the only way to go as we strive to stay healthy without compromise for quality products. This is very economical.

Review by Rebecca Johnson:

“The energy from flowers is so bright and strong that they can be put anywhere in the home and they will enhance your life.” ~ pg. 217

Norma Lehmeier Hartie is a design consultant and Harmonious Adjustment practitioner who enjoys gardening and cooking. She created the practice of Harmonious Adjustments to give her clients the chance to reconnect with nature and to manifest their personal and professional dreams. Through her book she introduces ideas for detoxing and decluttering your home environment.

If you want a happier, healthier lifestyle that is more in harmony with nature, then Norma Lehmeier Hartie’s book has a world of information to make this possible. She can help you:

Remove toxic products from your home and garage

Clean and organize your home

Buy environmentally friendly cleaning products

Organize your home for more peace and harmony

Find healthy personal care products

Grow plants that help to control pollution – A list of the Fifty Best Houseplants

Find the best choices in flooring

Figure out how to recycle larger items like a refrigerator

Cook more safely and use kitchen scraps for your garden

Formulate a plan to keep your house clean

Organize every room in the house

Decorate with Confidence

Reading through the list of harmful products gives you an idea of the ingredients to avoid in cleaners and how they can affect your health. For an antibacterial spray, the author suggests water and essential oils and for cleaning silver she also suggests more natural solutions like baking soda and vinegar. Using Borax and water is less dangerous than chlorine bleach fumes and you may want to try this in your shower. You may enjoy products by Seventh Generation.

Chapter three felt a little out of my personal range of expertise, although we know that thoughts can affect our environment and life and can move our life in a positive or negative direction. This chapter deals more with spiritual practices. Chapter 6 also delves into a deeper connection with nature, personality types and elemental powers. The list of Yin and Yang is helpful to create a balance of the two in your home. An entire chapter is also dedicated to plants, gemstones and crystals.

“If you are the average American woman, you expose yourself to over two hundred synthetic chemicals that are found in the products you use as you prepare yourself for the day. These products do not simply sit on your skin; approximately sixty percent of these ingredients get absorbed into your bloodstream.” ~ pg. 91

Chapter four is especially informative and essential if you are trying to be healthier and want to find organic alternatives to products filled with synthetic chemicals. Why should you avoid petroleum and talc? Why is there lead in hair dye?

The section on an Eco-Friendly Kitchen is interesting and the chapter on natural and organic foods also gives ideas on how to save time in the kitchen. A few recipes are included:

Vegetarian Pasta Primavera

Fajitas

Risotto with Scallops or Shrimp

Lemon Rice

Grilled Vegetables

An extensive list of resources and a very handy index complete this well-researched and extremely helpful book. If you enjoy Feng Shui or decorating and organizing your home, there is a lot to enjoy and you may find the information in this book can also help with fatigue, anxiety and sleeping problems.

~The Rebecca Review

Review by Armchair Interviews:

Worried about what your family is being exposed to? Are you hoping to increase your wealth or find love this year? Trying to decide on the best color to paint your walls? If you answered “yes!” to any of these questions, then Harmonious Environment is a must read.

The goal of this book is to create positive energy both in your home and your life and to be kinder to the earth. Hertie is a design consultant, chef, gardener, and healer. She shares her professional and personal experiences with the readers, i.e., homemade earth-friendly cleaning products, tasty recipes for carnivores and vegetarians, etc. She recommends that after reading this book, you apply the process in the following order:

1. Remove toxic products from your home and garage

2. Clean, declutter, clear and organize your home

3. Buy/use environmentally friendly products

4. Learn how to use place objects (furniture, mirrors, etc.) to manifest change in your life

The relationship between people and the Earth is an important part of Harmonious Environments. To remind ourselves of this interconnection, Hertie recommends bringing the natural world into your home. Some ways to do this include displaying rocks and minerals and using houseplants as pollution busters.

Hertie uses Harmonious Adjustments (TM) that combines “the best principles of Feng Shui, the application of the Four Elements based on your birth date, color, Vastu, energy work and good design.” I’ve read a few Feng Shui books in the past, but the author’s clear instructions and enthusiasm has given me the confidence to actually try this at home.

I liked how the author reminded me to use this book as a guideline but to also trust my intuition. Do what looks and feels right for you. I also liked how the Resource section listed all the suppliers, organizations and further readings mentioned throughout the book.

Even if you aren’t interested in Feng Shui, this book has valuable information about becoming an informed consumer and living a more eco-friendly life.

Armchair Interviews says read Harmonious Environment and get ready to change your life!

Review by GreenMaterialism:

I found this at my local car accessory place, and decided to give it (as well as a couple of their other products) a go. I’m got a black Subaru Impreza, which is parked on the street (no driveway) and rarely gets washed, so it can acquire a good amount of dirt.

I’ll agree that the stuff ours like water – it is not viscous at all, so I was worried that it might not be “soapy” enough. Once the water hit it my fears abated – this stuff suds up great, even with COLD water! My previous natural car washing soap would only work with warm water, so this is way better!

It worked just as well as it should – it cleaned the car splendidly. And, I didn’t have to worry about the suds splashing in my eyes or my dog lapping it up – since it’s not harmful in any way. Even in the direct sun, the car looks almost new now! I’m very pleased, and am certain that this is the only car wash for me – as least for the foreseeable future. I can’t see why anyone would buy a normal carwash soap when this stuff works so well and is nearly perfect in terms of the environment. I mean heck, the bottle is 100% recycles and recyclable, even the label is printed on recycled paper with soy ink. Crazy – and the stuff is cheaper than some other car washing soaps. Wow, very pleased indeed.

The only question I have is how well will it work on by boat? Even though it says “car” wash on the bottle, I plan to attack my boat with it this weekend. I can’t think of a better soap to be rinsing directly into a river which provides drinking water. We’ll see how it goes!

Review by Scoop:

Bought some of this along with tire shine and glass cleaner. I used to use the Mr. Clean Auto Dry system. This works as good as Mr. Clean, only it doesn’t suds up as much (I’m not sure that more suds means something cleans better). The only odd things I noticed are that the wash water forms hexagonal shapes when applied to windows, and the wash rag stayed alomst completely white. When I use the Mr. Clean system the rag turns black.

Nontheless, my black car was clean and it was fairly easy to wash off most dirt and grime. I did have to use elbow grease on the bugs that were stuck, but I have yet to find a wash that makes it easy to remove baked on bug splatter.

Update – I would now give this product 5 stars as I have found that it does NOT leave any spots on my car, even on 100 + degree days!

Review by Athomemommy:

You may read reviews stating that the fragrance is too strong, NEGATIVE!!! It is very soothing and invigorating. I myself do not like overpowering fragrances…I do laundry in a frangrance free detergent and wish I could use this products laundry a HE detergent but I have an HE washer (so hope they come out with that soon). My husband who uses frangrance free everything, actually likes it and was the one to suggest I buy it and try it. I recommend the all purpose cleaner as well and for the price, despite of what others may say, it is a good deal – 1 bottle lasts me a bit over 3mths and I am a stay at home mom, with a 9mth old so I do plenty of dishes without help of dishwasher and am always aware of prices and effectiveness of a product. I LOVE IT!!!

Review by Christina:

This is one of those products that I just can’t do without! It smells so heavenly that I don’t mind doing dishes. It smells of roses and geraniums. I am extremely sensitive to scents as I have allergies but although this scent is ‘obvious’ (I dont want to say anything too strong to deter someone from trying it) I have absolutely no problems with it – as does the rest of my family. My 5yr old also has allergies and when I clean the counters with this scent, he’ll ’sniff’ the table and sigh.

As an added bonus, it cuts grease wonderfully but the BIGGEST benefit in my opinion is that it MUST have that special vegetable ingredient like in her Counter Top Spray that cuts odors (try cooking something stinky in your microwave or spilling tuna water from the can on your counter…use her Geranium Counter spray, wipe it down and sniff it out…nothing but heavenly geraniums to please your sniffer.) I SWEAR, I have an extremely sensitive sniffer and can’t keep ’smelly’ items in my garbage can in the kitchen even for a little bit, I have to take them to the outside trash (tuna cans, overly ripe veggies, etc). With one teeny drop in a tuna can, swirled around with some water – no scrubbing on my part, it cuts the odor so well that I can toss it in the trash and not think of it again. I can wash a cookie sheet of fish sticks with no odor and so many others. Did I say that I can’t be without this product??

I just wish that Amazon sold a package of her various products or in single bottles…I can’t very well keep 30 bottles of several of her items in my home…that would be insane.