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I've been wanting to try method cleaning products (I'll admit the big pull is for the very pretty bottles!)

Does anyone have any experience with them? What is the effectiveness like?

I'm definitely interested to hear feedback from others as I've tried out a good number of green products with variable success. To date, I haven't found a good replacement for dishwasher detergent. Method cubes didn't work and at least two other coconut-based surfactants weren't effective either.

If you have glass shower doors, I highly recommend Method's shower spray. I use it a couple times a week and the water just drips right off.

Method soaps are nice, but for value, I still go with Trader Joe's. The tea tree/lavender dish soap is great.

I recently started using Oxo-Brite for laundry which seems to be working great on whites...

Alex --
I have used and love Method for laundry soap (I have a front loader so I use their HP product), dishwashing detergent & hand soap wood. I have an use the wood and leather wipes -- their probably a waste of money but their convenient. I think they make a great product which I can use with some less guilt than the standard cleaners - plus they seem to perform as well as the standards. I don't believe they cover all green issues but they are a good middle position.
I have a hard time finding them in stores in the city - and either order them on line (they have their own site you can order from) or on a shopping run to Target.
-- another Alex

The Method Products are great. They smell great and look nice and really do work. The only one I've not been satisfied with was the dishwasher soap packets, which didn't work well at all compared to icky phosphate-heavy detergents. But I've tried nearly everything else and love it all. The grapefruit wipes do just about everything in my house.

Hey girlarchitect,

I found a lot of Method stuff at Bryan's in Laurel Heights.

The grapefruit wipes smell a little strange to me, so I may try another scent before I rule those out.

Hi There,
we are a pretty green household, as well as really sensitive to scent and smell.
Here some of the products we use:
Dishwasher : Trader Joe's Automatic Dishwashing Detergent and small white bottle, black and red label I believe with a Rinsing Agent available at Rainbow or Whole Foods
Dishes: Seventh Generation free and clear Dishwashing Liquid
General : Seventh Generation free and clear Natural All Purpose Cleaner, Ecover Cream Scrub,
Bona Hard Surface and Wood Floor Cleaners

Hope this is helpful,
Cheers,
Sylvia

I've been really happy with method's tub and tile cleaner. It works as well as any non-green product and smells wonderful.

i've replaced my glass cleaner and all purpose spray cleaner with a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water. you can add a little lavendar oil if you're looking for something antibacterial. for scrubbing stuff, try a paste of either vinegar or lemon juice and baking soda (for a foaming effect) or sea salt (for a serious scrub). again, add lavendar oil for antibacterialness.

so many of the green cleansers in the article linked were described as smelling like vinegar. that's because that's what they are. vinegar, water, and maybe a tad of alcohol to help it evaporate fast.

i like Goodnest dish soap, but besides the word 'natural' being on the package i can't determine exactly what's so eco-friendly about it.

There's a great book called Green Clean by Linda Mason Hunter & Mikki Halpin.

They give recipes for almost any household cleaner you'll need using non-harmful ingredients like baking soda, white vinegar, club soda, etc. I just started using some the recipes and so far so good. Making your own cleaners lets you pick cool containers (if you wish) that you reuse - so less packaging waste. And while I support the green product companies, making your own is much less expensive.

I've been happy with all the Method products I've used (all-purpose cleaner, laundry detergent, dish detergent, all-purpose wipes, hand soap, air freshener) though I haven't used the wood, leather or SS cleaning wipes or the dishwashing cubes.
I also really like the Ecover laundry detergent.
And - I use Baking Soda and Vinegar in lots of places around the house.

Any tips for a strong drain de-clogger that is eco-friendly? None that I have tried have been much help.

I like Method products. We buy them at Target: Dishwashing cubes, liquid hand soap, all-purpose cleaner (try cucumber or pink grapefruit), laundry soap. The tub cleaner is okay but my cleaning person recently brought a can of lysol...

I love all of Method's cleaning products and shower gel. Drugstore.com seems to carry the full line.

I just moved out of my apartment yesterday, and fell in love with the Method all purpose cleaner in lavender. I used it on everything and had great results. The only thing that worked a little better was a cedar-scented Trader Joe's "zen" product for stainless steel -- it smelled like a hamster cage, but it got a grungy stainless ikea trash can shiny enough to use as a mirror.

I have googled for Monika's hydrogen peroxide gel mentioned in other threads, and haven't found anything available online. If anyone knows the name of this product, please post it here!

I love the method stuff. I have big picture windows that don't open, so my apartment smells like cleaning for days after I do it, and Method products, in addition to cleaning well, don't make me light headed from the smell.

The Laundry soap is best in class, and I love it. all purpose cleaner is also fantastic, as well as the shower mist, and the tub and tile cleaner. The dish soap is the one hting that didn't blow me away. I think Dawn does a slightly better (but not green) job, but my gf loves the smell of the cucumber dish soap so much, that she won't let me buy anything else.

Funny-I just discovered (on recommendation from my local Whole Foods cashier) Ecover electric Dishwasher tablets-they rock! A million times better than the Method ones I tried-they stunk!

I use Ecover for dishes (by hand) and toilet bowl. For floors, a white vinegar/water mixture works very well. I've used Method and Whole Foods all purpose spray cleansers with equal success, and baking soda/vinegar for rust and soap scum. For laundry, I use Seventh Generation but if I overload it won't get foundation stains out.

Most dirt/stains/bacteria can be removed from the home with varying combinations of water, white vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice, borax, washing soda, lavender and tea tree oil.

Love Ecover for the dishwasher.

I also ditched the Windex and kitchen cleaners for a 50/50 mix of vinegar & water. I also add a bunch of sweet orange oil (or whatever other essential oil I feel like using) to cut down on the vinegar smell. The stuff works great and I use it on every surface - kitchen counters, toilets, mirrors. It works just as well as the Method or Seventh Generation stuff but is far cheaper. And if you accidentally get some spray on a food item, you don't have to worry. I also like the fact that by refilling, there's less waste... I hate that none of these eco companies offer refill items. I use Bon Ami for anything that needs a good scouring powder (tub, sink), and for drain cleaning, I throw some baking soda & vinegar down the drain and watch it foam. Do this monthly to keep drains clean.

Method offers refills, but I'm not sure as to the availability. I get refills for the shower spray. It works great here in Phoenix with our terrible water!

Let's remember...there's NOTHING "green" about throw-away wipes.

i like method for the price, however, if you want or can spend a bit more the Caldrea products with scents like Lavender/Pine and Basil/Sage offer a better, stronger, cleaner scent.

I've been using Method laundry detergent, and it's ok, but it isn't great for stain treatment. I usually pretreat with Zout or Oxyclean.

I've also tested various Seventh Generation products. Toilet cleanser is ok for cleaning not-too-set-in stains; their version of Windex isn't as good as Windex; dishwashing powder is good; tile cleanser doesn't do anything.

I was looking for something to clean the gunk off my not-so-pretty vinyl kitchen flooring. Nothing seemed to work, not even bleach (not very eco-friendly, I know). But one day I accidentally spilled some Whole Foods 365 All Purpose Cleaner on the floor and it took the entire layer of dirt right off. You need to use quite a lot, but it made those tiles look like new. Highly recommended for the rest of your kitchen and/or bathroom too.

I'm another Method fan - I use their cucumber dishwashing liquid and their liquid laundry detergent, but haven't tried their other products.

Any suggestions for something to clean a polished concrete floor? No matter what I do it always seems dirty. Would that Whole Foods 365 All Purpose Cleaner work?

I've used some Method products and in my experience their pretty good.

There is one exception though. Their dishwashing fluid really doesn't work at all in my experience. Dishes with grease stay greasy. Even fingerprints have to be scrubbed off rather than just wiped off. There's no suds at all. You have to add a ton of it to the water to get any cleaning power at all (when you really shouldn't need more than tiny squeeze of any halfway decent detergent to wash a whole day's worth of dishes).

I live in an older house and the water is fairly hard so maybe that has something to do with it, but when I use other dish detergents, they work much better.

The Goodnest line was manufactured specifically for Target, and they have decided to discontinue the line! The line was manufactured by Caldrea Co - so if you call them at 877-576-8808 you will be able to pick up any leftover stock and have them ship it out to you. They are totally out of the hand soap in any fragrance, but have the lotion left in grapefruit, plus candles, dish soap, shower cleaner and counter cleaner in both lavender basil and grapefruit.I picked up some hand lotion and candles for teacher/holiday gifts. There will be a new line produced for Target called CleanNote to replace Goodnest.

Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day is another great one. Nice frangrances, cleans well for laundry, gen'l purpose cleaner, hand soap. I find that Borax is a great laundry addition for whites.

We began using it for eco-flea treatment. Scrubbed it into the carpets with a broom, then began using on all the laundry the cat had been sleeping in. After about 10 days the fleas were gone, gone, gone! My gratitude for all your tips!

I have tried Method's cucumber all purpose cleaner and like it for the bathroom for general cleaning. Don't like not knowing exactly what's in it, though.

I used to use Natural Choices products, but they are not local like the Method. Might try them again someday, and they have expanded their product line. They were competing with Oxyclean products, and often had highly concentrated, long lasting, non-toxic cleaning products. They were at www.oxyboost.com last time I checked.

Bon Ami cleaner with calcium and maybe an oxygen bleach ingredient is good. Found their site today with cleaning tips at www.faultless.com/cleaning_tips.htm
Also like Soft Scrub with calcium carbonate, lemon and unknown detergents listed, especially for cleaning our stainless steel kitchen sinks - makes them shine nicely.

I've tried using toothpaste (maybe any kind would work, not sure) for cleaning silver spoons and forks, etc., and for cleaning stainless steel ones. That can be expensive, though, depending on what type you use. And not always non-toxic. I might have tried the Soft Scrub with lemon and this might have also helped to clean the utensils.

And for tooth brushing, we've been getting away from the kind with toxic flouride and the poison warnings on them, and have been using Nature's Gate brand with calcium, baking soda, natural mint or anise oils, etc. very nice.

Jason Naturals has mouthwashes with more natural ingredients depending upon which one you get. One of them is called Healthy Mouth with tea tree oil and cinnamon, and also has cloves in it, and is nice. Cloves is also known for killing parasites, and so we have some in capsule form which I found at swansonvitamins.com.
Some of Jason Naturals mouthwash products may have some toxic stuff in there, so you have to be careful and read the ingredients for which mouthwash is better. Check to see if there's a warning on it like the toothpastes.

Jason Naturals also have great skin creams, and I love the vitamin E cream 5000 units with some organic ingredients and great prices. The 25,000 unit one seems like too much. They also have vitamin C and A creams, which might also be good for those with skin cancers. The vit. E cream seems to help balance my hormones, and I have thyroid problems which have contributed to this.

Here's a recipe for cleaning copper bottom pans. 1 cup of regular salt, 1 cup of white vinegar and slowly stir together. It will foam a little. Then slowly mix in 1 cup of regular white, unbleached flour until it forms a paste. I keep it in a clear plastic container. It's been working really well and much better than the toxic copper cleanser we used to have.

For fighting cancer, you can go here
www.soulwellmall.com/cancer.html, and there's also info. at that site for helping to boost one's immune system.

I tried out the method dish cubes and was dissapointed in them. I've also tried Wholefood's powder dishwasher detergent (in general, powders will work better than liquids on all accounts) and found it much better than the method cubes. It smells good too. It's still not as effective as the bleach and phosphate cleaners, but I'd rather put a little extra muscle into removing heavy food junk first than coat my dishes with chemicals.

I also got a new dishwasher that uses very little water and is really really quiet. I found it on the consumer reports greener choices site (www.greenerchoices.org) It's a whirlpool, I forget the model number, but I love it