Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living

This book represents the culmination of her search for a more sustainable lifestyle. Taking her cue from an earlier time, Berthold-Bond, former editor in chief of Green Alternatives for Health and Environment, offers more than 800 simple and practical alternatives to common household toxins, covering everything from skin care to gardening. And the good news is that adopting her suggestions and formulas isn't hard at all. "Mixing up face creams or wood stain isn't much different than cleaning the windows with vinegar, soap, and water instead of using Brand Name X, or making a cake with flour, eggs and milk instead of buying a mix," see asserts. "With a few simple staples we can clean our houses, wash our hair, rid the dog's bed of fleas, and do many other things as well." If you have your doubts, here is her formula for metal polish:

3 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon flour, and enough white distilled vinegar to make a paste. Scoop the paste onto a clean sponge, and polish the metal clean. Rinse with hot water and buff dry.

Sure, these days it's literally impossible to lead a life that is completely toxin-free. But you can significantly reduce your exposure, and picking up a copy Better Basics for the Home is a great way to get started.

"Better Basics" is far easier to use and much better organized and written than "Clean & Green." It is set up in logical sections according to the products' uses. The index is very good. You can find a recipe quickly, although I would suggest you read through the book once and get a feel for how to go about things. Also, one of the best aspects is the "Sources and Resources" section near the back. If you live in an area without health food stores, woods or land suitable for growing your own herbs, then this will be essential for your ability to find ingredients to make your own green household products.

This book is also suitable for the beginner green cleaner. Most of the recipes, once you have the correct ingredients, are very easy to make and quick to put together. That being said, this book is also for people who are really serious about green cleaning, personal hygiene, pest control and other aspects of running a household. I say that because some of the ingredients used in many of the recipes are costly if you have to buy them instead of gathering them from your yard or a nearby wooded area. Also, essential oils - literally essential in green cleaning! - are expensive. (A little goes a loooong way, though.) This is a lot more than vinegar-baking soda-Castille soap cleaning and requires a higher level of commitment financially.

As a single person, I also found that many of the recipes, especially the ones that are highly perishable, would make too much for me to use in the time they are fresh. Of course, the easy way to get around this is to simply cut the recipes in half or even a quarter. If you can cook or do some simple math (I'm terrible at math and I have no troubles), then you as a single person can cut the recipes down to a manageable, useful amount. I have already cleaned my leather couch, made lanolin hand lotion (great stuff!) and protected my hemp shower curtain from mildew with a spray-on solution containing tea tree oil. How long did it take? I did it effortlessly in one day, around other chores. Very easy.

I would recommend, if you are really interested in green cleaning by desire or necessity, to buy this book and also get "Clean House, Clean Planet" by Karen Logan. To me, Logan's book is the single best way to get someone involved in green cleaning. Her recipes tend to be cheap, easy and effective. This book has a far greater range of recipes for many more uses, but they are overall more expensive and specialized.

Also, a few tips if you are going to get into green cleaning:

1) Get equipment that is used only in making your cleaning products. Some essential oils and other ingredients are very bad for you to eat, and mixups and residues could make your day very long and very bad. I have a simple list: a medium-sized Pyrex bowl and 2-cup Pyrex measure, a silicone spatula, *metal* measuring spoons, a whisk and some glass jars with metal screw-on lids you can get at any decent-sized grocery store. With about $20-$30, you can have nearly all the equipment you will ever need.

2) Start with one product that is cheap and easy to make, and works on something you want to clean right now. Instant gratification is a great way to get into the habit!

3) Especially if you want to clean rather than make personal care products at first, buy one small bottle of essential oil that smells good AND disinfects to cut down costs. I happen to like tea tree oil, but if you prefer a wintergreen type smell, choose lavender. If you find out that green cleaning is for you, then you can branch out into other essential oils more suited for other tasks.


Great intro to green cleaning, easy recipes, some caution   December 3, 2003
S. Leigh (Atlanta, GA USA)
143 out of 143 found this review helpful

When I first bought this book it was very hard to put down. Most of the recipes are very easy to follow and are inexpensive. My favorite recipe for "soft scrubber" contains ingredients that I already add to my bathwater anyway, so it's nice to take a bath without worrying about any leftover chemical residue lingering in the tub with you. Another plus is the gentle, caring manner in which it's written. The author explains the benefits of going green without coming across as condescending or judgmental.

Keeping in mind that I think this is a wonderful book, and well worth the cost, there are a few things I'd like to point out. I found that a lot of the skincare recipes were geared for people with dry skin. This is understandable considering the author's dry/sensitive skin, but I wanted to let other readers know to expect this. I tried many of the basic lotion, cream, and soap formulas and found that many of them felt way too greasy for my skin-especially if they contained beeswax. There is a small section with recipes for people with oily skin. That was helpful, but the skincare recipes in general are probably a little more suited for dry skin.

I also found that some of the yields seem a little off. (This is more so for the skincare recipes than the cleaning recipes.) I follow all of the instructions very carefully, but still end up with yields that are sometimes significantly off. You can tell just by reading some of the recipes that it's unlikely they could yield what they say. Also, some of the recipes for the cleaning products seemed a little repetitive. (Not a significant enough difference between some of them to warrant separate recipes.)

One very important point that needs to be mentioned is that in the instructions for soapmaking, the author suggests adding water to the container after the lye. Almost every soapmaking resource I've used suggests just the opposite. (Doing this step improperly can cause an almost volcano-like reaction.) While I'm very grateful that this book introduced me to soapmaking, I would strongly suggest that beginners read a book dedicated to soapmaking rather than start with the soap recipe in this book. There are a few helpful pieces of information missing from her soapmaking instructions.

Lastly, a lot of these recipes work great and are wonderful replacements for the commercial items you buy in stores. However, a few of them simply do not work as well no matter how much I want them to. I prefer to use natural methods anyway, but there may be some readers who will still want to resort to an occasional commercial cleaner from time to time. It's still such a payoff to use as many of these natural recipes as you see fit. Great book overall!


A very practical reference and instructional guide.   August 9, 1999
34 out of 34 found this review helpful

I found Better Basics to be a very practical instructional book for making my own blends of home and body care mixtures, and Ms. Berthold-Bond included an extensive list of suppliers for the less common ingredients. Next to the phone book and a favorite cookbook, this is the 3d most-consulted book in our house. It is well worth the price, and I intend to share several with friends and relatives who understand the value of making our own, like our ancestors did.


Very Comprehensive   July 8, 1999
30 out of 30 found this review helpful

I am new to attempting to run a green household. I have found this book invaluable. The recipes are straight-forward & easy to implement. Provides all needed information without extraneous rambling. I may eventually want to know the chemical properties and interactions for everything, but this book provided that info on a need-to-know basis only. Also, the author doesn't waste time attempting to convince the reader of the benefits of going green or of the detriments of not being green: she simply states the facts, which are convincing enough. Very well done. I think I'll be buying many more for gifts.


excellent reference for living a green life   April 14, 2006
Amalfi Coast Girl (Mid-Atlantic, USA)
28 out of 28 found this review helpful

I purchased this book because of the positive reviews at this site, and have not been disappointed.

If you want to remove most of the "dangerous" chemicals from your home this is an excellent resource for how to prepare your own cleaning products at home. The book does cover some of the dangerous chemicals that are normally in the products that most of us buy everyday. However if you want a more thorough discussion of potential toxins in and around the home check out either "The Healthy Living Space" or "Toxic Overload". Both of these cover the topic of potential toxins in the home in more depth.

This book does a nice job of covering the basic products that you can use to clean and disinfect your home. The author gives many recipes in this book for a variety of products.

The book is organized as follows:
1. The Basics
2. Housekeeping
3. Skin Care
4. Whole Body Care
5. Gardening, Pets, and Pest Control
6. House Care and Hobbies.

I was surprised, but pleased, to see that the author included formulas for lip balms, cuticle cream and mouthwash.

If you are really interested in keeping a green home I would suggest a steam cleaner in addition to this book. I have written a review of the SAECO Piccolo, also on this site, if you are interested. Which ever brand you select, a steam cleaner is an excellent product to have if you are interested in green cleaning.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for those that just beginning to embark on a green home program.