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Cleaning supplies are a good place to start if you want to green audit your house. Cleaning supplies are easy to sort, and an important thing to audit because many cleaners are chock full of harmful chemicals.

Green auditing your cleaning supplies is a three step process:

1) Sort cleaning supplies.

2) Get rid of toxic cleaners.

3) Find good alternative green cleaning supplies.

First of all you need to go room to room, locating all cleaners. Usually, we keep cleaning supplies in the kitchen, under sinks, in the laundry room, in the garage, and in the bathroom. Don't forget weird little cleaning supplies like air fresheners you keep in bedrooms.

Here's a break down of how green your cleaners should be. As you sort you should read labels and look for known poisons and toxic chemicals.

Laundry area and kitchen soaps - you want to make sure laundry detergents and dishwashing detergents are bleach and phosphate free. You also want to make sure they contain natural surfactants; traditional surfactants are made from petroleum. Look for detergents that are biodegradable - although note that this is a pretty flexible term, with no certification. It's best to look for the phosphate / bleach free info first.

Basic household cleaners - avoid ammonia, bleach, lye, hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, phenol, and other nasty sounding ingredients. Honestly, I'm sort of the mindset that if you can't pronounce it, or you don't recognize it, it's likely no good. That's just a general observation though.

Packaging - Just because it's green, doesn't mean they packaged it well. There are packaging differences among say, the greener detergents. Choose packaging that's recyclable, reusable, and not double wrapped.

Safely discard any toxic chemicals (talk to your local recycling center to learn more). Then create your own homemade and safe alternative cleaning supplies. To learn more about safe cleaners read:

• Naturally Clean Wood and Metal Fixtures in Your House
• Homemade Organic Liquid Handsoap
• 25 Safe, Non-toxic, Homemade Cleaning Supplies
• Pennyroyal, Cinnamon, & Lavender Air Freshener

Tomorrow we'll move on to another green room audit.