With all the new, earth-friendly cleaning products on the market now, I decided to try something new when I ran out of distilled vinegar yesterday — so I picked up Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Window Spray with Lavender Scent. The 20 oz spray was $8.99 at Ricky’s. It smells great, works well, has a nice nozzle, is ammonia-free and biodegradable — a definite thumbs up.

Order directly from mrs.meyers.com and the same item costs only $4.99, plus shipping. Shipping originates in Minneapolis, and you are charged exactly what UPS charges them. Just an FYI — for an additional fee, Mrs. Meyers also offers to gift wrap your purchases.

On their site, you can choose from their 3 signature fragrances — essential oils of lemon verbena, geranium or lavender. I wanted to make sure that there weren’t any “nasty, small-print ingredients” in their products, so I’ve taken the liberty of lifting the following straight from their website: “Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES). These are two different ingredients, but are often erroneously used interchangeably. We do not use sodium lauryl sulfate in any of our products. We do, however, use sodium laureth sulfate. Both ingredients have a long history of safe use and high-performance cleaning. SLES differs from SLS in its mildness to the skin, foaming properties and solubility characteristics.

‘Eth’
The process of ethoxylation is used to enlarge molecules, improve mildness, change solubility parameters and foaming properties of certain ingredients. There is some concern that this process produces a by-product that is a known carcinogen. Our raw material suppliers are under strict regulation by the government to eliminate this contaminant and employ a number of procedures to remove it.”

No surprise — after just one whiff of Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, it’ll be difficult to revert to my old reliable, distilled vinegar.