Company owners have their own story to tell, and this comes right from the recap of Oprah’s ‘Green’ Show that aired this past Friday – in time for Earth Day 2007.
For years, the Barnett family lived like most Americans. Then, in 2004, they got an unexpected wake-up call that changed the way they clean their home and treat the environment.
Sloan and Roger say they began to notice their son Spencer’s health problems when he was just 3 years old. At first, Sloan says her son coughed continuously. One day his heart was racing, so she rushed him to the emergency room.
“I don’t think we knew whether we were going to lose him or not,” Roger says. “They told us that he had a respiratory issue. They thought he might be developing asthma.”
Sloan says she began researching chemicals that can irritate the lungs and found them in a startling location…inside her home. According to a physician, some household products—like bathroom cleaners, disinfectants, floor cleaners and oven cleaners—contain toxic chemicals that can trigger an asthma attack.
As soon as the Barnetts learned that cleaning products can be hazardous to their health, Sloan says they cleaned out their cabinets and made their home a place where everyone could breathe easier.
After throwing out common household cleaners, Roger discovered the Shakle* Corporation, a company that had been producing natural cleaning products for 50 years.
Sloan and Roger began using these eco-friendly cleaners inside their house. “We thought they worked terrifically,” Roger says. “The great news is that Spencer has never had to go back to the hospital since we switched our products and that really speaks it all for us.”
The Barnetts liked the products so much, they bought the company! Now, Sloan says she tries to live in a way that’s responsible to the health of her children and to the health of the planet.
Real clean doesn’t have a ‘smell’.
Shakle* products, which include everything from dryer sheets to stain removers, are made from pure ingredients and won’t leave your house smelling like a lemon tree. “Clean, real clean, doesn’t have a smell,” Sloan says. “Real clean is good for our children, good for our families.”
To help other families go green, the Barnetts are giving every member of Oprah’s audience a Healthy Home Pack starter kit, which includes more than a dozen different products, and they’re offering viewers a special 33% discount for one month! You can also get a 15% discount on other Shaklee products.
Oprah says she’s a big fan of Shakle*’s H2 Organic Super Concentrated Cleaner. “Use a couple of drops of this, and it’s amazing,” she says. “You can clean the windows. You can clean the counters. … You can clean everything!”
There were lots of environmentally friendly ideas discussed on the Oprah Green show. It was very informative and quite interesting. There are a lot of things, even little things, that we can do to make a difference. When lots and lots of people make these changes, it adds up to massive difference!
To make your chores even more environmentally friendly, it was suggested to use microfiber cloths (part of the Get Cleaner line) to apply the products to your furniture, counters and sinks. These cleaning cloths are machine washable and recyclable!
In some areas of the country, the air quality inside the home is twice as dangerous as the air outside the home, according to the EPA. “The reason is because of, in part, cleaning products, the paints that we have on our walls, varnishes on our furniture, the formaldehydes and glues in our carpet,” Simran (a guest on the Oprah Green show) says. “You’re creating this little chemical cocktail you’re breathing in all the time.”
The products in the Healthy Home Pack come with instructions for mixing which is very easy and of course safe to do. We have all heard horror stories of mixing other brand cleaners ‘gone bad’. With these products, you mix the concentrate with water and you are done. Spray bottles are available and look and work great! You are saving product packaging from filling up the landfills, and you are saving cost of shipping and even manufacturing by adding your own water!
Numbers for the full size Get Cleaner Starter Kit are pretty amazing. The retail price is $154.45 and the products inside are the equivalent of over $3,400.00 worth of other brand products. Plus the company went to the expense of testing them against other popular brands, and every time THIS BRAND tested as well or BETTER than the competition (which are the unsafer alternative).
Bottom line, you are safer and healthier with Green products. Your home is safer and healthier. The planet is safer and healthier. A Win-Win-Win situation!