to think that my DIL uses too many cleaning products?

flopen this may be one of many things you will dislike about how your daughter operates in the future. I guess most of us have felt like this at some time because we feel so protective towards our grandchildren. I would just try to do the role play in your head, with you as your DiL, and imagine the emotions it evokes.

Then give house plants as a gift, not mentioning pollutants, as I said up thread

Calendargirl

^They are in a tiny house with no ventilation^

No windows? Or does she choose not to open them?

Not up to you really, but if she were a DIL who didn’t clean the house, that would be a different problem.

If that is referring to my comment about my lovely DIL nit doing housework...... my son does most of it.

My mind is boggling at the thought of a hermetically sealed house with never a window or door opened!

I blame that Mrs Hinch

I agree with Callistemon.

Buy her some of the Method cleaning products. Tell her that you use them and thought she might like to try them

I doubt she is going to stop using products and she is probably a fan of Mrs Hinch

Apparently that is passive aggressive PinkCosmos

Don't try this at home.

If someone came round with cleaning products I would think they were being really rude.

why doesn't Mrs Hinch open her windows? I don't really like cleaning so haven't really followed it

I must say, I wouldn't mind someone buying me method products though

JaneJudge - I don't know if Mrs Hinch opens her windows, I think it is the OP's DIL who doesn't.

Mrs Hinch is that young cleaning woman who is on the internet advising what products to use to practically sterilise your home daily and making a lot of money out of it too. She seems to have a lot of followers.
I am not one but I wouldn't mind letting her loose in my house for a couple of weeks.

She might die under a pile of washing if she came here

I think that was un-called for flopen.
You asked gransnetters opinion and you clearly don`t want it unless they agree with you.
We all want to protect everyone but not to the detriment of falling out with anyone.

My niece is a big fan of Mrs Hinch, seems to be a lot of very chemical and scented products which are nasty. She lives with my sister and my eyes water just going through the house to sit on the garden.

I don’t think you should comment on her specifically. You could perhaps say something along the lines about how things have changed now, and that parents are warned how dangerous cleaning chemicals and scented products (like non soya candles and plug ins) are bad for babies and you had wished you knew that. May ask if she knows any natural products she can recommend? Might get her thinking if she isn’t using herself?

I’m very far away from being a hippy, which was who I thought used ‘natural’ products, but after dil lived with us I permanently swapped to the stuff she was using to clean, didn’t leave a nasty smell and worked better. Now I have my eye out for new products and Waitrose’s new eco toilet cleaner is amazing! Only costs a quid when it is regularly on special and de lime scales my toilet which amazing results!

Mrs Hinch is a bit of a throw back to our grandparents generation imo.

I am losing my marbles Dilly as when you said she lived with your sister I thought you meant Mrs Hinch

Lucca

I don’t have this problem as my lovely talented wonderful DIL virtually never does housework !! If I were in your position though I would keep quiet.

Thanks Lucca this made me laugh.

Seriously though, I wouldn’t mention it unless it set my asthma off with a coughing fit. She wouldn’t be able to ignore that. An open window or door would soon clear the fumes though.

Mrs Hinch is a bit of a throw back to our grandparents generation imo.

Yes, she is Dilly - when I first heard the name and looked I thought she was going to be a cleaning eco-warrior. I was astonished.
One of my DD makes her own cleaning products (for herself, not a business).

I would be very concerned too. There has been an awful lot published about the effects of chemicals in air and our health. However, how to comment to your DiL is a tricky one. Other comments here saying you might suggest more eco friendly/organic products might works. take her round a gift of them and extol their virtues.

Please please please do not take your DIL a gift of cleaning products, unless you want to be 'the other side' of one of those Mumsnet posts about "my MIL brought me a basket of cleaning products I am never speaking to her again she thinks I keep a dirty house"

I do not think I keep a dirty home but with three small kids and a giant dog it's a lot of work and I would be deeply hurt and probably massively offended if someone showed up with cleaning products unless I had asked for a recommendation. (Look, there have not been a lot of topics of conversation during the pandemic and maybe I have got a little too invested into trying out laundry and cleaning products.)

I also love the scented Fabulosa stuff but I know it's not for everyone. My husband is not keen on either scented products or the smell of bleach. I have explained to him that when he is prepared to either a) ever do a grocery shop and buy cleaning stuff or b) ever clean a damned thing around the home, I will completely acquiesce in his choice of cleaning products. But if I have to do all the work, I will choose what to do it with! I do open the windows whilst I clean anyway because you need as much fresh air as possible.

Dettol antibacterial spray now comes in a nice lime scent which is not too heavy and is good for just... generally disinfecting after one's offspring. But I would also note that the more scented ones (esp Fabulosa) are way cheaper than some of the 'bigger' brands so if she is being careful with her money that might be why.

I remember the first time I bought some cleaning wipes and was so thrilled with them I gave my daughter some (at Christmas would you believe). My son was horrified (quite rightly). If I find a new cleaning product I like I want to share it with the world. I was over the moon when I bought my first vile day super mop and couldn’t stop talking about it. It hadn’t occurred to me that she had young children and had been using baby wipes for cleaning for years! The crazy thing is I’m the most untidy person in the world and my house is a tip. I always think my next discovery is going to turn my life around and I want to share it with everyone. Please everyone, get some dish wash soap and make an old lady very happy.....(but don’t give it to your DIL’s)

Vile day.....honestly. Vileda!

I seem to remember that Kim Woodburn and Aggie McKenzie in their 'How Clean is Your House, used vinegar for virtually everything. That might make the house smell like a chippy but wouldn't do anyone any harm.

My MiL got me an old style Ewbank carpet sweeper for Christmas soon after we were married. I don’t think I ever got over it ?

annodomini

I seem to remember that Kim Woodburn and Aggie McKenzie in their 'How Clean is Your House, used vinegar for virtually everything. That might make the house smell like a chippy but wouldn't do anyone any harm.

But it's perfectly ok for daughters to tell their mothers what they should could be using
Leftover squeezed lemon halves in white vinegar is apparently very good for cleaning.

vile day ???
Yes, cleaning day certainly is.

I've lost my Vileda mop - I think DH has cleaned out the garden pond with it.

If my mother-in-law had said to me (and she never held back) “I think that spray might not be too good around the baby”, for example, I would accept it in the spirit in which it was intended and certainly not taken offence. I would have regarded it as a useful point of view.

If, on the other hand, she had turned up with a range of alternative cleaning materials I might have seen it as an implicit criticism of my housekeeping efforts.

People seem so easily offended. You live and learn, often, as in my case, with help from mother-in-law.

My MIL told me I polished too much.

I heeded her advice