Hello! I am back to blogging after an unanticipated break ( I had trouble logging in to the site ). I wanted to share with you some ideas for greener cleaning in your homes. Often we think of a 'clean' home, we think of a home that 'smells clean'. What you are actually smelling is chemicals. These chemicals are often blamed for asthmatic conditions, red itchy eyes, and skin irritations. Even the warnings on the side of the bottles tell us to use in well ventilated areas. They are obviously not good for us, so why do we think this 'fragrance' is so great? It is simply the association of having clean surfaces with the odor of the products that got them clean. What we need to do is recondition ourselves to think of clean as the absence of dirt and the absence of odor.
The first time I cleaned my apartment thouroughly with natural products I was left with a void. I was looking for the odor of my favorite bathroom cleaner and the fragrant residue of my beloved floor cleanser. I literally had to tour my home and convince myself that things were clean. After this experience, however; I realized that clean is not a smell and clean does not have to be expensive.
Here are a few of my favorite house cleaning tips using CHEAP and NATURAL products ( that you already have in your home!)
Floor Cleanser:
Fill your sink or bucket with 2 gallons of hot water
2 cups of white vinegar
1/4 cup baking soda
The baking soda and vinegar will fizz ( remember making volcanoes in elementary school? ), but I have found that the baking soda cuts down on the quickly evaporating 'pickle' smell of the vinegar. It also helps to clean and deoderize. The great thing about vinegar is that it is all natural. It is actually fermented alcohol, which is why it kills bacteria and mold. The smell of straight vinegar will evaporate once the liquid evaporates from the surface you are cleaning so don't worry about your house smelling like a pickle jar. Besides, even if it did, at least you would not be breathing in something dangerous. :)
Shower Cleanser:
Baking soda
Vinegar
Spray bottle
Salt
Lemon oil
Wet down the walls of your shower. Make a paste in a bowl or right there in your shower of baking soda and water. With a sponge, apply the paste to your shower. This is abrasive enough to get the soap scum and gentle enough to not scrape the finish on your fiberglass walls. Dont rinse the walls just yet though.With the spray bottle half full of water, half vinegar spray the walls. This will fizz a little, which will aid in the cleansing and washing away of the 'shower grime'. Scrub down the surfaces, then wash off with water. If you have persistant spots that need more attention, pour a little salt on your sponge and use that to scrub. When everything is cleaned to your satisfaction, dampen a cloth with lemon oil and apply a thin layer to all surfaces EXCEPT THE FLOOR OF THE TUB/SHOWER. This will help soap to just run off into the drain so that your shower stays cleaner.
All surface spray:
Spraybottle
Water
Vinegar
Fill the bottle with half water, half vinegar. If you would like, you can add a few drops of essential oil of your choice for fragrance. This can be used for all smooth surfaces from your kitchen counters to your fridge to your bathroom. It kills germs, disolves grease and is safe for use around your children and pets.
Remember, vinegar and baking soda are in all kinds of food items so they are safe to use in our homes. There is a reason no one has made a Clorox brand bundt cake!!
Stay tuned for more cleaning tips!
The first time I cleaned my apartment thouroughly with natural products I was left with a void. I was looking for the odor of my favorite bathroom cleaner and the fragrant residue of my beloved floor cleanser. I literally had to tour my home and convince myself that things were clean. After this experience, however; I realized that clean is not a smell and clean does not have to be expensive.
Here are a few of my favorite house cleaning tips using CHEAP and NATURAL products ( that you already have in your home!)
Floor Cleanser:
Fill your sink or bucket with 2 gallons of hot water
2 cups of white vinegar
1/4 cup baking soda
The baking soda and vinegar will fizz ( remember making volcanoes in elementary school? ), but I have found that the baking soda cuts down on the quickly evaporating 'pickle' smell of the vinegar. It also helps to clean and deoderize. The great thing about vinegar is that it is all natural. It is actually fermented alcohol, which is why it kills bacteria and mold. The smell of straight vinegar will evaporate once the liquid evaporates from the surface you are cleaning so don't worry about your house smelling like a pickle jar. Besides, even if it did, at least you would not be breathing in something dangerous. :)
Shower Cleanser:
Baking soda
Vinegar
Spray bottle
Salt
Lemon oil
Wet down the walls of your shower. Make a paste in a bowl or right there in your shower of baking soda and water. With a sponge, apply the paste to your shower. This is abrasive enough to get the soap scum and gentle enough to not scrape the finish on your fiberglass walls. Dont rinse the walls just yet though.With the spray bottle half full of water, half vinegar spray the walls. This will fizz a little, which will aid in the cleansing and washing away of the 'shower grime'. Scrub down the surfaces, then wash off with water. If you have persistant spots that need more attention, pour a little salt on your sponge and use that to scrub. When everything is cleaned to your satisfaction, dampen a cloth with lemon oil and apply a thin layer to all surfaces EXCEPT THE FLOOR OF THE TUB/SHOWER. This will help soap to just run off into the drain so that your shower stays cleaner.
All surface spray:
Spraybottle
Water
Vinegar
Fill the bottle with half water, half vinegar. If you would like, you can add a few drops of essential oil of your choice for fragrance. This can be used for all smooth surfaces from your kitchen counters to your fridge to your bathroom. It kills germs, disolves grease and is safe for use around your children and pets.
Remember, vinegar and baking soda are in all kinds of food items so they are safe to use in our homes. There is a reason no one has made a Clorox brand bundt cake!!
Stay tuned for more cleaning tips!
7 comments:
Hey Katie, I've slowly been making the switch to using greener cleaning products...thanks for the "recipes"...gives me a better plan!
PS Cool props on the church sign!
Great ideas! I'm glad you are back. Why did I get taken off the sites you love? You don't love me anymore....????
Thanks for the tips, Katie!
My favorite glass & bathroom cleaner:
1/2 cup vinegar
2 cups (1 pint) rubbing alcohol
1 teaspoon dishwashing soap
Combine it all in one gallon of water.
Put some in a spray bottle, and this will clean and disinfect everything in your bathroom - and clean the mirror, too! You can also use it on your windows, too.
The best part is that I've been using the same gallon for over a year and a half. A little goes a LONG ways! However, this doesn't quiet cut it for a gunky shower, but I use Borax for really bad build-up.
Another perk to using homemade cleaners is that you cut garbage because you're not throwing alway all those plastic cleaner bottles.
I have my own collection of homemade cleaners at: http://tightwad-tips.livejournal.com/tag/homemade+cleaners
I rarely buy cleaners anymore!
Thanks for keeping such a great journal!
Rachel O.
Oh - you can get baking soda in the bulk bins at WinCo and save even more money!
Oh my goodness Rachel, I love shopping in the bulk section at Winco!! I never knew there was so much there! The only problem is that you need containers to put all of those wonderful things in, and I haven't gotten that far yet :)
I started saving pickle and peanut butter jars, the big yogurt containers, formula cans, and other handy looking containers, and gradually more stuff is making it out of bags and into containers.
Hehehe...once I bought a gallon of pickles just because I wanted the jar (and the pickles were cheaper that way, too), but it was really hard to get the pickle smell out! A little air and baking soda did the trick, but I haven't tried it since because it took us so long to eat the pickles that it wasn't a very realistic venture. :)
Oh...and another bulk bin cleaning supply...you can get sea salt for 18 cents a pound. (and it tastes yummy in food, too)
Hey Katie - great blog site!
Did you know that you can split a grapefruit in half, pour salt on it, and use it to clean your bathtub? The acid takes off soap scum and the salt works like a scrubbing sponge. (I've been avoiding sponges lately because they are a nice home for germs to hang out.) Happy Green-ing! :-)
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