Cleaning your home with "green" products

When I started cleaning professionally I liked the smell of Windex and Pinesol, but soon they started to really bother me. The more I used them the worse it got. I did a bit of research and found that many ingredients of common cleaners are toxic, dangerous to the environment and allergens for some people. That's when I began making the switch to "green" cleaners. Some that I bought, and some I learned to make myself from common items like vinegar and baking soda. (See receipies below.) It may seem at first that the switch will be expensive and not clean as well, but actually many of the items needed for a great clean are really cheap and do a great job to boot!

Your all purpose cleaner is probably the cleaner you will reach for most frequently. This is the cleaner you will dilute with water and use to wipe down most items in your home like appliances, doors, cupboards, baseboards, blinds, sills, most flooring etc. You can buy green all purpose cleaners in some supermarkets. Brands like "Seventh Generation" and "Simple Green" make good all purpose cleaners that are easily available. Dr Bronner's peppermint castile soap also makes a good green all purpose cleaner. If your supermarket doesn't carry these products, then you could try your local health food store or buy them online. You will usually use your all pupose cleaner in a bucket mixed with lukewarm water for mopping or general cleaning so you can save some money by buying the the larger version of these products instead of the little spray bottle. You can always pour your diluted mixture into a spray bottle later if you want to have a spray bottle of it on hand for quick clean ups.

Seventh Generation and Planet also make redily available green dishsoap, window cleaner, laundry detergent etc.

You can make your own all purpose cleaner from scratch.

In a spray bottle combine one tsp of washing soda (this is a chemical relative of baking soda, it is also made from soda ash, but is processed differently, so it is more caustic than baking soda, and should be treated with care and gloves should be worn when working with it, especially in it's concentrated forms.) If it is unavaible then baking soda can be used in it's place, it gives a more gentle clean. 2 tsps of borax, 1/2 tsp of liquid soap or detergent, 2 cups of hot water. Mix ingrediants in the spray bottle and shake to disolve.

If you would like to make this into an antiseptic cleaner then add 1tsp of an antiseptic essential oil (ie oregano, lavendar, tea tree etc) into the mixture. This cleaner should be sprayed on to a surface and ideally left for a few minutes before wiping in order to give the essential oil's antiseptic properties plenty of time to work. The cleanser can be stored indefinitely, but shake each time before use.

Someties the washing soda/ babking soda can leave a white film that just needs to be wiped off with a damp rag.

Distilled white vinegar is a great cleaning product, and it's cheap too! You may not love the smell, but at least it won't hurt you like the chemical smells can.

Vinegar can be used to remove grease, soap, mildew and wax. Dilute some with water for a great window cleaner, this will also deoderize and clean coffee pots, brick, stone, carpets, and toilet bowls. Add one TBS to rinse cycle to soften fabrics.

Vinegar is a natural disinfectant that can be used straight on cutting boards, toilets and bathroom fixtures as a disinfectant.

Mix a little vinegar and salt to make a brass polish. Add a little flour and use the same mixture to polish pewter.

Vinager can act like bleach in enamel sinks to get rid of yellowing.

Vinager is great on tile (NOT MARBLE) and on wood floors, fill a mop bucket half full of lukewarm water and add up to 1/2 cup of vinegar, you may also add 1/4 cup of liquid soap or detergent. Warning: if you are cleaning wood floors with vinegar you can strip them if you do it too often. Alternate cleaning with vinager and with another cleaner, Murphy's oil soap is natural and easy to find. Don't clean your wood floors with vinegar more than once a week every other week is better. NEVER USE VINEGAR ON MARBLE!

You can also use vinegar for cleaning drains - warning do not use this mixture if you have just put drain cleaner in the drain and it is did not work! (It could cause noxious fumes from the backing soda/ drain cleaner mix). - Put 4 tbs - 1 cup of baking soda into the drain and then pour 3 cups boiling water in, follow with one cup of vinegar. Be very careful with the boiling water of course. It is hot, and take care not to splash. I have also heard of doing this with only the baking soda and boiling water as well. This really does work, although I would suggest using it when your drain starts to slow down, I don't know if it's tough enough to work on really bad clogs. It is safe enough to use often and I've heard of people doing it once a week for preventative maintenance to keep drains clear and smelling fresh.

For toilet bowl cleaning, flush the toilet so the sides are wet and immeadiately sprinkle baking soda there. Have vinegar in a spray bottle and spray it around inside the toilet bowl, (the baking soda/ vinegar mix will bubble) and scrub with your toilet brush as you would any toilet bowl cleaner.

Here are a few ways to polish your metals with green cleaners!

Aluminum- polish with cloth using a paste made of of cream of tartar and water.

Brass- Wipe with a soft cloth that you dip in a paste you make of lemon juice and baking soda, or vinegar and salt or supposedly, ketchup will work on it too!

Copper -a mixture of salt and lemon juice, wipe on and polish with a soft cloth when done polishing rinse with water and dry well (so water doesn't leave spots)

Pewter - salt vinegar and flour

Silver - as far as I know only silver polish works really well, but sometimes you can use toothPASTE (not Gel) to clean off small spots.

Crystal - wipe with a clean chamois cloth.

Vinager window cleaner - If you have been washing windows with regular cleaners for years then if you simply use the vinegar/ water solution it will leave streaks. This is not the vinegar's fault, what has happened is that the cleaners you have been using leave a waxy film that the vinegar cannot remove on its own, so start out with the first formula and once the waxy build up is no longer on your windows you can switch to straight vinegar/water solution.

In a spray bottle combine 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap or detergent and 2 cups of water, you can also add a few drops of your favorite essntial oil to make it smell better. My mom always made me wash windows and mirriors by spraying the water vinegar mixture and then wiping it off with a crumpled old newspaper for a streak free shine. It works really well.

You can also wash windows with club soda. Just pour it into a spray bottle, the alkaline minerals will help disolve dirt.

Once the residue has been cleaned off of your windows then you can make a mixture of 1/2 cup white vinegar and 2 cups of water in a spray bottle which will work very well.