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5 Fantastic Non-Toxic Cleaners that Should be in Your Home
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You may have used some of the cleaning products that are underneath your sink all your life. Perhaps even your mother used them, and that’s why you use them today. However, there’s a good chance you grandmother didn’t, she most likely used all natural products to clean and brighten the house. Although those conventional products seem super convenient, they are loaded with toxic chemicals you really don’t want around your house.
So instead of using toxins to clean, doesn’t it make more sense to use natural products to do the dirty work for you? Try these top 5 cleaners and you will find your home is a whole lot safer. You will be saving money, too!
1. Baking Soda
One of the best cleaners of all! It naturally neutralizes odors and makes a good alternative to cleanser. Use it to keep your sink, stove, tub, and countertops sparkling clean.
Rub moistened baking soda on your stainless steel sink, and then add white vinegar, for a sparkling stainless steel sink without risk of scratching. Sprinkle it on your carpet and rugs and let sit for a few minutes to absorb odors before you vacuum.
Instead of those poisonous drain cleaners, pour a half cup of baking soda, then 1 cup of white vinegar down your drain and let sit for 15 minutes before flushing with hot water to remove grease, soap build up, and deodorize naturally.
Baking soda is a powerful workhorse as a cleaning agent. Always keep several boxes on hand.
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2. Borax
Borax works just as well as bleach when it comes to removing mold and mildew.
You will find this alkaline material in the same isle where they sell laundry soap.
You can make a super toilet bowl cleaner by adding one cup of borax directly into the toilet and let it sit overnight.
Scrub and flush the next morning, and it will be sparkling clean! Now consumed in a large quantity, borax is listed as toxic, so keep it out of the reach of little ones.
Find out plants you must have to purify air in your home.
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3. Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is a great way to dissolve grease, remove stains, and polish metal. See also benefits of lemons for skin care.
To brighten laundry naturally, add a half cup of strained juice to the rinse cycle. You can rub lemon slices, dabbed with baking soda, on brass, bronze, or aluminum for easy cleaning and to add a bright shine.
Also, most stains on clothing can be removed by squeezing lemon juice directly on the stain, then leave in the sunlight for a few hours.
Launder as usual and, ta da! No more stain!
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4. White Vinegar
White vinegar disinfects, deodorizes, removes hard water deposits, tarnish, and works wonders on windows.
This is a great all-purpose cleaner that you can feel good about using everywhere in the home. Add just a quarter cup in your washers final rinse cycle to eliminate that scratchy feeling in clothes.
No need for toxic fabric softeners when you use vinegar! There are so many uses for vinegar, you can’t name them all!
Read also 10 dangerous toxins that are inside your home right now.
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5. Washing Soda
Not the same thing as baking soda. Think of washing soda as baking sodas stronger, older brother. You need to use gloves and have to do more rinsing than you would with baking soda, so use this only for your most stubborn stains.
It does a great job with ovens. Make a paste of a half cup of washing soda, combined with a one cup of baking soda, and a little water. Apply to the oven and allow to soak overnight.
You can also add a half cup washing soda to your laundry detergent to boost its cleaning power.
Helpful Tips:
If you have bottled hot sauce, such as Tabasco sauce, you can use it to clean copper.
Olive oil is a great way to rehydrate and brighten up your wood furniture. Be sure your furniture was originally treated with an oil finish. Rub in a very small amount of olive oil, let sit for a few minutes, and then polish with a soft, dry cloth.
Grease spills on floors or carpet are the worst to try to clean. If you have some cornmeal on hand, you will find it works wonders with grease. Cover a fresh spill with cornmeal and let it sit for a few hours. Cornmeal will soak up the grease so you can simply sweep most of it away.
Sources:
A. Mac
Jul 31, 2014 at 5:52 pm
Be careful cleaning with vinegar! There are some great uses for it but vinegar is quite acidic and over time can easily etch or damage some surfaces. Make sure to only use on acidic resistant materials. If you aren’t sure, best not to use it and try another organic approach such as Freshana Organic Solutions 100% natural, organic, safe and effective cleaning products and air purifiers on those delicate surfaces!