This weekend I decided I truly wanted to reduce the number of toxic cleaning products in our home. I think that most of our cleaning needs can be met using a vinegar & water mix or baking soda. Equal parts water and vinegar work well at cleaning our kitchen linoleum floor, mirrors, tub, sinks, counter tops, cabinets and furniture. Borax for the toilet. Warm water on our tile bathroom floors. (Vinegar is bad for grout.) Baking soda to sprinkle on our carpet before vacuuming while using the same vinegar & water mixture for spills on the carpet. I tried all of the above in our home this weekend and can’t say enough how good it feels. I have a clean home (that does NOT smell like vinegar) and I know the products are not harmful to my family.
I will continue to use Planet dishwashing detergent for our dishwashing machine and Planet dishwashing soap for use by the kitchen sink. Both of those products are non-toxic and biodegradable. I also will continue using magic erasers. I can’t find anything else that can get crayon off everything the way it does and it’s website assures customers that it is a safe non-toxic cleaner.
I was going to keep the dreaded bottle of Clorox clean-up spray, but now that I have found disinfecting information on vinegar I’m donating it with the rest of the bottles! Check out this quote from Green Living: “straight 5 percent solution of vinegar—the kind you can buy in the supermarket—kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of germs (viruses).” There’s more info on that link and the reason why the word ‘disinfectant’ is not on the bottle (not registered).
It is also amazing how much room I’m now saving in my hall closet after ridding myself of all the unneeded cleaning products. With all the extra room I look very organized! I boxed up my old products and plan on donating them this week. I have kept a bottle of wood scratch coat for when those little accidents happen to our furniture! I know it’s drastic, but I figured for me it would work best if I took the all or none approach.
As a side note, I wanted to let you know that there are books available on uses for vinegar around your house, uses for baking soda around your house, green cleaning recipes, etc.
Happy Cleaning!
Tracy said,
February 18, 2008 @ 8:17 pm
Wohoo! I’m so proud of you! I really love vinegar and every time I find a new use for it feels like opening a Christmas present, beating the establishment, and saving my family a huge fortune all rolled into one!
My favorite use for vinegar is for cleaning the dishwasher and washing machine. For both of them, just run an empty load with a cup of vinegar added at the beginning. It cleans out the gook and crud that build up in both. Prior to this, I had never thought to clean my washing machine.
I still use a floor cleaner. I’m going to have to reconsider this. Thanks for the tip!
cloud9design said,
May 14, 2008 @ 6:44 am
Way to go! thanks for telling people about cleaning green….:)