Happy New Year! I will not bore you with all of my New Year’s resolutions, but one of them is to switch completely to natural cleaners. Traditional cleaners give me headaches and sinus problems, so that can’t be good. I already use a lot of baking soda and vinegar, but am still using traditional cleaners for toilets and on rare occasions, bleach for laundry. The natural stuff at the grocery store is so expensive, so I’d really like to try some homemade potions.
I’ve done some experimenting with natural cleaners and here is what I’ve found.
Sinks & Tubs: Baking soda and vinegar work well. I was hesitant to use vinegar because of the smell, but it dissipates quickly. The baking soda works as an abrasive and the vinegar disinfects. I often add some fresh lemon juice and then grind some lemon peels in the disposal. Add some isopropyl alcohol if you don’t trust the disinfectant properties of vinegar.
Toilets: I think a mixture of baking soda and vinegar makes a sufficient cleaner for toilets. But after I tried this, I added a drop of peppermint essential oil and let it sit for a while. I still want things to smell clean. I bought essential oils for the first time and I’m now hooked. The smell of these added to your cleaners is delightful.
Windows: Vinegar. I use undiluted vinegar on a rag. This really leaves a streak-free, clean window and works even better than the blue stuff.
Kitchen Counters: Castile soap, water, and a couple of drops of essential oil in a spray bottle. And you get to read that crazy Dr. Bronner label! This stuff needs to be heavily diluted (like 6 parts water to one part castile soap). Their site says that you can even brush your teeth with this stuff! Yuck.
Laundry: I don’t feel comfortable mixing up my own laundry detergent, but have been intrigued by these Soap Nuts. I’m afraid that they will not work in my washing machine and would love to hear from someone who has tried them.
Floors: For tile and other non-wood floor surfaces, you can mix vinegar, water, and a drop of essential oil for fragrance.
Though many people say that you shouldn’t mop hardwood floors, we have these all over our house and I don’t see how you could get them clean another way. I’ve been using Murphy Oil Soap to clean hardwood floors for years and as far as I can tell, it doesn’t contain anything toxic, but here is a recipe that seems interesting.
Here are some sites that I found helpful:
Treehugger: “How to Green Your Cleaning” – steps you can take to improve indoor air quality and why you should do it.
Clean Green – a comprehensive list of natural cleaners and how/where to use them. There is music on this site.
Earth Easy – another good list of natural cleaners.
The Herbs Place – a list of mixes using essential oils.
We use all-natural, too, although the laundry detergent is a tricky one. We have not tried soap nuts, because they’re just so expensive. We have tried Charlie’s Soap and had good results from that. We just ran out, actually, over Christmas, and my husband had to make an emergency trip to the natural foods store to pick up some Mountain Green, which we really like. We may or may not go back to Charlie’s.
I found your blog today via the ReproDepot blog which linked to your Alice in Wonderland birthday party. That was amazing! I love the little hot chocolates the best. Fabulous!
There is a great show on the BBC called “How Clean Is Your House?”–very entertaining to watch two cheeky women transform insanely dirty houses (usually occupied by people with hoarding disorders), but one thing I love about the show is that they use all-natural cleaning methods. Many of their ideas are brilliant yet so easy. They have a book by the same name on Amazon.
Hi Ellen – I’m going to try a new laundry soap I heard about on designmom. It’s called dropps. I ordered some and I’ll keep you posted.
http://www.dropps.com
BTW – sorry I cut you off in the WF parking lot the other day! Happy New Year – hope to talk soon. M.
I’ve been using a mixture of baking soda + vinegar + liquid dish soap to clean the bathrooms, but Collin doesn’t trust it disinfects. I’ll try adding isopropyl alcohol to it. I also use Simple Green in the bathroom when I don’t feel like mixing ingredients. I also use Murphy’s Oil Soap and it’s natural. Once I let my toilet brush soak in vinegar for days and it rusted big time. Do not attempt.
just realized I could post to your blog. (Oh brave new world, like I’ve never used a computer before.)
I am a firm believer in straight vinegar for mirrors and shining up that chrome. Nothing else leaves a streak-free a shine. And it doesn’t take long before the smell of vinegar is the smell of cleanliness. 🙂 I’ll have to try those suggestions for other cleaners.
Hi,
Actually when I had my hardwood floors refinished, I was told to clean simply with water or a diluted vinegar/water solution (like 1/4 cup to 1 gallon of water). I wipe them down with a dry towel as I go along. I absolutely love vinegar and water as a cleaner, especially for kitchen tables where my little ones are eating (sometimes off of!). In my new home I have granite which can be damaged by the vinegar. I have read that diluted rubbing alcohol works as a cleaner/polisher in this instance. Now I have to find something for my shower which is natural stone and slate, and I have some slate flooring as well. Has anyone heard of anything safe for these?