Baking Soda
Eco Friendly Cleaning Tips
Many cleaning tasks that we take for granted, such as washing the dishes, doing the laundry, cleaning the windows or polishing the furniture often involve harsh chemicals. These are bad for both the environment as a whole and for your personal environment – your home.
Toxic chemicals can cause health problems for humans and pets. When you wash them down the drain or throw them outside, they become part of our land and water. Here are some green cleaning tips to help make your cleaning jobs more eco-friendly.
** Baking soda makes a great natural and inexpensive cleaning product. You can
clean floors, walls, refrigerators and counter tops with a warm, damp rag and
some baking soda.
** Want to make your house smell nicer without harsh air fresheners? Try
aromatherapy. Essential oils can be placed in a room. The great thing about
this is that you have a vast selection of scents to choose from. Each has its own
particular effects on mood. Of course, you don’t have to follow an aromatherapy
guide, you can simply follow your nose and use what pleases you. You can try
rose, various citrus blends, peppermint, lavender, and eucalyptus for starters.
** Another good household cleaning product is borax. This is very effective for
cleaning carpets. You can mix it with essential oils to create a nicely scented,
natural carpet cleaner that you can apply to the rug before vacuuming.
** For a natural window cleaner, mix two tablespoons of white vinegar with a gallon
of water and clean your windows using newspapers. This simple and cheap
solution works at least as well as your typical commercial mix that has strong
chemicals in it.
** To clean wood floors, you can use another common household item –tea! Just
boil up two teabags in hot water and mop up the floor.
Other household cleaners that can be used in the house are lemon juice and club soda. Both of these remove stains from most surfaces.
Of course, in addition to these suggestions you can go to your health food store and find a wide variety of organic and natural cleaning product for every purpose. These tend to be more expensive than commercial brands, but many are also highly concentrated.
You can do just as well with the DIY (do it yourself) type green cleaning tips included above. Either way, always try to make a greener choice when you have some cleaning to do!
Natural Cleaning Products
A major change in household cleaning would be the use of natural cleaning products instead of the traditional chemicals we regularly rely on. Chemical cleaners pose higher health risks particularly for children, and the overall toxicity reaches very high. You protect not only the environment but your family first and foremost. Some green cleaning products are manufactured by specialized companies, while others can be mixed at home with very common ingredients available in the house. Vegetable soup, saponin plants, lemon juice, salt, vinegar, baking soda or mineral can become viable cleaning solutions.
homemade natural cleaning products
The advantages of natural cleaning products are both individual and collective. First of all, health is no longer endangered by the toxic fumes and the pollution gets lower. Most of the health problems resulting from the use of conventional cleaning products are skin allergies, rashes, dermatitis and respiratory problems. Ecological solutions cause no harm to the environment and protect the body system. You can prepare the natural cleaning products at home or buy them from supply stores.
Glass cleaners that contain isopropyl, are incredibly irritant for the skin, nose, eyes and throat. Then, serious skin damage occurs from the use of chlorine-based bathroom cleaners. And the list of examples is a lot longer. If you manage to replace these substances with biodegradable natural cleaning products, you are the first to enjoy the benefits. Moreover, there is also an economic concern about the cleaning and maintenance needs of households in general. The costs are very high if you sum up all the cleaning products used per year.
Think how much you can improve in terms of individual costs and increased productivity, not to mention the possibility to keep pollution levels under control. People who work in a cleaning business or have a cleaning job are also a lot more in advantage by using natural cleaning products. Efficient results are also possible even for professional usage. Natural cleaning products are expected to increase in terms of market exposure over the next few years, but it is up to us to accelerate their market influence.
Three Green Cleaning Options For Your Home
Most cleaning products available these days rely heavily on caustic and toxic chemicals that seriously damage the environment. They can also be bad for your health.
If you're thinking about not using these unnecessarily harsh products, you may want to consider an equivalent but more environmentally friendly cleaner. There are various green options available that will do a great job cleaning your home while being gentle on the environment. Here are some ideas to consider:
Simple Green. Simple Green is an excellent industrial strength cleaner that happens to carry the Green Seal certification for environmental responsibility. The Green Seal guarantees that a product meets strict standards of environmental stewardship in the way it’s manufactured and used. It also indicates a product that is easily biodegradable. Simple Green is versatile, extremely effective and will clean the toughest jobs. It’s very strong in its concentrated form, and it should be diluted in water. This has the positive benefit of allowing you to control its strength when cleaning more delicate objects. Use it in your bathroom, kitchen, to wash your car, or just about anything else--while being confident you're using a product that won't harm the environment.
Baking Soda. Baking soda is great for cleaning, scrubbing and deodorizing. It's also known to be Earth friendly. It has a large number of uses, including many you may not have thought about. In addition to its popular use for removing unpleasant odors from the refrigerator, it can be sprinkled on carpets and rugs to deodorize them. You can sprinkle it on a sponge and wipe your counters without scratching them. You can dilute it in water and wash your vegetables. It's a wonderfully versatile substance.
Tea Tree Oil. If you’re attacking mold, there are several natural ways to get rid of it. One of the best is to use tea tree oil, which works great against fungus and bacteria. Mix a teaspoon of it with two cups of water, spray it on the affected area and allow to dry. The scent is strong upon use, but it should dissipate in a day or so.
Going green often requires sacrifice, but not when it comes to cleaning. You shouldn’t have to put up with harsh chemicals while cleaning your home. You can get the job done right with a green cleaner without putting your family’s health at risk or harming the environment.
