Inside: Eco-Friendly Cleaning: How to Make Your Home Sparkling Clean Without Chemicals. Collaborative post.
Eco-friendly cleaning is healthy for everyone. Cleaning your house doesn’t have to leave a chemical residue or smell, and several products in your cupboards can make your home shine. Many tools and eco-conscious products are compostable or recyclable, making packing an issue of the past. Let’s outline each item in the ideal eco-friendly cleaning toolbox.
Introductory Swaps
Many people want to reduce their environmental impact when tackling spring cleaning. It’s not just cleaning products that contain unhelpful, inorganic chemicals — packaging and peripherals are just as bad. Before you start making your cleaning solutions or buying eco-friendly alternatives, consider these fundamental changes and swaps first:
- Removing plastic bottles: Most cleaning products live in plastic bottles, which deteriorate over time. The chemicals, dyes and other materials seep into the liquid. Try glass instead.
- Using cloths instead of paper towels: Many paper towels are bleached, and some have astringent perfumes, which are unnecessary for cleaning and harm the planet.
- Switching out dryer sheets: Drying clothes with dryer sheets is unnecessary and is not compostable, recyclable or biodegradable. If you want an alternative, look for organic dryer balls.
- Changing mentalities: Most brands sell room-specific products like bathroom or kitchen cleaners. Truthfully, you don’t need separate formulas because eco-friendly and homemade cleaning solutions can cover everywhere in your house.
Managing these changes alongside a few habit shifts will have your home sparkling in no time — while keeping the planet in mind.
Castile Soap
Here is your go-to degreaser and disinfectant. Famous brands like Dr. Bronner’s have made a name in the cleaning scene for a good reason. Castile soap differs from regular soap because it is made from vegetable-based ingredients, like coconut oil, instead of animal fats — even better news if you follow a plant-based diet.
Here are some classic recipes for making a diverse range of house-cleaning products with castile soap:
- Bug spray: Mix 1 tablespoon of castile soap with 1 liter of water.
- All-purpose cleaning spray: Mix 2 tablespoons of castile soap in 16 ounces of water.
- Bathtub or sink cleaner: Mix 1 cup of baking soda, ¼ cup of castile soap and 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide.
White Vinegar
White vinegar is the eco-friendly cleaning staple — it is the most versatile and inexpensive for what you get out of it. Mix it with a medley of greener cleaning products like baking soda, water or essential oils for a solid all-purpose cleaner. Need to deep clean the oven or refresh your ceiling fans? This will do the work.
White vinegar is naturally antifungal, taking care of bacteria and germs. Therefore, you don’t need disinfectants with countless ingredients you can’t pronounce when a gallon of white vinegar is hiding somewhere in your kitchen.
Cleaning mirrors is one of the most overlooked ways of using white vinegar. Spraying a diluted solution and wiping the surface with a dry towel leaves your mirrors streak-free.
Baking Soda
Have an issue with limescale on your faucets or tough grime in your oven? Baking soda eliminates odors while tackling thick layers of grease and grossness for easy cleaning. After mixing baking soda and other materials like vinegar or soap to wear down dirt, use any of these tools to finish the job:
- Reusable cloth
- Cleaning putty knife, scraper or razor
- A recyclable, compostable or biodegradable sponge or scouring pad
One of the best uses for baking soda is mixing it with vinegar and pouring it down kitchen sinks to wear away at the buildup and remove smells. It improves the environment and family health by reducing the likelihood of unsanitary and potentially dangerous pests coming into the home.
Lemon Juice and Oil
Lemon is a powerful resource for your home. First, you can use it as a furniture polish, primarily on wood. It makes even the darkest woods glisten like they’re brand new. Popular brands like Pledge, Murphy’s and Old English include lemon oil for this reason, but there is no need to buy the name brand when the single ingredient does the trick.
A little goes a long way, making any investment one of the cheapest and best-smelling ways to take care of your space. Alternatively, you can use olive oil, though lemon juice has a more pleasant scent.
It’s also a powerful degreaser. Have you checked the doors in and around your oven recently? Grease builds up on these areas quickly, and a firm scrub of lemon oil can loosen up the grime. Lemon juice is also a known stain remover and can be a non-toxic, safe alternative to bleach. If you’re not into lemon smells, hydrogen peroxide performs the same function as lemon juice.
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Is Easy and Cheap
Compared to popular name brands, you can get the same cleaning power for pennies on the dollar. You can even use a mixture of these ingredients for hand soap or laundry detergent — the possibilities are endless if you spend five minutes or less blending together an effective recipe. The planet will thank you for saving it from useless chemicals littering waterways and soil.
Cleaning doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, especially if you grab just a couple of these ingredients to cover all of your bases.