Has anyone tried this already or does anybody have any additional tips?
HOMEMADE CLEANSERS
Making homemade cleansers is more like cooking soup than baking cake. You don't need an exact recipe, just an understanding of the ingredients.
White vinegar is an acid with mild germicidal properties. It can be used to get rid of mold and mildew, cut grease and clean glass. (Put 1/4 cup in a spray bottle and fill with water.) Don't worry about the smell -- it dissipates quickly.
Lemon works much like vinegar, but takes more effort to use (you need to squeeze it).
Baking soda is a mild abrasive. It doesn't scratch surfaces (which creates more places for dirt to get stuck in) the way rougher scouring powders do. Baking soda also deodorizes. When I scrub with baking soda, I often use vinegar in place of the water, as the combination cleans more effectively.
Olive oil can add shine to wood furniture. Use a half teaspoon in a quarter cup of vinegar or lemon juice. Skip the mixture if you only want to dust. That just requires a damp cloth.
Salt cleans copper pots and pans. Use with an equal amount of vinegar, then rinse. It's also great for silver. Put a teaspoon in a pot with around 3 inches of water and a sheet of aluminum foil. Boil silverware in it for a couple of minutes. Then wipe off the tarnish with a clean cloth.
Hot soapy water kills food-borne germs! Use it to wash your hands, cutting boards, knives and any surfaces that have come in contact with raw meat or eggs. Wash for at least 20 seconds.
You can also use washing soda in place of baking soda for tough jobs (wear gloves), pure castille soap, non-chlorine scouring powder, and a variety of ready-made non-toxic cleansers made by ecologically minded companies.
4 comments:
I've been using vinegar and baking soda for a while now. In fact, it's all I use. Simple and cheap. You can even add a few drops of an essential oil to make your apartment smell nice. :)
I use vinegar to clean tons of stuff. It does an awesome job on windows (I use newspaper instead of papertowels and I don't get streaks that way!!) and it really makes the hardwood floors shine!
there's a book published by Reader's Digest called Stealth Health that goes in to more detail about this stuff. My mom gave me a copy and I've talked with few people about the use of vinegar and baking soda. Often this type of green cleaning requires allot more effort than the toxic types of cleaners, they say.
Hmm well I'm guessing that vinegar & baking soda will clean most things. Right now I pretty much just use dish soap and water. That seems to work great. I guess vinegar is more eco-friendly, cuz there's prolly a bunch of chemicals in regular dish soap too, depending on the brand.
I like the idea of the essential oil to add a nice scent. I'm gona have to totally try newspaper, altho currently I've been using just a cotton rag, and I don't seem to get too many streaks...
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