Green Cleaning: Easy and Natural Ways to Clean and Freshen Your Home
Green Living, Healthy Living, House & Home, How To September 11th, 2007
Green Cleaning: Easy and Natural Ways to Clean and Freshen Your Home
How would you like to clean and freshen your home without harsh chemicals? No more fumes choking your breathing, no more harsh chemicals drying out your skin. Well, you can! It’s easy, economical, and good for the environment. You can make these recipes in large batches and put them inside air tight containers.
My advice is to print out this article and try a new one each week.
Glass Cleaning
- Combine equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Clean with rags, paper towels, or newspaper.
Air Fresheners
- House Plants! The all natural air freshener!
- Open your windows!
- Baking Soda in fridge and garbage can to absorb odors.
- Boil and then simmer a few sections of a citrus fruit or cinnamon or cloves in a pot with water for an hour.
- Add drop or two of your favorite essential oil on the inside of your toilet paper roll. Each spin will release a fresh scent to your bathroom.
Furniture Polish
- Combine 1 tspn lemon oil and 1 cup vegetable oil. Apply with clean dry cloth.
Polishing Silver
- Combine 1 quart/liter water, 1 Tbsp salt, 1 Tbsp baking soda and 1 piece aluminum foil. Add sterling silver items to be cleaned. Boil for approximately 3 minutes. Remove and polish with dry soft cloth. Do not use on silver plated items.
All Purpose Cleaners
- Vinegar and salt mixed together make a good surface cleaner.
- Baking soda (4 Tbsp) and warm water (1 quart/liter) is a good general cleaner.
- Baking soda on a damp sponge. This will clean and deodorize all kitchen and bathroom surfaces.
- Mix 3 Tbsp white vinegar, 1 tspn vegetable oil soap (such as Murphy’s Oil Soap), 3 cups hot water. Use from a bucket or a spray bottle. Use and wipe clean.
Scouring Solution
- Use dry table salt or baking soda with a damp sponge to scour and then rinse.
“Soft Scrub” Solution
- Mix 1/4 cup Borax and enough Vegetable-Oil Soap (such as Murphy’s) to make a paste. Then add 1/2 tspn lemon oil. Use with a sponge and rinse well. Important Note: Borax is poisonous if swallowed so keep stored safely away from children and pets.
Toilet Cleaner
- Sprinkle baking soda into the toilet. Next add vinegar and then scrub with brush. This will clean and deodorize.
- Tough stains: Pour 1 cup Borax into toilet bowl and leave overnight. Scrub and flush in the morning. Important Note: Borax is poisonous if swallowed so keep pets away if you have one that drinks out of the toilet.
Drain Cleaner and Freshener for Disposal drains
- Pour 1/2 cup baking soda down the drain. Then pour in 1 cup of vinegar. Let the mixture foam for a few minutes. Then flush with a gallon of boiling water. Lastly if you have a disposal, finish up with some ice cubes to sharpen the blades and old citrus rinds to freshen up.
Tub & Tile Cleaners
- Depending on the level of dirt, grime, use either diluted or full strength vinegar to clean and baking soda for scouring. Rinse well. Vinegar alone can be used if scouring is not required.
- Cleaning Grout: make a paste of baking soda and warm water and scrub with sponge or old toothbrush. Rinse well.
- Hard Lime Deposits on chrome: soften up for easy cleaning by covering with vinegar soaked towels. Let soften for 1 hour before cleaning.
- Rust & Hard Water Stains: apply white vinegar or lemon juice. Leave on until spot disappears. May need to be repeated.
- Mildew Removal: dissolve 1/2 cup borax with 1/2 vinegar in some warm water. Use sponge to apply and wipe clean. Pure white vinegar alone can work also.
Cleaning Pots
- Soak pots and pans in warm water and a couple teaspoons of baking soda in the water. Then clean normally with liquid dish soap.
Carpet Cleaning
- Stain remover: soak the stain with club soda and blot until the stain is removed.
- Dog/Cat Urine on Carpet: use towel to absorb as much as possible. Wash using warm water and liquid dish soap. Rinse with 1/4 cup vinegar in 2 cups warm water. Soak up with towels and apply pressure to absorb as much moisture as possible. Leave towels in place for a few hours. Then remove towels and allow to dry completely. A fan can be used to speed up the proces.
- Freshen Carpets: mix 2 cups baking soda with 30 drops of lavender essential oil in bowl. Make sure any clumps are broken up and mixed well. Next, before vacuuming, sprinkle this mixture from a shaker type container. Let stand for 15 minutes. Then vacuum.
Floor Cleaner
- Mix: 1 cup vinegar, 1 Tbsp vegetable oil based soap, and 2 gallons of hot water. Use with a mop.
Removing Wax
- Dip cotton cloth in rubbing alcohol and sponge off.
Removing Sticky Labels and Adhesives
- Use vinegar. Be sure to soak as much as necessary to loosen first. Only use this on surfaces that are washable.
Laundry
- Try adding one or all of these to your laundry: white vinegar (1/2-1 cup), borax (1/2 cup), and/or baking soda (1/2 cup). Borax is said to be a better whitener for clothes while creating far less damage than bleach. Remember to keep Borax away from children and pets as it is poisonous if swallowed.
Additional Resources
Basic Cleaning Tools and How to Use Them – how to handle green cleaning agents.
How to Green Your Cleaning – many links to Tree Hugger articles on green cleaning.
62 Little Known Uses of Vinegar – some very practical and some interesting uses for this all purpose substance.
Homemade Laundry Detergent – If you want to really get into green cleaning. I’m going to stick with Arm & Hammer for now.
Please Share!
What are your favorite Green Cleaning tips? All comments big and small are very welcomed!
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September 11th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Hey you have vinegar and water on there as a glass cleaner twice. I think.
September 12th, 2007 at 11:24 am
We have used your suggestion for citrus in boiling water to help cleanse our environment. Thanks. Sage burning works well too.
Greg and Maggie
September 12th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
These are all great tips, some which I already use. However, if you find you don’t have time to make your own cleaners I reccommend BabyGanics. It is completely all-natural and non-toxic. Best part is all the cleaners are on sale at Babies R Us, but two get one free!
September 12th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Thanks Digital Nomad! I fixed that!
September 12th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
What is everyone’s favorite green cleaning secrets?
September 12th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Hello Sully,
Well done on such an informative post. The information you have here will come in ahndy as I have been searching for ways to make my cleaning easier.
September 17th, 2007 at 4:42 am
I move into my new “green” high rise condo in Nov 2009…
September 28th, 2007 at 12:56 am
^okay, my last comment was not completed befor I accidentally hit the submit button.
what I meant to say:
lol wut? For silver, if you are cleaning coins, just drop them into a small glass of orange juice. After a few hours, the acid will clean off the outer layer of grime and when you rinse the coins with water they will look great.
September 30th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Great Stuff! I tried a lot of them. Club soda also works great for cleaning glass. And a spray-able furniture polish/cleaner is equal parts vinegar and olive (or vegetable or mineral oil) with some lemon oil. (You just have to shake it frequently)
February 15th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
thx for the tips. one question for you: how much baking soda is needed for a whole house cleaning?
It is great that many families are following these tips. Green cleaning should be shared to the industrial community too.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Baking soda can also be used on carpet for spills and orders. Just sprinkle the baking soda over the spill and it will soak up a lot of the oder of it. I am always amazed at how much baking soda can do.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I think we are making major progress towards cleaning up our planet by so many people catching on to the whole green movement. I especially like these tips for natural ways to clean your home. Thanks so much for posting them!
March 7th, 2008 at 11:54 am
To clean windows and mirrors do this… Spray the window or mirror with vinegar and crumble up large pieces of newspaper. Then use the crumbled newspaper to clean off the vinegar. It will be more streak free then any other commercial cleaner that I have seen yet.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Good tips for how to make our home neat and clean.
thanks a lot!!:)
March 16th, 2008 at 11:37 am
We’ve used baking soda on carpets for a long time now, but adding the lavender oil really leaves a wonderful scent that lasts. We’ll be sure to pass this on. Thanks.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Thanks a lot for the infos. I’ve seen an article on the net on getting rid of rust stains. Hope this also helps!
April 9th, 2008 at 4:32 am
I would not use vinegar and a newspaper to clean glazes, kitchen paper of toilet paper would be better because they do not contain any inkt.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
The only thing that’s hard to get out of carpets is blood, chocolate and motor oil.
Most other substances can be cleaned rather easily with the proper types of brushes.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I have a pot bellied pig. Certain times of the year I have to use a fly spray on him. I know it is toxic and hate using it. Does anyone know of anything that will keep the flies off of him and isn’t toxic?? Thank You!!
June 7th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
@Sandi – have you ever tried Avon’s Skin-So-Soft lotion? It supposedly repels bugs. Maybe that would work?
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
I used vinegar on travertine tile and it etched it. Who knew? That was an expensive mistake.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Hi
Im fiona a stay at home mom, I just got married last year and had our first baby. I accidentally got your site while searching for tips on house cleaning and i find your site helpful. Thanks again and more power
August 19th, 2008 at 12:32 am
//digitalnomad
Hey you have vinegar and water on there as a glass cleaner twice. I think.//
Yup! I’ve tried it. Its a nice tip the whole glass wall was shining.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:15 am
HI, great tips. Copper cleaning can be a pain(stinky too) Cleaning tip: cut a lemon in half and shake salt on it them rub the copper, need a bit of elbow grease but it works.
Wendy
February 13th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I don’t think I say this one mentioned: put half a piece of a lemon in a small container of shallow water and microwave for 30-45 seconds then wipe down inside of dirty microwave for an easy clean that smells great.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I just had a cleaning company in my local town (charleston, sc) come out and clean my home. They (Castle Keepers)were really good and used green cleaning practices. I am so glad for your blog post, b/c I think it’s such an easy thing to switch to and makes a huge difference, especially when children are in the home.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Try using some of the natural drain cleaners before using the chemical cleaners.
Even the hand held plungers or the pipesnakes are a great way to avoid the chemicals part of the time.
July 28th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
The worst thing is trying to clean bathtubs and keep them clean!
August 5th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Home cleaning by natural products are great. Due to echo friendlyness now natural products have great popularity.
August 9th, 2009 at 1:23 am
I personally use vinegar for the majority of my cleaning and i will incorporate some of your ideas into my everyday cleaning. Thanks for the tips
August 9th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
With today’s recession most are trying to save money and this could help do just that. Not only that, but if we all adopt just a few of these ideas we will help lower our carbon footprint.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Those are some great tips! Here’s one for an easy air freshener that I’ve found: In a spray bottle, add water and a few drops of your favorite essential oil and spray your room!