Check out some of these cleaning tips to switch over your supplies to inexpensive, natural household cleaning products, to keep your home a pristine and healthy environment for your family.
1. Club soda
Homemade Glass Cleaner via Hometalker The Make Your Own Zone
For any carpet or fabric stains, blot with club soda (or sprinkle with table salt first, and then blot) for a natural stain remover. Try club soda in a spray bottle to rejuvenate tired upholstered dining room chairs, or for a streak-free glass cleaner.
2. Vinegar
Cleaning With Vinegar via Hometalker Holly Lefevre
Ok, so this one is kind of the cheater's method, because vinegar is literally a miracle cleaner. You can clean and disinfect just about anything, from sponges (soak overnight) to countertops (mix with equal parts hydrogen peroxide, spray and wipe), to fruit (mix with water and soak for 10 minutes), to carpets (spray and scrub or blot), to your sink drain (pour baking soda in first, then follow with vinegar).
3. Salt
10 Tips for Cleaning With Salt via Hometalker The Graphics Fairy
Use salt, flour and vinegar to shine metal, or clean a wood cutting board by rubbing salt into it with a lemon. In general, salt enhances other natural cleaners and adds grit to natural cleaning liquids to help them adhere to surfaces and assist scrub action. However, salt on its own is also a great abrasive scrub, and can be used to get rid of deposit inside vases or remove coffee and tea stains from mugs.
4. Hydrogen peroxide
Homemade Cleaning Product Hydrogen Peroxide via The Hometalk Blog
Scrub away built-up greasy grout goo by taking a toothbrush and some hydrogen peroxide to it. The de-greasing effect of hydrogen peroxide will do wonders to cleanse your grout, not to mention disinfect and freshen it. Use this strong disinfectant to clean other things that come into contact with food as well, like your kitchen countertops, sink or cutting boards.
5. Cream of tartar
Cream of Tartar Natural Cleaner via Hometalker Country Chic Cottage
You know that stuff that you usually use to stabilize egg whites or whipped cream while baking? Turns out, it's actually a miraculous natural cleaning agent. Who knew? If you're looking for a great bleach alternative, try mixing water or vinegar with cream of tartar. One teaspoon mixed with a quart of water makes a fabulous pre-soak for your whites, or try mixing cream of tartar with lemon juice for a natural Soft Scrub alternative.
6. Baking soda
22 Cleaning Recipes Using Baking Soda via Rethink Simple
The best natural feature of baking soda is its ability to absorb smell and leave the object or area you're cleaning with a fresh pristine scent. Sprinkle it in sneakers to stop smelly odors, or mix it with water and an essential oil of your choice for a lovely air freshener spray. Baking soda is also great to add to your laundry, for its cleaning capabilities, but also for its color-boosting properties, which will make your whites brighter and your colors bolder.
7. Lemon
How to Remove Water Spots via Hometalker Anna M
So many cleaning products are lemon-scented because citrus really does invoke a sense of cleanliness in our minds. If chemical citrus feels clean though, just think how effective the real thing is. Make a tray of citrusy ice cubes into a garbage disposal cleaner by freezing a solution of vinegar and water and a piece of lemon rind in each slot, and then grinding those up while letting the water run. You can utilize the acidity in lemons to clean mineral deposits and water marks off of faucets, by simply rubbing the metal with a lemon wedge. Add lemon to vinegar for a great general cleaning product (heat it up in your microwave to clean scrub-free).
8. Rubbing alcohol
Clean Sharpie With Rubbing Alcohol via Hometalker Creek Line House
If you have any permanent marker lovers in the house, this is an important one to know. Rubbing alcohol will take Sharpie marks off of many surfaces, like paneled wood, stainless steel, painted walls, some fabrics and countertops. Rubbing alcohol mixed with distilled water also makes a great spray for cleaning screens on laptops, tablets, phone screens and TVs.
9. Essential oils
DIY Natural Linen Spray via Hometalker My Merry Messy Life
Many essential oils are antifungal and antibacterial, so it's no surprise that when looking for a good cleaning agent and a great smell, people tend to add a few drops to their green cleaning mixtures. One of the most popular essential oil cleaning tricks is adding it to a homemade laundry detergent mix of Borax, washing soda and a grated bar of Dr. Bronner's or Fels Naptha soap. You can also try this fabulously fresh natural linen spray, made of water, the essential oil of your choice, and a dash of vodka or rubbing alcohol, to not only refresh your linens but disinfect them as well.
10. Olive oil
Spring Cleaning With Natural Cleansers via Hometalker Kathy R
Olive oil is great for bringing the shine back to all different types of materials and furniture. Make a paste from oil and salt to scrub cast iron, or use olive oil on its own to shine stainless steel. To brighten the sheen of wood furniture, mix two cups of olive oil with one cup of lemon juice or vinegar, and rub the solution into the wood thoroughly. Olive oil can even repair scratches on leather furniture; just rub a small amount over the area gently with a cotton ball.
These tips are only a few examples of what you can do to get a clean home while avoiding chemical cleaners. Don't feel like you're stuck with the poison products you have; check your pantry and spice cabinet for more options. Be sure to check out the Cleaning Tips topic page on Hometalk for more ideas, hacks and tricks.
