Green Cleaning

A conversation I had with a friend the other day prompted me to write about green cleaning. Alex extolled the virtues of vinegar & baking soda for cleaning counters, faucets, and appliances in an earlier post. I thought I'd include some other uses for these products. I'll also mention a couple more common items that can be used for cleaning.

I hate mops. They disgust me, so I threw mine out. I have a stack of cloth diapers (Gerber flats from WalMart) that I use for cleaning floors, counters, sinks, toilets, etc. I fill my mop bucket with about a cup of vinegar per gallon of water. I wash the floor with the diapers and vinegar-water. When the water gets dirty I start over with clean water and more vinegar. There's no need to rinse. I also replace the diapers as they get dirty. Then I throw them in the washing machine.

Shake baking soda into your toilet and scrub. Add vinegar, let it foam and soak, then flush later.

You can use vinegar as a fabric softener instead of dryer sheets. Just add a cup to the rinse cycle.

Use hydrogen peroxide to disinfect your cutting board. It's used as a teeth whitener (hold one capful in your mouth for 10 minutes daily, then spit). It also removes blood from clothing. This last tip I learned from my midwife. She should know!

Speaking of laundry, here's a recipe for detergent you might like to try. One of my good friends posted it on her blog, along with a cloth diaper laundry recipe.

Everyday Family Laundry
(Add 2 drops of essential oil for fragrance to water before adding clothes)
1 bar finely grated Fels-Naptha Soap (you may use other bar soaps such as Ivory, Castile, Zote)
1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup of Oxygen cleaner powder, such as Oxyclean

Mix all ingredients well. It will look like yellow & white granules. Use 1 tablespoon for light, small loads & 2 tablespoons for large loads. Store in recycled, air tight containers.


Here are some websites with other tips and information:
Vinegar Kills Bacteria, Mold, and Germs
Natural Remedies for Disinfecting Your Kitchen
Vinegar Tips
More Vinegar Tips
Hydrogen Peroxide Uses
More Hydrogen Peroxide Uses
Lemon Tips

Spring cleaning

I just got done cleaning out our rental house and I was appalled by all the chemicals I used. Everything smelled like chemicals and even though everything was technically clean, I felt like we couldn't put food or things like that on the counters because then all of the chemicals would get on them.

I decided to look into greener ways to clean. We buy some green cleaning products, but I thought surely there has to be more natural ways to clean that are not harmful to us or the earth. After scouring the Internet I found the solution! Vinegar to the rescue! I found that you can add some lemon juice or essential oils to the vinegar solution to make it smell better, but I actually enjoy the vinegary smell because it smells clean to me.

I used a cloth soaked with white distilled vinegar to clean the counters and polish the faucets. If you add water to the vinegar to dilute it, you can use that to clean the refrigerator, microwave, oven, and dishwasher. If you add baking soda to make a paste, then you can use that to scour and scrub messes. Plus the baking soda helps deodorize any odors that might have built up.

I found so many uses for vinegar that I felt a little stupid. You can do so much with it! I'm now committed to finding even more ways to be green. I feel like I'm learning something new all of the time!