Start With Green Cleaning Basics

Using chemicals can not only harm you,especially yur children or pets,if you have any.But also cost much more that homemade substitute

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Just about every natural cleaning product uses the same cleaners your grandma used. These ingredients aren't all completely safe -- keep them away from kids and pets -- but they're less toxic than many commercial cleaners, and a lot less costly. A good natural cleaning kit includes the following items:

1. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) -- Perfect stain remover,cleaner and deodorizer  Baking soda mixed with vinegar makes powerful cleaner for bathroom porcelain.
2. Laundry Borax -- A natural alkaline mineral salt.Dissolved in water,it makes a useful disinfectant and water softener.It can be used to remove some stains.(Although borax is a natural substance, it is poisonous so take extreme care around children and pets.Always wear gloves,it can irritate skin.Do not use boric acid,it is a different substance,and not the same as borax.)
3. White vinegar -- disinfects and loosens dirt.Can be used to clear grease,as a bleach,as a disinfectant and to help prevent the growth of mould. It's also a fantastic stain remover and deodorizer.
4. Lemon juice -- Nature's bleach.Mixing the juice with salt or baking soda gives it even more cleaning power.Lemon is also excellent stain remover.
5. Olive oil -- picks up dirt, polishes wood
6. Castile soap -- Contains no mineral fats or synthetic chemicals.Pure soaps are often made with olive oil and coconut oil.You can buy pure soap flakes or make your own be grating a bar of pure soap.This can be used for washing delicate clothes by hand and in cleaning.
7. Washing soda (sodium carbonate) -- Great for cutting through soap deposits and grease around plug holes and in the sink,bath,and shower outlet pipes.
8. Salt--Mildly abrasive,it can be used alone or with lemon juice for wide range of cleaning tasks.It has antiseptic properties and is a disinfectant
9. Cream of tartar--Mildly acidic,it is an excellent stain remover-particularly for rust marks and greasy collars.Cream of tartar is one of the ingredients that is combines with bicarbonate of soda to make baking powder.
10. Glycerine--If you make home-made sweets,you may have a jar or bottle of this in your kitchen cupboard.A sticky liquid,it helps loosen some kinds of stains,making them easier to remove
11. Essentials oils(Eucalyptus,lavender,lemon)--As well as their delicious perfume,essentials oils each have their own important properties.Eucalyptus,is antibacterial and both lemon and lavender are antibacterial and anti fungal  Other essentials oils you might like to try around the house are rose,citronella,tea tree and orange.Essentials oils are very strong,so you only need a few drops.Children should not handle them.

Prevent clogged drains with a strainer to keep hair, food and other stuff from building up in the drain. If you cook with a lot of oils, pour a pot of boiling water down the drain once a week to flush fats and oils away. When it's time to unclog, first use a plunger -- this often works better and faster than the most powerful chemicals. If that doesn't work, try a combination of 1/2 cup of baking soda, followed by 1/2 cup of white vinegar -- then cover the drain if you can, and let the foaming pressure do its stuff. Other recipes call for 1/2 cup of salt and an equal amount of baking soda, followed by 6 cups of boiling water -- wait a few hours, then flush with cold water. As a last resort, get a plumber's snake and "snake it out."

Windows of Opportunity

Clean your windows by adding 1/4 cup of vinegar to 2 or 3 cups of water. Some recipes call for a few drops of liquid detergent, and still others suggest you use only lemon juice added to water. You can use a newspaper to wipe, if newspaper inks don't bother you, or use a clean old cotton rag.

Green Cleaning: Do the Bath Math

In an enclosed area with not-so-great ventilation and a lot of humidity -- like your bathroom -- green cleaners make a lot of sense. Use baking soda and vinegar as a toilet scrub, and borax gets rave reviews as a tub and tile scrubber

As an added bonus, ounce for ounce homemade cleaning formulas cost about one-tenth the price of their commercial counterpart—and that includes costly, but worthwhile essential oils, and concentrated, all-purpose detergents for homemade recipes.

CREAMY SOFT SCRUBBER

Simply pour about 1/2 cup of baking soda into a bowl, and add enough liquid detergent to make a texture like frosting. Scoop the mixture onto a sponge, and wash the surface. This is the perfect recipe for cleaning the bathtub because it rinses easily and doesn’t leave grit. Note: Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable glycerin to the mixture and store in a sealed glass jar, to keep the product moist. Otherwise just make as much as you need at a time.

WINDOW CLEANER

1/4-1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups water
Spray bottle
Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past.

OVEN CLEANER

1 cup or more baking soda
Water
A squirt or two of liquid detergent
Sprinkle water generously over the bottom of the oven, then cover the grime with enough baking soda that the surface is totally white. Sprinkle some more water over the top. Let the mixture set overnight. You can easily wipe up the grease the next morning because the grime will have loosened. When you have cleaned up the worst of the mess, dab a bit of liquid detergent or soap on a sponge, and wash the remaining residue from the oven. If this recipe doesn’t work for you it is probably because you didn’t use enough baking soda and/or water.



ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY CLEANER

1/2 teaspoon washing soda
A dab of liquid soap
2 cups hot tap water
Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle and shake until the washing soda has dissolved. Apply and wipe off with a sponge or rag.



FURNITURE POLISH

1/2 teaspoon oil, such as olive (or jojoba, a liquid wax)
1/4 cup vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Mix the ingredients in a glass jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces. Cover the glass jar and store indefinitely.

VINEGAR DEODORIZER

Keep a clean spray bottle filled with straight 5 percent vinegar in your kitchen near your cutting board and in your bathroom and use them for cleaning. I often spray the vinegar on our cutting board before going to bed at night, and don’t even rinse but let it set overnight. The smell of vinegar dissipates within a few hours. Straight vinegar is also great for cleaning the toilet rim. Just spray it on and wipe off.


Tea Tree Treasure

Nothing natural works for mold and mildew as well as this spray. I’ve used it successfully on a moldy ceiling from a leaking roof, on a musty bureau, a musty rug, and a moldy shower curtain. Tea tree oil is expensive, but a little goes a very long way. Note that the smell of tea tree oil is very strong, but it will dissipate in a few days.

2 teaspoons tea tree oil
2 cups water
Combine in a spray bottle, shake to blend, and spray on problem areas. Do not rinse. Makes two cups.

Vinegar Spray

Straight vinegar reportedly kills 82 percent of mold. Pour some white distilled vinegar straight into a spray bottle, spray on the moldy area, and let set without rinsing if you can put up with the smell. It will dissipate in a few hours.