Being afraid of dirt and dangerous germs determines you to generously treat your home with traditional cleaning products. Although efficient, most of them contain toxic chemicals and many of these products can be more harmful to your health than dirt itself.
Finding natural alternatives to harmful chemical cleaners can help keep everyone in your home healthy. This is just one of many reasons to make your own non-toxic cleaners. They are also better suited to the environment, less expensive to pack, easier to store at home and much cheaper.
Here are a few simple and environmentally friendly recipes for your home cleaning mixtures. By using the tips below and having a cleaning plan for a week in advance, you will be able to keep your home and your health in top condition. You will be pleased to know that many of the ingredients are already in your kitchen cupboards!
Cleaning the Apartment by Areas
How to clean your kitchen with natural cleaning agents
The kitchen is one of the most important areas in your house. Here is where you start your day and where you cook for you and your family, therefore keeping a kitchen clean and sanitary is incredibly important. The following natural cleaners will help you do this without the negative effects of chemicals.
- Washing dishes: use lemon and salt to clean wooden chopping boards and cast iron pans. A mustard powder diluted in water 1:2 will help wash almost any dishes. It handles all kinds of dirt and does not hurt any coatings.
- Cleaning the oven: make a paste of equal parts baking soda and vinegar to clean baking trays, burned pots and pans or the oven interior.
- Cleaning the stove: make a stove cleaner by mixing one part olive oil and two parts soda. Apply it on the stove surface and leave it overnight. Next day, remove the agent with a damp cloth.
- Cleaning stainless steel objects: use tartar (cream of tartar) to polish stainless steel and make it shine.
- Cleaning the microwave: fill a dish with water (400-500 ml) in which 4 spoons of citric juice or 1 tbsp of citric acid are diluted. Ideally, half a lemon should also be added. Heat the liquid in a microwave oven at the max temperature for 1 minute, then wipe the microwave with a damp sponge.
- Polishing silver: add 1 tbsp of baking soda and 1 aluminum foil piece to boiling water (1l). Put your silver in there and let it boil for a little. Get it out polished!
- Disinfecting a dishwasher: use hydrogen peroxide to disinfect your fridge or dishwasher. This is a natural disinfectant.
- Disinfecting a dishwashing sponge: dilute the hydrogen peroxide in warm water at 1:1 ratio. Put your dishwashing sponges in there for 10 minutes. Rinse them thoroughly after.
- Washing kitchen surfaces: use a citrus peel to make a universal cleaner with vinegar. Fill a spray bottle with vinegar diluted in water in equal parts and add a citrus fruit peel there. Let it brew for 2 weeks before using it.
How to clean your bathroom with natural cleaners
The bathroom is often one of the dirtiest rooms in a house, so that’s where the prospect of using aggressive chemicals is most tempting. However, natural detergents can be more effective than you might imagine. Use these tips to make your bathroom shiny and clean without the use of any toxic chemicals.
- Toilet: mix 25-50 ml of vinegar and 10 drops of any essential oil. Pour the mixture into a toilet bowl and add 20-50g of soda. After a few minutes clean the toilet bowl with a brush.
- Showerhead: fill a sturdy bag with vinegar and fix it around your showerhead. The vinegar will remove hard water stains from the metal part.
- Sink: mix equal parts of soda and water to the paste-like substance. This product can be used to clean sinks and toilet bowls. It also works perfectly for porcelain surfaces!
- Tile whitening: use hydrogen peroxide to whiten shower tiles. Thoroughly clean the entire bathroom and wait for it to dry, then spray hydrogen peroxide on the tiles and leave for a few minutes. Clean the tiles using an old toothbrush for convenience. Repeat if necessary.
- Shining surfaces: use lemons. Remove stains and make the surfaces shine by simply rubbing them with a piece of fresh lemon.
- Other surfaces: mix baking soda and borax in equal parts. Add some warm water to make the paste. You can clean any bathroom surface with just this mixture and a brush.
- Shower curtain: use hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. Mix 50g of alcohol and 150g of peroxide and leave the solution for 10 minutes. Dip a sponge or brush into the resulting liquid and clean the curtain. Curtain rings can be cleaned by wiping them with salt and a grapefruit slice.
- Preventing shower curtain mold: dissolve 5 tablespoons of salt in 500 ml of warm water and spray the solution directly onto the curtain.
Use eco-friendly cleaners for the entire home
The rest of the house can also be cleaned in an eco-friendly way, even if you have to clean very messy rooms. You can make the whole house sparkle by using natural products.
- Cleaning couches and mattresses: use baking soda. Just sprinkle it on a couch and wipe it off.
- Cleaning blinds: dilute vinegar into the water in a ratio of 1:1. Spray the mixture on the blinds and wipe them. It is more convenient to use an old sock by putting it on your hand instead of a cloth.
- Removing oil stains from a carpet: clean up the excess oil, sprinkle the stains with soda and leave it there for 15 minutes. Then wipe the stains with a brush.
- Removing unpleasant smells in the house: wipe the furniture and floors with an aqueous manganese solution. Fill the linen bags with coffee beans and zest, place them on the shelves of a wardrobe and in all corners of the house.
- Bleaching floors: dilute half a cup of hydrogen peroxide in 3 liters of hot water then wash the floor and watch it become lighter.
Remember that you don’t need to use all these tips at once to see the benefits. You can start by replacing some of your usual purchases with natural products for your next cleaning. Test the effectiveness of your homemade cleaners and, if you’re satisfied, try using them all the time. Once you feel the benefits of natural cleaning products, you’ll find it hard to give them up!
Author bio: Roy Emerson is a technology enthusiast, a loving father of twins, a programmer in a custom software company, editor in chief of TheHomeDweller blog, greedy reader, and a gardener.