The following green cleaning tips will help keep your home clean while keeping it safe for your family. Contact Budget Home Cleaning today to see how we can help implement a green cleaning plan.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Clean your toilet the right way. Sprinkle a little baking soda into the bowl, add vinegar and scrub till you can’t scrub anymore. The baking soda and vinegar will clean and deodorize. For tough stains, use borax and let site over night. Scrub and flush the next morning and you’ll be good to go! No pun intended.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]The weaves of old dryer sheets as well as spare socks are great for dusting wood surfaces. Just use a teaspoon of lemon oil to 1 cup of vegetable oil and you have a great furniture polish. Just apply with a clean dry cloth.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Did you know regular household products are a great way to clean your home green? Here are a few examples … white vinegar is a great anti-fungal that also kills germs and bacteria. Hydrogen peroxide is a great nontoxic bleach and stain remover as well as a proven disinfectant. Fresh club soda can act as a terrific stain remover and polisher. Lemon juice is a pleasant smelling nontoxic bleach, grease-cutter and stain remover.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Here are a few more examples of household products that clean green … corn meal works great for picking up carpet spills. Olive oil can make a wonderful furniture polish and try picking up some pure essential oils to add natural wonderful scents after cleaning your house like lavender, peppermint or eucalyptus.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Looking for an all natural, green, all-purpose cleaner? In Clean House, Clean Planet author Karen Logan offers a great solution. Simply add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and one teaspoon of borax to a 16 ounce spray bottle. Fill with hot water and shake well. After all of the borax has dissolved add 1/4 cup of liquid castile soap. If you’d like to scent your all purpose cleaner, you can also add 10 to 15 drops of an essential oil of your choice and viola! You have what Karen likes to call “Alice’s Wonder Spray.”
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Try cleaning your house with something called liquid castile soap. It’s an all-purpose cleaner, grease-cutter and disinfectant. What makes it green is that it is soap that’s vegetable-based, not animal-fat-based. Castile soaps are also sometimes referred to as seafarer’s soap because of its broad range of uses and its history dates back to the 1600’s.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]One of the hardest things to clean in your home is your refrigerator. Cleaning the fridge with chemicals could lead to an unnatural smell that could be absorbed by your foods. While baking soda is great for absorbing the smells, it’s also great for cleaning it! Before putting the baking soda box in the fridge, try cleaning with it! Baking soda works as a gentle scouring powder perfect for removing that spilled pasta sauce.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Author and editor Annie Bond recommends cleaning bold with hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar. Simple add 1/2 cup of either of these products to one cup of water. Spray on mold, but do not rinse. Before you know it, your mold is gone and you can take a shower again.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]I sit a window cleaning day for you? Here’s a great way to make your windows shine. Simply add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to a spray bottle of fresh club soda. Spray on the window and use a cotton rag to wipe clean.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Here’s some great ways to stay green and save money while you’re at it … for example why not wash all your clothes in cold water. They out just as clean and you’re not wasting energy heating all that water. Another example is buy some house plants! They are a great way to clean the air and provide a little of that fresh oxygen we all need.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Here’s a great tip for an all natural air freshener for the room that might need it the most: the bathroom! Simply add a drop of two of your favorite essential oils on the inside of the toilet paper roll. With each pull of the T.P. you’ll get a fresh scent of your favorite essential oil.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]According to Green This! by Deirdre Imus, peppermint oil and vinegar can combat ants, dust mites and even bed bugs! Combine with distilled water in a bottle and spray where needed … just remember peppermint oil is very strong, so be sure you dilute it sufficiently.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Here’s a quick tip for cleaning linoleum floors. Simply add a half cup of white vinegar to your bucket and mop as you normally would. If there’s a vinegar smell when you’re done, don’t worry! The odor should go away shortly after the floor dries.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Oven solvents or cleaners are often irritants. Using baking soda and water can be a great green way to clean your oven. Simply add one cup of baking soda to some water until you get a nice paste. Apply the mixture to your oven and let sit. Scrub with a scouring pad if needed and use a spatula to get under large food deposits.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Here’s a quick green tip for a clogged drain. Simply pour a half cup of baking soda down the drain. Then add a half cup of vinegar and let it fizzle for a few minutes. Top it off by emptying a full kettle of boiling water down the drain. This will help keep your pipes clean and help prevent future clogs.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Tea tree can be expensive, but a small amount can last you a long time. Try mixing two tablespoons of tea tree extract with two cups of water and use the moisture on any moldy surface. The mixture has an indefinite shelf life, so you can it for years to come!
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]If you are buying toxic products to clean your home try buying the least toxic products. Chemicals which contain a “poison” or “danger label” are the most toxic products on the market. Products that bear a “caution” or “warning” label are moderately toxic. Finally be cautious of mixing toxic products together, such as chlorine and ammonia.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Are you a “morning joe” type of person? Clean your coffee maker the all-natural way. Simply run a pot of half vinegar, half water through your coffee maker. Be sure to follow that up with two pots of just water or you’re in for a rude awakening the following morning.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]If you’re in the market for a vacuum, check out vacuum’s with a HEPA seal. HEPA vacuums have a patented filtration system that captures 99.97% of all particles that pass through it. This is a great way to keep your home clean of dust and mold particles.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Use a paste of baking soda and water to get rid of black heel marks on your floor. If you have a little tike who likes to write on the walls, use toothpaste to get rid of crayon marks on the walls. Note that this method will not work well on wallpaper or on porous surfaces.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”dashed” divider_color=”#e3722d”]Remove grease from wood floors by immediately placing an ice cube or very cold water on the spot. The grease will harden and you simply scrape it off with a knife. Then simply iron a piece of cloth over the grease spot.
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