Eco-Friendly Cleaning
Eco-Friendly Cleaning. So many of the chemicals that are used when cleaning a home daily are harmful to the environment. Regular inhalation of them can be harmful to health, also. It’s easy to make simple, environmental changes that make your life more eco-friendly when cleaning your home. There’s an added
bonus to these simple, environmentally friendly cleaning tips. They’ll save you money.
Swap out All-Purpose Spray Cleaners for Eco-friendly Vinegar
and Water
Mix a half cup of white distilled vinegar with a gallon of water. Use a funnel to pour the mixture
into a spray bottle and use it like you would an all-purpose cleaner around the house. The eco-
friendly cleaning mixture can be used to wipe down counter surfaces or clean wood and
laminate flooring.
Straight vinegar can also be used in cleaning. Substitute it for a glass cleaner (and recycle
newspaper to wipe the windows instead of paper towels). Soaking a shower head in vinegar
overnight is an eco-friendly way to remove buildup on it.
Lemon Juice Whitens without the Environmental Harshness of
Bleach
For a stain on a white shirt or tablecloth, squeeze lemon juice all over the stain and allow it to sit
for five minutes. Pour some kosher salt over it and rub it around a bit. Rinse with water. Repeat
until the stain is gone.
For extra whitening, or if there’s just a slight bit of a stain left, let the material dry in full sun.
Baking Soda is the Best Environmentally-Friendly Odor Remover
Baking soda absorbs odors, and it’s an inexpensive, eco-friendly way to freshen up the whole
house. An open box of baking soda keeps bad odors from getting into foods in the refrigerator,
and bowls full of baking soda can absorb musty smells and other bad odors from whole rooms.
Baking soda also absorbs odors in smelly shoes or added to the laundry to get smells out of
clothing.
Swap Out Chemical Air Fresheners for a Pot of Goodness on the Stove
It’s easy to walk around the house, spraying a store-bought chemical solution to make the home
smell better. But, adding a pot of simmering natural ingredients on the stove is easy, too, and
much more environmentally friendly. This is a tip that many home appraisers in Philadelphia
would recommend.
One combination you can add to water is citrus peels (orange, lemon or lime) along with cloves,
nutmeg, and cinnamon. Check on the simmering pot from time to time to make sure all the
water hasn’t evaporated.
Ditch Paper Towels and Use Rags Made from Old T-shirts or Dish
Towels Past Their Prime
Paper Towels are convenient, but they are not environmentally friendly. It’s simple to keep a
batch of rags to use for cleaning. They can be washed and used over and over.
Rags can be made out of anything, but cutting up old cotton t-shirts is one of the best ways to
create several rags out of one discarded piece of clothing. Another great option to create rags is
to cut up dish towels that have gotten stained and ratty. Cutting them into at least two pieces will
make it clear that they are now rags and ensure that they don’t get used as dish towels
anymore.