Spring Cleaning the Natural Way!

Clean your Home the Natural Way with nature's finest ingredients. Here are a four that are not only very inexpensive but are eco-friendly to boot!

1. Lemons
2. Baking Soda
3. Distilled White Vinegar
4. Toothpaste

Here's how you can use them:

Fabric Softener

Since most fabric softeners contain toxic ingredients both for the planet and for you, try something a little different. Use 2 tbsps in your rinse cycle for great results that will never leave your clothes feeling coated and won't irritate your skin. Don't worry-your clothes won't smell like pickles, I promise! Make sure you are using Distilled white vinegar, not malt, or something sticky.

Dishwasher Rinse Aid

Vinegar has yet another wonderful use and that is getting your dishes sparkling clean! Yes, that's right, just pour vinegar into your dishwasher's rinse aid dispenser and it will keep them clean and spot-free.

Carpet Deodorizer

Use baking soda as a carpet deodorizer, especially if you have pets. Pour some on, let is sit for about 15 mins and then vacuum it up. Since baking soda absorbs odors in your fridge/freezer, it will do the same for your carpet and rugs too! (On a side note-I had a lost rotton onion that stunk up my cabinet, and poured baking soda on it for a whole day. It absorbed the moisture and most of the odor, then I kept an open box of baking soda in the cabinet for a month and smell was gone!)

Shower Mildew Preventer

They say vodka is a natural mildew preventer. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer to drink the expensive stuff vs. clean with it. There is another natural alternative though. Vinegar will do the trick. I keep a spray bottle filled 3 parts vinegar, 1 part water and spray the shower after each use, especially the chrome. It keeps it shiny and free from hard water spots.

Garbage Disposal Freshener

While little citrus discs are available from the store, wouldn't you rather use something natural to clean and deodorize your garbage disposal? Use left over citrus rinds or rinds/flesh from squeezed lemons and oranges. Put one or two in with a little water into your disposal and voila, any bad smells will be gone! The citrus is biodegradable unlike the store-bought disks and do not contain artificial fragrance, phthalates, etc.

Cutting Board Cleaner

When you have finished using your cutting board whether it be wooden, plastic or my favorite-glass, always use the flat side of a lemon-half or slice to clean the cutting board afterwards. This is my favorite thing to use after cutting garlic, it takes the smell away.

Get Chrome Super Shiny

I mentioned that vinegar is great for getting chrome to sparkle, you can use a little baking soda too if you need a little paste for extra scrubbing on a stubborn hard water scale. However, another great alternative is toothpaste! Maybe you bought a brand that you don't prefer, don't throw it away-use it with an old toothbrush to clean stubborn hard water stains and grime. You can use it in your bathroom, kitchen, for scrubbing between tiles, etc. The best part is the natural mint smell you'll enjoy while cleaning!

Drain De-Clogger

Once my drains get a little clogged I always checked for hair first, as this is generally the culprit. Once you've cleaned that out, if your drain is still not working right, use a little baking soda and vinegar. First pour some baking soda in, maybe about 3 tbsp, then add some white vinegar and try to cover the drain and let it fizz and foam away. Once it sits for about 10-15 mins, pour boiling water (from a kettle or very hot tap) down the drain. It will start dissolving the grime naturally unlike the usual drano-type products that are horrible for the environment.

Window Wash

Use vinegar in a spray bottle and recycled newspaper to clean your windows/mirrors. This is a much more eco-friendly and non-toxic way compared to ammonia-based products.

There is a plethora of great natural products available to you, if you don't feel like mixing and making your own. Try Seventh Generation, Method, or Ecover. These are my three favorite brands. They offer everything from hand soap to dishwasher detergent to dryer sheets and diapers!

I hope you will try these natural methods so that you can reap the benefits of Spring Cleaning without the toxic cloud that will pollute your indoor air quality as well as our waterways, fish and ground.

Living Green While Getting Your Home Clean

Okay, so you've heard about global warming, the importance of recycling and a lot of talk about organic food. You get the idea that going green is the wave of the future but are not sure how you fit in. By making simple changes you will not only help the environment but you'll save your family and pets from toxic chemicals that are present in regular household cleaning products.

Whether you know it or not there are many products on the market that are extremely harmful to your health and that of your family and pets. These can cause many irritations to the skin, eyes and nose. Not to mention, these chemicals linger for days and weeks after you are finished using them. You wind up creating a little toxic mixture in your own home that you're breathing in all the time. This is in part due to cleaning products but also the paints we use on our walls, varnishes on our furniture and the formaldehydes and glues in our carpet-but there is hope!

New products are revolutionizing the way we clean and live in our home. These days you can buy an eco-friendly home and install anything from flooring to window treatments that are better for both you and the environment. Yes, these options are a bit more expensive but well worth it in the long run. You can't put a price on your own health and that of your family. There are also wide ranges of fun cleaning products that smell great, are non-toxic, biodegradable and won't hurt our precious earth. These ingredients do not include the harsh chemicals, that regular products have such as bleach nor do they contain sulfates or petroleum-based contents, rather they have plant-based ingredients. Why is this important? Well, let's not forget that petrol is a non-renewable resource that is quickly being depleted. Sulfates cause an overgrowth of algae in our waters and kill off fish everyday. We can do something about this!

All of these next generation products are also usually made from recyclable plastics and are recyclable themselves. They can also be reused for your other homemade cleaning concoctions such as vinegar, or water while using baking soda.

There are many new companies providing products at the moment, you might have seen some recently on Oprah. Such companies are Method Products, Seventh Generation, Melaleuca, Shaklee, and Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day. Of all of these products, I can personally attest to using a variety of each. Of all, my favorite is Method Products. A girlfriend got me to try her hand soap and I was hooked! I soon explored the mint window wash for glass and windows as well as their all purpose cleaner in such great scents as cucumber, lavender and pink grapefruit. Who wouldn't want to clean with these fun-smelling products?! What I started to realize was that while I was making a difference to our planet, I actually looked forward to cleaning with these great solutions because they smelled so wonderful AND they cleaned phenomenally well to boot! For those of you who prefer fragrance-free they also offer a line called "naked" that does not have any scent at all.

They sell their products conveniently online and in your local Target stores and some drug stores carry a range of their products as well as Home Depot also. Easy to find, Easy to use and Easy on your skin, eyes and nose. So safe you don't even need to use gloves to protect your hands! Their wide range of offerings include soy-based candles, oil diffusers, dish washing liquid, dishwasher tablests that work better than anything else, laundry detergent and fabric softener sheets to all purpose cleaners, tub and tile sprays, toilet bowl cleaner and they now even include body wash and hand soaps! They have a product to match every regular product on the grocery store shelves without the chemicals. I love their micro fiber cloths, which eliminate the need for paper towel waste and provide a streak-free shine! Do you have a specialty surface like granite or stainless steel? They have you covered there too!

Check out their website today to see why Method Products are top selling eco-friendly cleaning products and why everyone is talking about them!
http://www.methodhome.com/

**Note: Method does not compensate me for my articles and promotion, this is strictly personal preference based on great results. I highly enjoy promoting their products to encourage others to make the right choices for both themselves and their environment.