Common Household Ingredients can Replace your Chemical Cleaners

If you’re thinking of taking a turn toward the greener side of living, there are some great ways that you can make the transition with ingredients you may already have on hand in your kitchen. This not only saves you money, but it does just as great a job without releasing any hazardous fumes into the air. The next time you find yourself reaching for bleach or other olfactory offenders, think twice and see if you might be able to use something on this list instead.

Many thanks to the Grist Guide for Good, Clean Fun, and Clean and Green for the inspiration behind these handy tricks.

Is that a spot? How long ago was this spilled? What is all over the refrigerator?
Instead of reaching for the Windex or a Clorox wipe or any other bright, sinus-clearing solutions ending in X to handle your all-purpose cleaning needs, open up your baking cabinet. If you’ve got some white vinegar and a box of baking soda, you’re now in possession of Nature’s all-purpose cleaner. Just mix some warm water with either ingredient (if you put them both together…well…you remember volcano projects in elementary school), and you’re ready to scrub and wipe away just about anything. If you need a little extra scrubbing power, add some salt to get some safe abrasion. Looking toward cleaning a porcelain sink or toilet? Sprinkle some cream of tartar on a damp cloth and wipe.

Don’t touch that dial
Think you’re doing yourself a favor by lathering up with that familiar antibacterial, orange gel soap every time you wash your hands? You might be hurting yourself more than you’re helping. Repeated use of antibiotic agents included in soaps as well as the pills we often take for strep throat and other illnesses can cause a build up of antibodies to the particular agent you’re trying to kill. So while you might be wiping away some bacteria, you’re allowing other "super germs" to breed in their place that don’t care how many times you rinse and repeat.

To avoid a colony of buff bacteria infiltrating the front lines of your skin’s battleground, just use a simple bar soap and some warm water.

Use Lemons to Shine
When life gives you lemons, wash your windows. Similar to vinegar, lemon juice is a great grease-cutter and glass cleaner. Fill a spray bottle with water and ¼ cup white vinegar or 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and wipe. Real lemon certainly smells a lot fresher than vertigo-inducing chemicals any day. Lemon juice is also great when used as a bleach alternative for perspiration marks on clothing.

Cleaning your Carpet
If your carpet needs cleaning, don’t reach for the chemical steamer just yet. Remember that baking soda you were using to clean off your counter tops? You can sprinkle it over the areas of your carpet that need some refreshment, wait a bit for the odors to absorb, then vacuum it up. Now all you have is a fresh carpet and chemical-free breathing.

Eliminating Indoor Air Odors without the Aerosol
Did you know that aerosol air fresheners have been known to cause headaches and can even be linked to depression and infant illnesses like ear infections? You want to freshen your air without the harmful side effects, so what else can you do to freshen up? There’s a simple solution that not only smells delicious but also contributes no harmful chemicals into your home air–potpourri. If you don’t have a bag of potpourri handy, just open up your baking cabinet again and pretend you’re making an apple pie. Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, anise, anything that you particularly like the smell of will do.

Toss some into a small saucepan with a bit of water and simmer on your stove for awhile to let the aroma drift through your home. Of course, you could just go ahead and bake a real pie, cookies, or simmer some mulled cider. That’d smell good and you’d have a tasty reward for your efforts.