Spring Cleaning with Green “Home-Made” Cleaners

Image by G & A Sattler

My family and I just finished moving and needless to say we had some serious “Spring Cleaning” to do as a result.  I, myself, am very sensitive to smells and chemicals and so have a hard time cleaning with some of the various cleaning products out there.  As a result I ended up looking for some greener, more natural cleaning products that could do the same job and wanted to share what I found.

Now I’ve cleaned with vinegar, lemons, baking soda and various products like that in the past and they have done a good job, but I didn’t remember what to use where and how much I should use.  Then I found this blog from The Daily Green “Green Cleaning Recipes with Natural Ingredients“.

I thought the “home-made” recipes for cleaning were pretty good.  Even some ideas and suggestions from the people who commented on the blog were helpful.  For example the blog listed simple recipes for cleaning porcelain & tile, kitchens, windows & mirrors (that’s an easy one…white vinegar, water and newspaper), carpets and more.

What’s great about all these green “home-made” cleaners is you don’t end up with the highly toxic/chemical smell that most other cleaners leave.  Oh, and don’t ever mix too many cleaners at once…one for the bathtub, a different one for the toilet, another for the sink, another for the mirrors, another for the floor…talk about a knock-out mixture!  I’ve experienced that before and it’s not pleasant (and I’m sure it’s not good for the air and environment either).

So before you run out and buy the latest and greatest cleaner, see if you can make a green cleaner yourself.  It will cost you less, probably have less harmful affect on your nose, throat and lungs and more than likely do a pretty good job.  Of course, don’t forget to add a little elbow grease in there too!