Do-it-yourself house-cleaning products

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Spit and Vinegar - the rebirth of Do It Yourself healthy cleaning products!

Okay, maybe not spit. However, did you know that commercial house-cleaning products can be harmful to your health and the environment. Surprising to most, many of the chemical ingredients in household cleaners have never been tested for toxicity and disease causing properties in humans. Every year, thousands of untested chemicals enter the North American market - many of them used by you, or your children in everyday house cleaning.

Environmental products are readily available but can be overly expensive. Did you know many non-toxic and inexpensive common household products can be used to clean your home? In my mother's day, baking soda and vinegar could be used to clean almost everything. Surprise! They work just as well today. Below find a list of handy do-it-yourself cleaning products!

BAKING SODA:

Baking soda is not only safe to clean with, it is safe to eat! Baking soda can be used for cleaning in several ways:

* Use alone with some water on a sponge to clean any surface you'd clean with a powdered abrasive.
* Pour a cup of baking soda down the drain with a 1/2 cup of hot water and let it stand over night to remove clogs from drains. In the morning, follow with a pot of hot water from the kettle!
* Add cornstarch to baking soda and repeat the above process for especially blocked drains.
* Open a box of baking soda in the fridge, freezer, laundry room, recycling area - the baking soda will absorb unpleasant odors from the air - without releasing harmful chemicals other air fresheners cover up smells with.
* For pet stains and other unpleasant smells or stains, mix some baking soda with water, smooth over surface and allow to sit. After a few hours (or overnight depending on the stain or smell)vacuum or wipe up the baking soda with water, and allow area to dry.
* Leave a mixture of water and baking soda in pots or pans over night to remove tough baked on grime.
* Add vinegar or lemon juice to soda (don't be frightened by the fizzing!) to make a tougher scum busting formula for bathtub rings.
* Add baking soda during your clothes washing cycle to brighten whites without bleach!

WHITE VINEGAR - not just for salads:

Another safe to eat cleaning product, purchased for pennies in bulk!

* Dilute vinegar with an equal part of water to clean all surfaces and floors. You can use this safe mixture to clean anything you'd normally clean with a multi-purpose chemical surface cleaner.
* Use undiluted vinegar
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to fight harder to clean stains or soap scum.
* Be careful when using vinegar on finished wood surfaces or marble as it may dull the surface.
* Pour vinegar into your toilet bowl, allow to sit, and then use a toilet cleaning brush to remove stains and bacteria from your toilet!
* Add vinegar to laundry during the rinse cycle as a fabric softener.
* Vinegar is a disinfectant, no need to use bleach on your food and bathroom surfaces!

LEMON JUICE:

* Use lemon juice to clean hard water stains, rust stains or soap build up. It is also a great grease cutter.
* Add lemon juice to baking soda for a get dish cleaning solution!
* Mix lemon juice with olive oil and use in place of furniture polish!

SALT:

* Salt may be bad for your blood pressure when eaten, but it is the best red wine remover in the world! Simply pour salt over the spill, rub it in and let stand. Repeat as necessary until the salt absorbs the whole stain. Vacuum up extra salt.

* Aside from red wine, salt makes an excellent scrub and stain remover.

* Mix salt with olive oil as an excellent skin exfoliant (stretching here, but you clean your face IN your house!).

* Salt mixed with lime juice will remove rust stains, and sometimes blood stains!

CLUB SODA:

* Use in place of a stain removing spray on fabric stains. Allow soda to soak before blotting the stain. Do not rub the stain lest you spread it.

* Put club soda into a spray bottle and use in place of glass cleaner.

OLIVE OIL

* Olive oil (especially when mixed with lemon juice) makes an excellent furniture polish. Fortunately, the cheaper olive oil works just as well as expensive brands!

* Olive oil is an excellent hair conditioner!

CORNSTARCH:

* Use cornstarch in place of carpet cleaning and deodorizing powder.

* It can also be used as a window cleaner and furniture polisher, but other methods are less messy. It will do in a pinch though. Be sure to wipe off thoroughly so you don't have streaks!

HOT WATER:

* Boiling hot water is a sterilizing agent. Pour over dishes after washing before drying!

* Boiling water is a GREAT pest killer. Pour over dandelions, other weeds and even ant hills instead of using harmful herbicides and pesticides.

BEER:

* Beer mixed with water in a bowl is great for catching and killing earwigs. A great substitute for using spray pesticides in your house. Chemical pesticides are harmful to your family!

BORAX:

This is not a safe to eat product. Borax is a brand name for sodium borate. I'm only adding it to my list because it makes an excellent bug killer, and is less harmful to humans and the environment than commercial pesticides. Put a ring of borax around your house to ward off ants - removing the need for pesticides inside your house!

I DO NOT RECOMMEND:

BLEACH: Most of the things you use bleach for you can substitute in less harmful products listed above. Bleach is often used to "kill" mold and mildew. It does not do so. At best it bleaches mold so you can no longer see it until it regrows. At worse mixes with certain molds to cause a toxic airborne by-product.

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