What are some effective natural house cleaning products?

Question

I know you can use vinegar to clean the bath tub. Does anyone have any other good natural products that can be used, eg. to clean the bathroom, to mop hard floors etc. I am keen to avoid chemicals such as bleach. thanks :)

Answer 1

Vinegar has a million uses other than tub and tile but excellent at this. It is a fabric softener and a deodorizer. It is a food safe mild disinfectant. It can be used as an air freshener...the pickle smell goes away leaving a clean smell in its place. You can use vinegar medicinally too, both internally and externally. I love to bathe with vinegar in the water, it softens the water to the point that when I'm shaving, I don't need any soap, etc to keep my legs slick. Just shave underwater.

Baking soda has a million uses too. It is a gentle scrub for face, teeth, and scouring surfaces. Can make it into bath products like a baking soda epsom salt soak or scrub.

GrapeFRUIT seed extract in its liquid form (one name brand Nutribiotic) is another one of those do-everything items too. It comes from the seed of the grapefruit (duh) and is a very strong little substance. You can use it medicinally (in and out) and around the house. This stuff is antibiotic, antimicrobial, anti fungal, antiseptic, making it a great addition to any cleaning solution...and since it can be used internally, it is a perfect vegetable wash, and good for baby, food, and pet areas. If you use GSE as a medicine be sure you check for interactions. It is a powerhouse chemical although most people do not have problems to it...heart patients on medications can have deadly reactions to grapefruit of any kind, however...when used internally. Just a quick disclaimer, I know you wanted cleaning ideas so not a problem in this area. You should protect your hands from full strength GSE. It is kind of an acidic oil...so it may burn and stay there, kind of like pepper seeds.

Similar properties and uses as GSE for tea tree oil. There is a company that makes its whole line with this stuff if you don't want to make your own. It is called Melaleuca. Not going into great detail but it is every bit as useful as grapefruit seed extract and very similar to its applications. It does smell, some find it offensive, others think it smells mediciny and clean. Another difference, tea tree oil is strong but can be used "neat" (full strength) and this is great for acne, foot fungus, tough germs, and first aid on cuts.

Borax I have heard a lot about as a laundry booster instead of bleach. I am not personally familiar with it but it deserves research.

Essential oils and herbs, spices, things around the kitchen often have cleaning properties, sometimes as a scent, sometimes other. Lemon juice is a copper cleaner I think. I usually don't have it on hand. It can be used to make a furniture polish when added to olive oil and used sparingly. Coffee is a great scouring powder for dark surfaces, and an excellent odor neutralizer. Vanilla is a good deodorizer, and some say it is a natural insect repellant for cabinets and people. Olive oil is a great alternative to dusting products, used sparingly. And you can use it to loosen crusties.

Other essential oils and herbs and spices can be mixed in a pot for a simmering air freshener. Essential oils usually have a lot of information at the counter as well as a tester bottle to choose scents, where you buy them to help you find the right one.

Live plants are great to have around the house, they help keep the air cleaner. Don't forget fresh air and sunshine to clean and freshen almost anything...and then there are fans to circulate air (which freshens the air) esp when you create a cross vent between two open doors or windows. There are also HEPA vacuum cleaners (some bagless and cyclonic supersuckers that require almost no maintenance) to remove dangerous things from surfaces and the air, and there are air purifiers to place in the corner and work around the clock.

You can dust without anything but a damp rag...or you can vacuum it up with an attachment. Lint can be dealt with using masking tape wrapped around your hand sticky side out and blot the item.

Epsom salts have some cleaning properties that you can look into, I use this for a thousand things, but all as health and beauty.

Murphy Oil Soap is a pretty natural item, I personally love it for wood, walls, and some floors. Another commercial product is OxyClean, there are mixed reviews about this, most people agree it isn't the miracle we expected from the commercials. I do think it is rather natural by comparison to other chemicals.

There are laundry detergent substitutes. Some are soap based, they may still be harsh cleaners (and require proper safety) but they are not as toxic to the environment as synthetic detergents. You use these just like any other liquid detergent. There are also bars of soap for homemade laundry products. Zote is one. They are supposed to be shredded, add water, and borax etc to make gallons of your own safer cheaper product. I haven't ever done this. Other alternatives are things like balls and bars that use magnetism, ionization, etc to soften water and loosen dirt so it comes clean without any chemicals at all. OxyClean makes the laundry balls where the chemical is supposed to be so safe and non-invasive, it just stays in the washer through the rinse cycle without leaving residue on the clothes. I would wonder if cornstarch is an appropriate thing to starch clothing with, mix up with a lot of water, and spray on?

Borrowing from the first aid cabinet you can use peroxide and rubbing alcohol around the house. Both disinfect, peroxide has a bleaching effect so you can probably mix up a good scouring solution if you add it per use to baking soda. Rubbing alcohol would be a great spray and wipe disinfectant or pour directly into the toilet bowl or kitchen sink for tough jobs.

Table salt is good for stain removal, and also can be used as a scouring powder. It is also a natural herbicide for grass in the sidewalk and kills slugs and some bugs in the garden. Oatmeal would be an appropriate scouring agent as well, for extremely delicate surfaces...just use small amounts at a time, working little by little because it gets gooey fast.

There are a couple things that usually boost cleaning power of everything. One is heat, and the other is elbow grease. A bonus third is using time to your advantage. Clean messes immediately if they are spills so stains and buildup and crusties don't form, requiring tougher products to deal with them. Wipe kitchen surfaces often so that tough greasy dust doesn't form. On the flipside, let cleaning products work before you wipe them up.

A last comment, when dealing with any items be careful what you mix, just because they are natural doesn't mean they are chemically stable. You need to research. Also regarding safety, sometimes I think it is perfectly responsible to use appropriate amounts of common cleaners including bleach, ammonia, PineSol etc...if you pick ONE and stay with it. This prevents you from mixing a deadly cocktail, or using something even worse like those horrendous laundry products, specialty bathroom cleaners, and do it all cleaners that are caustic, carcinogenic, or are just so strong you'd swear it could take paint of a wall.

Answer 2

Here are a few things I use...

Hydrogen Peroxide... Have you ever known a hospital to smell like bleach? You can use it as an all purpose cleaner.

Showers Lemon ... Cut a fresh lemon and half rub it on shower walls... Sprinkle Baking Soda and use a towel to rub the walls. The lemon removes soap scum while the Baking soda is a mild abrasive... Wash down with Rubbing Alcohol... When you get a good scrub and no residue is left and it tiles are dry use a turtle wax on the tiles and buff off.. this will help the water bead off the wall and you won't have the build up of soap scum and you won't have to scrub it as much you will still have to clean it ... but it won't take as long. BE CAREFUL!!! Do not put the wax on the tub it is VERY VERY SLICK!!!

toilets... Couple of Efferdent fizzing tablets... Denture Cleaning Tablets....

Floors... Hydrogen peroxide...

Urine... Carpet... Blot up excess urine... with paper towels or old towel.. sprinkle baking soda and then spray with vinegar the fizzing brings the urine to the surface and then blot with towel...

Here is a few ideas....

Answer 3

Try using 3-4 oranges (the juice and some of the rind) and 3 cups water and mix into a sprayer and this will cut grease - remove stains- and the acids will kill most germs and leave a clean but not over powering scent- (use more oranges or lemons if you want)

Answer 4

Hi! I agree, avoiding bleach is a plus. This website has links and ideas for natural cleaning products (and it isn't full of ads). Two products they mention are lemon juice and baking soda. Those three products are mentioned a lot, for a lot of different products.

http://housekeeping.about.com/cs/environment/a/alternateclean.htm

Answer 5

I am in the cleaning business and we avoid chemical anywhere we can. Here is one little secret I can share...
We buy this cleaning cloth off the internet. You have to buy in packages of 5 but they are only like $3 bucks a piece. I have ordered them and use them on everything, especially cleaning windows and clean mirrors. They are made out of tiny fibers. They are guaranteed not to scratch and all you do is rinse the cloth under water, wring it out and wipe ANY surface with no streaks or scratch. Use em over and over. I have not thrown one away yet!
I am sold on this ...I encourage you to try it out….hope this helps…Steve
www.EazeeClean.com

Answer 6

Vinegar - good for cleaning windows; mix with water and use on bathroom, kitchen fixtures and or floors to clean and kill germs newspaper- when cleaning windows (car and home), instead of using paper towel, use newspaper (windows will be squeaky clean)

Answer 7

baking soda (deoderiser, scrub surfaces)
lemon juice (deoderiser, acts as a bleach, dissolves soap scum)
vinegar - (all purpose cleaner, disinfectant, deoderiser) 1 part water one part vinegar

check out a few websites. these 3 are the main ingredients to clean all throughout the house.

Answer 8

Go to Target and check out "Method" products. There is a variety, including dish soap and such.

Here's their web site: http://www.methodhome.com/products/

Answer 9

There are a lot of web pages with the type of info you want. Just type the following words into your search engine:
natural household cleansers

Answer 10

Diluted dish detergent works fine for kitchen appliances, floors etc.