7 Cleaning Supplies Every Natural Household Needs to Eliminate Toxic Cleaners ...
By Heather
By Heather
One of my goals the last few years has been to redo my cleaning supplies and replace the toxic filled ones with natural solutions. I’ve been on a mission to not only reduce my chemical exposure, but also my budget! Natural household cleaning products are much friendlier to you, the planet and your wallet. Chemical cleaners sold in stores can not only harm your skin, aggravate allergies, lead to cancer scares, disrupt your hormones, contribute to toxic weight gain, and give you headaches, but they are also terrible for the environment! Check out these natural sources of cleaning supplies. You probably already have most of them, and if not, they’re all available at any drug store, supermarket, online or even the dollar store.
Baking soda is one of the best natural cleaning supplies to keep on hand, and of course, you can use it to bake with too! It is cheap, nontoxic, and it cleans, deodorizes, softens hard water spots and scours. I use it to clean pans with by letting it sit in water, use it with vinegar as a natural laundry detergent and even use it to whiten my teeth!
Plain old soap is a great cleaning supply to keep on hand. I like Bronner’s Magic soap. You can literally use it to clean anything-even your hair! Unscented soap in any form is biodegradable and will clean anything, but don’t use soaps with petroleum listed on the ingredients. That’s the kind to avoid! Stick with natural based kinds instead.
Did you know lemon juice is one of the best foods to use for cleaning? It contains strong acids that eat away bacteria and fight bad odors. Plus, they are kind of fun to clean with! You can rub them on your counter tops or squeeze lemon juice on your counters to remove stains, bacteria, or to give your stainless sink a shine!
This is also called SAL soda and it is basically a salt-based mineral soap. It is used to cut grease, remove stains, soften water, clean walls, tiles, sinks and tubs. Just don’t use it on aluminum!
Vinegar has been a long time natural cleaning supply for years. I like to use it to shine up things, but also use it to mix with baking soda to clean things with. It does stink, but the scent is easily removed and washed away with water. Baking soda also reduces the scent, so they make a great team! Vinegar will cut grease, remove mildew, take away odors, and remove hard mineral deposits too.
Cornstarch isn’t just for food, but can be used to clean windows, as a polish for furniture, or even to use as a shampoo for your rug and carpets! Just be sure to follow a recipe because you don’t want to use this stuff the wrong way or you’ll end up with a mess! I’ve given a website for recipes below!
Borax is a popular nontoxic cleaning supply. It is basically a form of sodium and it cleans, disinfects, and deodorizes everything from walls, to floors, to your clothes.
For simple recipes and tips on home cleaning, feel free to visit one of my favorite websites which has great recipes to get you started at eartheasy.com. Cleaning supplies such as these and a few others are not only inexpensive, but also safe for you, your family and your pets! Do you use natural cleaning supplies?
Sources: eartheasy.com