Five Natural Cleaners for Your Home

Clean and Green's the Way to Go for a Safer, Healthier Home!

It's important to protect your health and the environment by limiting exposure to toxic chemicals. One way to do this is to only use natural cleaners. Household cleaners make up a large portion of chemical usage in America. Accidental poisoning from household products is a major killer of young children - don't take the risk!

Fortunately, it's easy to make your own natural cleaners at home using simple ingredients.

Natural Cleaner #1: Vinegar

Simple white vinegar can be used to degrease and deoderize almost anything. Add a cup to your laundry if it's musty or you have clothes stained with grease. You can also use it to remove the smell of skunk and urine from anything that's washable. A dish of vinegar sitting in an open room will remove smoke and mildew odors. Use diluted vinegar to clean your windows.

Natural Cleaner #2: Baking Soda

Buy baking soda in extra-large boxes. Add a half-cup to every load of laundry to deoderize and improve your laundry soap's cleaning power. Sprinkle it on carpets, leave for an hour, then vacuum up to remove odors. Keep a small box or bag in the fridge to keep odors down. Use as a scratch-free scrubber on stoneware, countertops, and other surfaces. For especially stubborn, burned-on food in cooking pots, fill partway with water, add baking soda, and bring to a boil. Allow to cool fully - even overnight - and the food will simply lift off effortlessly!

Natural Cleaner #3: Lemons and Lemon Juice

Drop a slice of lemon into your garbage disposer to sweeten it. Dip a lemon wedge into baking soda and use to scour copper pots. Dried lemon peel can be used alone or in conjunction with cedar or lavender to make moth repellents and closet fresheners. Use lemon juice and salt to remove rust stains from clothing and surfaces. Mix a little lemon oil and olive oil together and use to polish and buff wood furniture.

Natural Cleaner #4: Borax