http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-quick-tips-to-green-cleaning.html
10 Quick Tips to Green Cleaning
By Jeffrey Hollender, President of Seventh Generation
It’s easy to find natural ways to clean your home. Here’s my quick Top 10 list:
1. Use cleaning products made from safe natural and not-toxic ingredients to prevent exposure to the hazardous synthetic chemicals conventional cleaners often contain.
2. Dust with a damp cloth to ensure that household dust, which can collect toxins, is removed from surfaces and not stirred back into the air.
3. Open windows and doors occasionally (even in winter!) to rinse out any air pollutants that have accumulated inside.
4. Spray carefully. Propellant-powered aerosol spray products release their ingredients in the form of easily-breathable microscopic droplets that stay suspended in the air for hours after use. Better bets are hand-powered spray products or those you can apply with a sponge or rag.
6. Use baking soda. Freshen everything from carpets and cat boxes to trash cans and drains with non-toxic baking soda. Just sprinkle, let stand overnight, and vacuum or rinse odors away the next day.
7. Warm water can be best. Synthetic chemicals and other pollutants often accumulate unseen on the surfaces you are cleaning. Since hot water easily turns many of these substances into vapor.
8. Use chlorine-free dishwasher detergent. The chlorine in conventional detergents is easily vaporized by hot dishwasher water and then released into your home’s air.
9. Ask guests to remove their shoes when entering your home. That way, they won’t track in pollutants.
10. Buy a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. These special filters trap unhealthy dust particles.
Jeffrey has led Seventh Generation from its humble beginnings to its current position as the leading and fastest-growing brand of natural products for the home, and the leading authority on issues related to making a positive difference in the health of the planet and its inhabitants through our everyday choices.
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10 comments
add your comment »I get major headaches and migraines from harsh chemicals and I have recently found a company that uses tea tree oil, citric acid and thyme oil to clean and disinfect. The products are also concentrated therefore cutting the use of plastic!
If you'd like to try these and receive $120 in free products then email me at nicolemillercosmetics@gmail.com for more info.
Have a safer home ;)
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Kabin
Konteyner
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Kabin
Konteyner
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Three things: baking soda, vinegar, and ammonia. I have a milk crate FULL of old chemicals that I don't even use anymore. Mix water with white vinegar (50/50) and a splash of rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle for deoderizing pet stains (or the armpits of your husband's t-shirts). Baking soda works great for scrubbing my old enameled cast iron sink without ruining the finish. I use a small amount of ammonia in my dishwater and it's great for getting those stubborn grease spots off the stove and wall (if you're lazy like me and don't clean them right away). You can also reuse holy socks as dust cloths; slip your hand inside and get into the spots where a typical cloth or duster can't go. I could go on and on...
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never even thought of hot water turning chemicals to vapor! also, i used to say "dust bunnies won't kill you" to counter the cleaning-obsessed mass mentality. i guess i'll have to find a new phrase.
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Great article. I'd just like to add one thing. Buy a few microfiber cloths--one for the bathroom and one for kitchen and one for dusting. I don't use any cleaner in the bathroom since having these around. A drop of dishsoap (7th Generation of course!) and hot water will clean everything from floors to windows and cupboards.
I use Pink Solution and Ban-it soap for very tough situations and of course baking soda. We really don't need many cleaners at all. My house never smells like chemicals and there's no toxic vapors.
Cleaning a sink or tub with a microfiber cloth takes seconds compared to using cleaner and rinsing and drying.
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Congratulations for writing a post that was not self-serving or promotional. This puts you on my very short list of businesspeople who I do not immediately discount.
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Use steam! There are steam mops available for little money and they work without any type of cleaner other than water. The pads get tossed in the washer and re-used. The handheld units come with several heads, including a jet nozzel for hard to reach places and tough jobs. They will pay for themselves in no time at all.
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baking soda is the win! i have three big boxes of it all over my house for convenience, because i never know where/when i might need it next!
i find that borax also works really well to remove stains and odors. in addition to putting 1/4 cup in with a load of soiled laundry, i also made a solution of borax and water that i use to clean up kitchen counters.
to get grime off of my stove burners and lime scale off of my water tray on the fridge, i fill the sink with hot water, add a squirt of all-natural castille soap, and about a cup of white vinegar. it really does the trick.
to clean out my disposal, i throw half a lemon into it and run it until the lemon is ground, then follow by pouring white vinegar down the sink. it smells great and gets all the funk out of there.
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I frequently clean with baking soda. It is a great trick I learned from my mom.
My boyfriend spent several minutes trying to scrub a red stain (jello I think) from our plastic laminate counter top. He gave up and declared we had to use cutting boards to cover our counter tops whenever dealing with colored food. LOL
The next day I sprinkled some baking soda and scrubbed with a wet rag. The red stain came up in seconds!
I also use baking soda to clean my bath tub. It removes the gross scum quickly and doesn't have a smell!
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