Organic Living and Lifestyle Blog

Cleaning Green? Don’t Forget Your Tools

Maybe it’s because we’re coming into the holiday season but I’m focussing on cleaning on that moment.

Here are some handy hints.

Yours in health,

Kerri 

Most websites encouraging people to clean green at home focus on eco-friendly cleaners. These cleaners fall into two categories: homemade natural cleaners, and eco-friendly commercial cleaners. Websites encouraging eco-friendly and frugal cleaners will focus on the homemade natural cleaners that we already have in the pantry. But what all these websites forget is to encourage people to keep their cleaning tools clean - using green methods!

Why is this important?

Because if you keep your cleaning tools clean, you can use them longer. That translates into less waste; you throw away your cleaning tools more slowly, filling landfills at a slower rate. You’re also buying fewer cleaning tools over time, slowing your rate of consumption of natural resources.

Simple, right? But how can you keep your cleaning tools cleaner, longer, and do it in an eco-friendly and frugal way? It’s a no-brainer: use simple baking soda and vinegar.

Although it has literally thousands of cleaning uses, some people avoid using vinegar to clean the house because of the smell. But when you’re cleaning the cleaning tools, the smell of vinegar becomes much less important.

Take, for example, your toilet bowl brushes. Once weekly, try sprinkling a generous amount of baking soda into the container housing your toilet brush (with your brush in there). Then pour in enough vinegar to bubble up over the top of the brush. The smell of vinegar is probably going to be an odor improvement, in this case! Plus, there’s a great added benefit - there’s no need to rinse your toilet brush once you clean it. You can simply continue its use; the vinegar and baking soda will loosen from the brush the next time you clean your toilet, and will do nothing but add to your efforts!

Are your rags and sponges getting stained and smelly from use? Soak them overnight in vinegar and baking soda to prolong their use and eliminate those odors. You’ll throw sponges and rags away less often if they’re still looking and smelling nice. That means, again, that you’ll be buying fewer new ones. Overconsumption isn’t solved by consuming more eco-friendly products more often - it’s solved by consuming everything more slowly.

And here’s an ecologically unfriendly cleaning tool you can avoid: scouring pads. Instead, use baking soda and vinegar to loosen stuck-on or burnt-on food in your pots and pans. An overnight soak will allow you to easily wipe off the debris with little to no scrubbing. (Yes! That’s what we want to hear!)

Think green when you’re cleaning your home, and when cleaning your tools - it’ll save you money, time, elbow grease, and natural resources.

Technorati Tags: green, tips, eco-friendly, house, cleaning, ideas, natural

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Add comment November 29th, 2007

Baking Soda for Cleaning

I have just burned food in a saucepan and I’m looking for a toxic-free solution. I could rub and scrub for ages but I figure there’s got to be a better solution and that’s when I found this info! 

Yours in health,

Kerri

Baking soda is a common, inexpensive household item that can be used for many kinds of cleaning projects. In an era when we are all exposed to many toxic chemicals, it’s nice to know that something so mild can be effective. We actually make a form of baking soda in our own saliva, where it helps keep plaque from forming!

Here are some of the uses of baking soda for cleaning:

I’ve long used baking soda and white vinegar to keep my kitchen and bathroom drains clear and fresh smelling. I just put a teaspoon or less of baking soda into the drain and then pour in about a tablespoon of vinegar. I must admit that I am the kind of cook who rarely measures anything, and the same is true for these proportions, so feel free to experiment to find what works best in your sinks. Start small, though — the combination of baking soda and vinegar causes an active fizzling and bubbling!

In fact, that bubbling process is how you can tell if the box of baking soda you’ve had around forever is still good. Just follow the directions above. Your soda is still good if it bubbles away merrily.

Speaking of drains, if your drain is clogged, you can try using a lot more baking soda. One recipe is to pour a cup of baking soda down the drain, then a cup of vinegar. Wait a few minutes, or longer, and then run the hot water tap and see if you have cleared the drain. It could take overnight.

Another well-known use of baking soda is to keep an open box in the refrigerator to neutralize odors. Because baking soda cuts smells, it can also be put in the bottom tray of an oven-type electric toaster, to reduce burnt smells. Another smell-removing cleaning tip is to put baking soda into bottles or jars that milk has left a smell in.

Baking soda is an abrasive, milder than commercial cleansers. For scrubbing out the sink, bathtub, or shower stall, for getting gunk off the outside of my toaster, and projects of that sort, I find it very useful. Using a rag or sponge, pour some baking soda onto it and then add a little water, just enough to form a paste. Then scrub! You can also mix up the paste in a small cup or bowl and then throw out what you haven’t used by the end of that cleaning session. I keep a small container of baking soda handy by the sink, in a closed jar so that the baking soda doesn’t cake. You can also use a salt shaker, as you will probably go through that much baking soda before it gets caked up.

Pots and pans that have something burned on the bottom call for sterner measures. I admit that sometimes I just reach for my rarely-used commercial cleanser, but the baking soda cleaning method is to shake baking soda all over the burned stuff and then let the pot sit overnight. You can also add a little water and baking soda to the pot, bring it to a boil, and then let it sit.

For stained marble, a paste of baking soda and white vinegar can be effective. For washing windows, put some baking soda on a wet rag or sponge.

Baking soda also has a variety of uses in keeping your body clean too. But enough! This article is about baking soda for cleaning around the house.

Technorati Tags: cleaning, chemical-free, toxin, toxic, baking soda, burned, burnt, pan

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Add comment November 28th, 2007

Clean Your Kitchen Range Without Heavy Chemicals

One way to help remove grease as well as sanitize your range is with the use of vinegar in a spray bottle. Mix 1 part water to 1 part white distilled vinegar and spray the range top. Let sit for about ten minutes then wipe down with a cotton cloth (a knobby cloth works better - the texture also helps scrub away food particles). You can also add a few drops of any liquid soap to the spray bottle for increased grease-cutting. It’s usually easiest, and faster, to pull the knobs off, spray, then wipe and replace the knobs than to carefully try to clean around the knobs.

Another natural sanitizer is tea tree oil, which can be purchased from most health food stores. Use a few drops in a bottle with water, spray the range, and then let sit. Be aware that tea tree oil has a strong odor (similar to turpentine) that may be unpleasant for some people. There is also some recent research that tea tee oil may cause undesirable hormonal changes in boys, so it might be best to avoid this natural product if there are children in the house.

For stuck-on food particles, a little baking soda works well as an abrasive. Be gentle when scrubbing - although most stovetops can take an abrasive cleaner without scratching the enamel, some can’t - so it’s good to make sure the enamel will not be affected. It helps to allow the vinegar solution to soak for a few minutes before beginning to scrub. Cleaning the drip trays can be very challenging if food has been repeatedly exposed to heat and has burnt. One method is to remove the drip trays, soak in the sink with vinegar and water, then scrub. As a last resort, drip trays can be cleaned with an oven cleaner (following the directions on the oven cleaner just as for the oven) - although many people prefer to simply replace the drip pans rather than use oven cleaner.

Prevention goes a long way towards keeping the range clean. You can buy replaceable drip pan liners or line them yourself with aluminum foil. Use splatter guards when cooking (these mesh-like covers allow air and circulation while cooking but prevent grease and food particles from becoming air born). Kerri - they stop YOU getting burnt too!

If you have a stainless steel, stovetop fingerprints are often a challenge. Rubbing the range frequently with a very small amount of coconut oil will help. Other oils have a lower smoking point and if you accidently get them on the burners will cause smoking when you use the burner.

Technorati Tags: cleaning, kitchen, range, toxins, chemicals, health, natural, tips, challenge

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Add comment November 26th, 2007