My home is my castle and sanctuary. I like to treat it as such. Spring cleaning is my way to care for and give respect to the home that takes care of me. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, and I want to nurture it as well as I can. I’m careful about what I put into and on my own body. I try to use the same level of conscientiousness while cleaning my home. Being “green” is just an added benefit, and one I’ll take every time.

There are many “green” cleaning products on the market, but they’re so easy to make yourself. I’ll spend the extra couple minutes and a few household ingredients to mix them up myself. There are really only a few simple things that I keep in my cleaning closet: white vinegar, washing soda, baking soda, borax, natural peppermint soap, a few spray bottles, sponges, rags and brushes. Some people like to add essential oils to their cleaners, but I’m not much of a fan of most fragrances.

One of the best things about using these natural cleaners is that I don’t have to worry about kids or pets (check out 8 green pet care tips) getting sick if they get into them. My childhood nemesis, Mr. Yuck, does not live in my house.

Vinegar is probably the one thing that I use the most for cleaning around the house. It even has antimicrobial properties. I usually dilute it with water, from as little as a half cup of vinegar per gallon of water, to straight vinegar. The ratio depends on what I’m cleaning. If you’re less tolerant of the odor of vinegar, you’ll probably want to dilute it more, and maybe add a few drops of your favorite essential oil. A little oil goes a long way.

For my glass top stove, I usually use a minimally diluted solution. If I have a particularly messy spill and the resultant burned-on ring, I’ll sprinkle on some baking soda, spray it with the vinegar, and then let it sit for a few minutes. I may add some liquid peppermint soap to the vinegar solution for a little extra cleaning power. I’ll use the same general solution for tile floors, counter tops and bathroom surfaces. For mopping, I use a more diluted vinegar solution.

If you have a yard or container garden struggling with weeds, don’t dump your vinegar cleaners down the drain. Vinegar is also an excellent weed killer. I pour it directly on the offending plant, and it starts to wither in a couple days. For particularly hearty weeds, or if it rained, I reapply once a day until I see the weed start to die. Be careful though, vinegar is not discriminatory. It will kill any plants it gets on.

Not only my house gets a good cleaning in the spring. It’s the time of year that my family starts to really get outside and get dirty. Running, hiking, soccer and gardening all take their tolls on my families clothes. Using the same short list of ingredients, I sometimes make my own laundry soap as well. For this, I add either plain white bar soap or fels naptha soap. Either will work. The soap must be shredded, so you may want to buy powdered soap instead. Make sure it has no added chemicals or detergents. My recipe is equal parts borax, washing soda and shredded soap mixed together. If you like, you can add a few drops of essential oil. I use the same scoop from commercial laundry detergent to portion my homemade laundry soap. (Please view this article for more ideas about sustainable laundry practices)

When I don’t make my own laundry soap (or for those who prefer commercial brands), I add half a cup of borax and/or washing soda to a load of laundry. It increases the cleaning power of laundry detergent. Borax can also be used to keep fleas, mites, roaches, ants, bed bugs, mice and other pests away. I sometimes use it on stubborn pots and pans as well. Mixing 2 tablespoons borax and 2 cups of water can also be an alternative cleaner for those who don’t like the smell of vinegar.

The possibilities are nearly endless. I still experiment with other mixtures. Happy cleaning!

No related posts.

Mechanical filtration systems will a great deal. To be a lot more ‘clean’, the water would need to be steam distilled which I think removes a lot of other molecules. (By the way, 100% pure ‘water’ is very hard to come by, and most folks are probably used to some minerals in their water, which makes can give the water a good taste) I’ve tried the water from steam distilled filters in people’s homes and it was very good, but took a long time to get any water. And the water was hot. It would be great for tea!

So in general, I usually drink good tasting tap water, bottled water, or filtered water.  Every once in a while I’ll eat some snow or boil some shady water.  Like a lot of folks I’ve tried the Pur and Brita filters, which work well. My favorite would be the New Wave Enviro Premium 10 Stage Water Filter System. I also have been using the Culligan Wall-Mount Showerhead which also helps. Both have helped a lot, though you gotta remember to change the filter on time. If you own a house, you could install a filter for the whole house.

New Wave filter

The New Wave filter is great because it’s a 10-stage filter which filters a lot of stuff.  But it costs about 90 bucks and it needs to be installed.  The installation process takes about 5 minutes.  You unscrew the cap from the spout of your sink and re-screw it with the New Wave attachment.  The filtered water comes out of its own spout that sits next to the original faucet.  The best thing about the New Wave is that gives you a lot more clearance underneath the spout than the Brita and Pur faucet filters.

Pitcher filters

The Pur and Brita filters you put in the fridge are cool. I like them. But at some point they probably get dirty and I’ve seen a lot of dirty examples. If you commit to cleanliness, they are easy to clean. You won’t get the super filtering like that New Wave, but they are more portable so you could have them at the office.

Shower filter

The Culligan Wall-Mount Showerhead may help if you leave the shower with extra dry skin, or itchiness. There could be a lot of reasons but adding the Culligan helped me get a better feeling shower.  And I like the water pattern that comes out of the showerhead.

Portable filters

In terms of camping and traveling, filtration may be even more important. I don’t much experience with portable filters but I do boil my water or buy the local bottled water or Coca-Cola if I’m in a lurch. Or you can drink coconut water and watermelons. There’s some cool filtration options. I want to get a UV purification system, which doesn’t filter but does kill bateria and other micro-critters.

Bottled water

If you do use bottled water, you can try out a delivery service so you can get the 5 or 10 gallons bottles at your house. Using a glass container will improve the purity of your water as well.  If you get plastic bottles make sure you get the BP-free bottles.

Related posts:

1. Air Filters and the Problems of Indoor Dust

I just bought the 16 ounce bottle of Authentic Black Soap Tangerine Citrus 16oz. I am very happy with it so far! It cleaned the salad oil stain out of a car seat (with vigorous scrubbing), cleans dishes (that aren’t super dirty), can be used as shampoo and body wash, hand wash. It’s a bit pricy but I would say it’s very high quality and it smells great. There are some other scents it comes in, though I can’t comment on those at the moment. It reminds me of Doctor Bronner’s because it’s so multipurpose, though I probably wouldn’t brush my teeth with it!!

Here’s the ingredient breakdown:

• African Mint extract – Aqueous (Ocimum canum)
• African Black Soap (Saponified Shea Butter) and Palm Kernel Oil
• Lauryl Glucoside
• Tangerine Essential Oil
• Orange Essential Oil
• Lemongrass Essential Oil
• Litsea Essential Oil

According to the GoodGuide, Lauryl Glucoside is safe.

According to the bottle, Black Soap is made by mixing ashes with shea butter oil and West African palm oil and cooking them for hours. Then, the soap cures in the sun for weeks.  This curing process make the soap mild and gentle.  In Togo, it’s an all-in-one soap used for faces and babies, shaving, shampooing, and as a hand and body wash.  Also, the bottle says it’s good as a general cleaner, which I can partially verify with the car seat, some sweaty clothes and a few clean handwashed dishes.

I don’t know much about Black Soap but think it’s a pretty good option.  It’s not labeled organic but seems high quality.

Alaffia was founded with the moral objective of alleviating poverty in West Africa.  They use fair trade Shea Butter and allocate 10% of sales to community projects.

Please note that we are an affiliate of Amazon, and would receive a percentage of the sale of the Alaffia Black Soap discussed above.

Related posts:

1. All Natural Cleaning Products – Soap Nuts Reviewed
2. Simple Green Cleaning Products #3 – Castile Soap

You don’t even need to be that concerned about the future of the planet (though why on earth wouldn’t you be?) either.  Much that is ‘green’ is also frugal and healthy.  Avoiding exposure to harmful chemicals is just as important for you, your kids and pets, as it is for the micro-organisms residing in our water-ways.

Personally I don’t really think it matters what your motivations are, so long as you do something to rely less heavily on bleaches and harmful disinfectants that do nobody any good at all.  Yes your toilet bowl might shine so bright you feel satisfied you are doing your job of keeping house and home spic and span.  But at what cost?

Re-evaluating your routines, and changing just one thing a month, to something a little more environmentally friendly will do you the world of good, as the one responsible for keeping the home clean too.  You don’t really want to be breathing in all those toxic fumes do you?

By looking for traditional ways to tackle the chores you can avoid both dangerous products, and also expensive ones too.  There are so many cheap cleaning options; from baking soda to scrub the bath tub, to white vinegar to disinfect your counter tops.  You don’t have to pay much for the greenest cleaners, and you don’t have to have a closet full of bottles you would rather your children didn’t get hold of.

And don’t think your new flower scented, organic product with its pretty green bottle is necessarily the best option either.  Think more basic than that.  You need to aim for:

• Non toxic cleaners
• No chlorine bleach
• Concentrated cleaners
• Recyclable packaging
• Readily bio-degradable ingredients
• Safe to use – and that means often choosing items designed to be used in the work-place, since they must pass far more stringent health and safety requirements as far as user exposure is concerned

More basic things to consider are:

• Using less water to rinse those products away
• Avoiding irritants (even natural ones) such as citrus oils
• What cloths / sponges etc are you using – can they be recycled or re-used?
• How sterile does your home really need to be?  There is far too much emphasis on doing away with every bacteria or germ in the home.  In some cases this is a must, but most of us live far more healthy allergy free lives if we come into some contact with these naturally occurring organisms.

Enjoy your clean home but not to the expense of your health (or indeed the planets), and make at least one change today towards more Environmentally aware green cleaning.

No related posts.

The types of dust that could be in your house vary a great deal. Here is a short list; lint from clothes, paper products, home insulation, pets, vacuum cleaners, upholstery, concrete and more. One way to get an idea about the dust in your home is to test it yourself. This can be as simple as using a piece of clear tape to take a sample of the dust you see in your house. Using an inexpensive magnifying glass you will be able to see the differences in the type of dust on your sample.

Alternatively, you could hire a professional to take samples and analyze them for you. This is certainly a situation to check the reputation and experience of the professional before you commit to hiring them. What is gained from dealing with an untrustworthy person or company?

If I was considering a professional, I would certainly do some testing myself to have a way to “keep them honest” if you will. It never hurts to demonstrate that you have some understanding of any situation when you are dealing with other people.

Another “do it yourself” option is to step up the quality of the air filter in your HVAC system. A HEPA filter would be one type to consider especially if someone in your home is having allergy type symptoms. Trying such a filter for 2 or 3 months may provide some noticeable relief. That would help to determine if you have a problem with the air quality or dust in your home. Depending on your circumstances more actions may be recommended or, the permanent use of a HEPA filter could suffice.

Related posts:

1. Clean Water