Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tips and Best Practices

There are a million ways to clean everything in your home. The market literally offers countless cleaning solutions and specialised products, suitable for all types of surfaces. Not all of them, however, are proper and good for you. Simply because it is a cleaning product, doesn’t mean that it’s cleaning abilities cannot cause problems. Whether you were aware of that or not, modern cleaning products are filled with chemicals that, even if we don’t use, somehow end up in our homes and can easily harm us.

Where to find eco-friendly cleaning products?

Lately, however, the market chooses eco-friendly options and offers them worldwide. People are beginning to be more conscious about what they purchase and how they use it. Eventually, we learn, step by step, how better it is, to actually use environmentally friendly products, including for cleaning.

Although nature-friendly cleaning products are everywhere by now, there is a good chance you already have them at home. Here are some cleaning elements, that either combined, or not, are more than helpful and useful house cleaning tips on how to fight dirty home surfaces!

Vinegar is sometimes exactly the flavour you want to taste with your meal, but in other cases, it’s the best cleaning tool out there. It is known for its disinfecting powers, it cleans dirt, it fights mould and mildew and it is a great window cleaner. Mixed in a spray bottle with equal part water, it can be the perfect multi-purpose cleaner. Adding some drops of essential oil even dulls vinegars’ harsh smell.

Apart from being great for your health, lemon, precisely – lemon juice, can be even better for your home surfaces as well. Its acidity makes it strong against grease and grime and can easily help you clean perfectly your kitchen appliances. You can use it instead of vinegar if you don’t like the smell and it will be just as effective and efficient.

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is definitely a part of your cooking ingredients, especially if you love baking sweet temptations every now and then. Its use in cleaning, however, is also a good way to get rid of grease and deodorise surfaces. Using it for your mattress and carpets will help you clean thoroughly and say goodbye to the unpleasant smells that might be locked in there. Added to lemon juice or vinegar, baking soda is a great cleaner for toilet, shower areas, kitchen surfaces and many other things you need to deep clean.

Essential oils have many benefits and useful properties. They are widely used in cosmetics, but may be the one thing missing from your homemade cleaner. Adding a few drops of any essential oil (pine, olive, lavender, rosemary, tea tree, etc.) will definitely make your cleaner’s scent more pleasant and will add a nice refreshing finish to your perfectly cleaned surfaces. Some essential oils are also known for their antibacterial, polishing, calming and antiseptic powers, so you will definitely not get hurt if you use them for cleaning.

Castile soap is a great substitute for ordinary soaps. It is a great multi-purpose cleaning ingredient and it works best when used in homemade dish soaps, laundry detergents, dishwasher soap, all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner and tub scrub. It is also beneficial to your body – hair, skin, teeth, face, feet, etc.

Washing soda (sodium carbonate) – is similar to baking soda and it can be made from it. Sodium carbonate works great as a stain remover and fits perfectly in your homemade laundry detergent. It can be also used as a caustic cleaner.

Remember

You probably have, if not every, many of these ingredients at home and can successfully use them in the cleaning routines you have. But the market offers great eco-friendly cleaning products, which you can safely choose and try on. Remember to carefully read the labels, before you purchase anything and look for key words. Ammonia, sodium hydroxide, triclosan, chlorine, phthalates and many other chemicals are often found in cleaning products on the market. Those have sometimes extremely negative effect on you and your health, so you should make sure they are not a part of any cleaner’s content as said by this site for tenancy cleaning.

From our hearts straight into your homes!

Here are some nature-friendly tips not only for cleaning, but for other problems that might occur in your household:

For polishing wood, olive essential oil gives amazing results. For fixing scratches and little holes in wooden furniture – use walnuts.

Having some troubles with paint odours? Make sure to place little dishes with some vinegar in the corners of the room and it will absorb the unpleasant odours.

Polishing brass and copper items can be easily done with a mixture of salt and vinegar. For silver – use ketchup and for stainless steel – white vinegar and olive oil.

Cleaning hairs, oils and food from drains can be easily done if you pour boiling water right in there. Also, you can use equal parts of baking soda and vinegar and pour them in this order down the drain. If possible cover the drain and let the foaming mixture do its work.

Any unpleasant odours at home? While opening a window is one old-fashioned, but still great working method, baking soda and vinegar come to save the room here as well. But you can always add some flowers or light a scented candle!

Clean wisely, but store with greater attention

The most important thing, however, is to remember that if you choose any of these ingredients for your homemade cleaning solutions, you should still remember that they are for cleaning. They can still cause some damage to you, your children and pets, so they should be stored properly and not that easily accessible. You wouldn’t like it if your kid finds your multi-purpose cleaner and ends up drinking a good amount of vinegar, right? In big quantities, everything can have a negative effect, but while used wisely, you wouldn’t be having any problems with these natural cleaning solutions!