The Frugal but Green Way to Clean any House
The most common staples in cleaning a home are:baking soda, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, flannel or 400+ thread count old cotton sheets, tee-shirt rags, lemon juice, tea tree oil, and Dr. Bronner’s.
Cleaning surfaces in the bathroom and kitchen: get a largish spray bottle (check the gardening section of major stores) and fill with clean water, a few drops of Dr. Bronner’s, and a drop of tea tree oil. Spray down countertops, fridge, range, washer and dryer… whatever you like to clean. You can use cut-up tee-shirts for the wipe down.
Scrubbing surfaces: make up a paste of baking soda and water; it will separate quickly so keep a small spoon in the bowl or jar you are using. Spread onto the surface, bathtubs and sinks are the typical targets, and use elbow grease to scrub. You can use a scouring pad or brush but a wad of tee-shirt rags work for me. The real trick of using baking soda for scouring is rinsing – rinse well! Get a big bucket of water or large jar to rinse. You may want to go back over the surface with the spray bottle.
Denastying the toilet bowl: first, get everyone in the house to use the facility before you even attempt because there is a waiting period. Take about 1 cup of baking soda and dump into the toilet and follow up with about 2 cups of white vinegar (must be vinegar and not a lemon juice sub here). It will fizz up all crazy like the old Pop Rocks candy. With gloved hands, take your scrub brush or wad of rags and swirl and wipe down the bowl. The baking soda and vinegar will pull off most of the gross but the swirling is necessary. At this time, use your spray bottle to wipe down both sides of the seat and the rims. Put down seat and lid and tackle the rest of the toilet with spray bottle and spots of baking soda paste if needed. Now flush! Now take about 1 cup lemon juice or vinegar and pour into the bowl – leave for at least an hour before flushing.
Sweeping floors: Hard wood floors love Swiffers but you don’t have to buy those throw-away cloths. Instead, try flannel shirts bought at the thrift stores and cut them into rectangles that fit on the Swiffer broom. You can also use old bed sheets if they are the super-soft high thread count ones; these often end up in thrift stores because fitted sheets wear out quickly. The cloth picks up pet hair and dust as well as the Swiffer cloths and then you can throw them into the wash.
Mopping floors: this sounds laborious but it’s not too bad and takes about as much time as any method of mopping. There are two methods depending on the floor. For the tile in kitchen and bathroom, get a small bucket of warm water mixed with lemon juice, tea tree oil and a few drops of Dr. Bronner’s. Use the rough wash rags found at any dollar or thrift store to wipe down and/or scrub the floors while sitting on yout tush, scooting back as you clean the area. For hard wood floors, prepare the Swiffer as you would for sweeping but get your trusty spray bottle out BUT omit the Dr. Bronner’s, as it can leave build-up after a while. Spray and Swiffer, so on and so forth.
Dusting: Use the flannel or cut up cotton sheets; the tee-shirts don’t work so well. For dusting electronics, especially computer keyboards, use a blow dryer to blow the dust off and then go over and between the keys with Q-tips dipped in rubbing alcohol. If you have micro-fiber suede furniture that is common today get a Wool-Aid lint remover mitt; it takes off all dust and pet hair.
Laundry: use less detergent! Natural powders like those made by Ecover allow you can use next to none and get an entire load of laundry clean. Don’t use laundry boosters, instead use baking soda, especially in white loads. Usually one can avoid the dryer but if not, use generic dryer sheets at least five times before tossing them. Cleaning rags should be washed in one load of very hot water, detergent, baking soda and a little rag with a dab with tea tree oil.
Dishes: Scour pots with baking soda paste followed by a vinegar and water rinse for the fizz and then rinse completely when nastiness is gone. If you do dishes by hands, the only dish soap this author has found that is powerful, natural and less expensive than its competitors is Ultra Dishmate. Use rags to scour.
Cat box: Many people do not use clumping litter because of possible health risks for our cats so this cohort must change litter often. However, scooping feces daily and shaking in some baking soda makes all of our noses happier – no need for expensive liners with holes or cat box deodorizer.
Using environmentally sound cleaning products to sweep your home free of toxins, allergens and general dust and dander does not need to cost you upwards of your rent or mortgage. With a few minutes in the kitchen preparing the products, you can have your clean floor and have enough money left over to eat organic cake off of it too!
