Cleaning Naturally

by Called on Jan 28, 2008 with 11 Comments

Scrub for less without the risk. Clean with these four safe and natural cleaners.

Chemical cleaners can kill you!

Of course, everybody already knows that. That’s why we put them up high, lock them in cupboards, and still worry about the kids getting into them. In 2006, more than 200,000 calls were made to poison control due to chemical household cleaners. More than 120,000 of these calls were for children under the age of 5 (AAPCC Annual Reports, 2006.) Poison control also receives hundreds of thousands of calls concerning poisoned pets every year. Not to mention the potential health risks associated with the residues left behind by these chemicals.

Baking Soda, Vinegar, Salt, and Lemon

Eliminate the risks by switching to natural cleaners. No, I’m not talking about the commercial “natural” cleaners that cost you 40 bucks a bottle. I’m talking about the natural cleaners you have sitting in your kitchen cupboards right now; the ones that cost pennies on the dollar compared with the household cleaners you’re used to buying; the ones that are found in your cupcakes and salads. Yep, there’re baking soda, vinegar, salt, and lemon. The worst your kids are going to experience from ingesting these products is a bad taste in the mouth.

The best part about these natural cleaners is that they can all be used for a wide variety of cleaning projects. This cuts down the amount of time you spend cleaning because you don’t have to keep switching cleaners every time you move to a different cleaning project.

  • Baking Soda: Odor absorber, abrasive cleaner, all purpose cleaner
  • Vinegar: Odor-causing bacteria killer, hard-water stain and mineral deposit remover, all purpose cleaner
  • Salt: abrasive cleaner, all-purpose cleaner
  • Lemon & Lemon Juice: Odor control, furniture polish, natural color-safe bleach
    Remove Odors

Baking Soda:

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 Sprinkle in the bottom of garbage cans and in shoes. Sprinkle on smelly carpet stains, wait at least 30 minutes, then vacuum. Put in a cloth bag or dish and place in fridge, freezer, or other areas in need of odor control (like stinky shoes.) After 3 months use this baking soda for cleaning.

Vinegar:

 Spray on carpet after smelly messes. Also, put some in a dish and place in a room where odor control is needed, or boil 1 tablespoon in a pan of water.

Lemon:

 Boil with water to freshen air. Grind a lemon peel in the garbage disposal to eliminate odors.

All-purpose Cleaning, Scrubbing, and Stain Removal

Baking Soda: Dissolve ¼ cup in 1 quart water to use as an all-purpose cleaner. As an abrasive, it removes silver pan marks from the kitchen sink, black marks from the linoleum, and the ring around the tub. Just sprinkle a little on a damp sponge and scrub.

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  1. Amy | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply

    Actually kids can get very sick from ingesting vinegar, salt or baking soda. And they are chemicals.
    Sometimes the key is in the amount or concentration of the substance. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that just because something is natural, it’s safe. Arsenic and cyanide are natural too.

  2. Natural cleaner | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply

    A trap? Granted, some people are probably dumb enough to think that anything “natural” must be 100% safe but I don’t think the author was remotely implying that you should give kids any household cleaners to eat and drink. Rather, they are pointing out that there are safer alternatives that are dirt cheap. That’s great for a number of reasons — like if you have a cat like mine that likes to lick random surfaces, or if you have do have a kid that puts things in their mouth.

    If it came down to it, I’d rather drink vinegar than 409 any day.

    And remember, even water can kill, but all in all it’s a pretty safe chemical, too. It does say something that those ingredients are regularly found in food.

    But yeah… kind of dumb to say “chemical cleaners can kill you” when those natural ingredients are chemicals, too. (And that’s not even getting into what it means for something to be “natural”.)

  3. ET Barton | Feb 19, 2008 | Reply

    This article is fabulous. I love that you listed so many different ways to use these products.

  4. Amy's Is Stupid (Yes I'm That Immature :) ) | Feb 19, 2008 | Reply

    OK, I think its safe to assume that by chemicals we mean man-made chemicals in cleaners that CAN kill us.

    And what circumstances would you be cleaning your house in, if your kids ingested so much of the suggested chemicals that they actually died from ingesting vinegar, salt, or baking soda?

    I think one word summarizes how I feel about Amy’s comment;

    Ugh D’uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

  5. Jie T. Elins | Feb 19, 2008 | Reply

    Good point, Amy. Baking soda is especially dangerous since it can react to the stomach’s contents and cause serious problems. Perhaps I should have included that information in the article. I wrote what I did on the assumtion that a child would never ingest enough of these substances to make them sick, since they don’t taste very good, whereas even one swallow of many chemical cleaners can cause life-threatening problems. I use the word “chemical” in the same sense that the poison control center uses it: meaning standard household cleaners.

    Thanks for taking time to read the article everyone. I really think that we would be better off if we depended mainly on natural sustances when possible and I hope I have helped those of you who are searching for a more natural life.

  6. Krystal | Jun 25, 2008 | Reply

    Jie, yes, it’s been many months since you last wrote this, but I have really really stinky feet, I can’t help part of it, it’s genetic, but I can so something about my shoes. I just don’t know what to do, I’ve washed them and frozen them and that doesn’t seem to help. They are velvet as well, so I was wondering if you have any solutions to my problem. I just don’t want to fade the color with lemon or stink them up more with vinegar.

    And thank you for all the other great “recipes” to naturally clean the house

  7. KK | Jul 22, 2008 | Reply

    Krystal, try soaking your feet in tea. Here is a link http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00171&return_link=0

  8. Holly | Mar 12, 2009 | Reply

    Great article!

    “1 recycled jar with holes punched in the lid filled with baking soda”

    I’ve found that an empty parmesan cheese container works perfectly for this.

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    kcl
    Oil Drilling Chemicals

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