I can still breathe! Natural alternatives for Cleaning...

So in light of listing our house and waiting...and waiting for it to sell, I thought I might do a quick post on natural cleaning. Getting this house ready to sell I think we must have used so many awful chemicals although it did turn out to be sparkling. However, being that I must indeed keep it that way, I wanted to start cleaning with a more natural, gentler, yet still effective routine. I think I may have found the perfect recipe.

Two things that you must keep in mind when cleaning, dirt is dirt is dirt. You don't need eight different cleaners for the kitchen. Second, keep in mind the contents. Companies spend millions upon millions of dollars marketing a cleaning product for every room and appliance in your home. From dancing bubbles to air fresheners made of toxic fragrance. C'mon, really, when they are spending that much on advertising, they need their products to be cheap, mass produced petroleum-based toxic detergents that get in the air and therefore in your body. This can lead to anything from breathing problems to cancer. Tonight Gabby and I went through our sink cabinet and tossed anything old, toxic, nearly empty or just plain gross. I was left with several products that cleaned, and well, but at what risk. So I decided to keep those couple for a month to see if I really needed to use them again and then they are gone for good. In the last week, I haven't needed any of them for my cleaning.

I also made a natural cleaning basket for all my non-toxic cleaners that I have been using to clean our home. You might need to clean a little more often with a tad more elbow grease, but the house looks just as good cleaning with these ingredients. My baskets consists of the following items:

Baking soda, there is just not enough words to describe my obsession with this stuff. I buy it at Dollar General for cheap, cheap, cheap and use it for nearly everything from facial exfoliation, sodium bicarbonate baths for my psoriasis to teeth whitening and laundry and of course cleaning. It is fabulous for scrubbing kitchen sinks, counters, ovens, and bathrooms. Just add to a wet sponge and go.

Alcohol, this is obviously a great disinfectant for toilet seats because I need to know those germs are wilting away because I'm obsessed. When I was in microbiology, we did an experiement to see what the best disinfectant was, we used everything from Pine Sol to iodine and everything in between. Alcohol was one of the best. I do use just a bit of bleach in Gabby's little portable potty when it gets a bath. Just a touch because its not good to breathe and I keep her out of the room.

Lemon juice, here is another fabulous natural disinfectant and cleaner, mix with water and baking soda and it can clean almost anywhere all the while smelling terrific. If you grate a little lemon and put down the drain, it makes your whole kitchen smell fantastic.

Vinegar, I use this to clean out my drains (tip from Rob's mom) mixed with boiling water, and use one part vinegar to three parts water to clean windows, toilets, but not marble. Also mix with hot water and a mop and your kitchen floor sparkles.

Olive oil mixed with lemon makes a great furniture polish. I actually have an Earth's Best furniture polish but those are basically the ingredients.

Thats it, thats all I use, and it works great so far. I made a basket and added sponges and paper towels. Get a huge bag of sponges at Dollar General for a buck and some scouring sponges and you are ready to go. Cheap, non-toxic, renewable and most of all, environmentally friendly so it is best to breathe for your children and pets.