Spring cleaning with natural products can be easy
If you walk into any store, you’ll see aisles full of the latest products that claim to save you time and energy, whilst getting your home sparkling clean.
Unfortunately, many of these products contain toxic chemicals which can adversely affect your health and the environment.
Until World War II, we made do with regular kitchen ingredients to clean with, such as lemons, salt, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.
In addition, advertising will have us believe that we need a huge array of products - several for each room. A sink cleaner, separate bath cleaner, floor cleaner, limescale remover……..the list is endless
I have two main cleaning products at Chez Green. Both of them are safe if ingested and
white vinegar - safe for effective cleaning
Today I want to focus on white vinegar.
What an amazing product this is!
Your windows and mirrors will sparkle with the minimum of effort, leaving a streak-free finish.
Kettles, taps, shower heads and the toilet bowl will be free from limescale.
Smells will be deodorised naturally.
Mildew will be kept at bay if you get in the habit of spraying the tiles and shower curtain after a shower with vinegar.
get sparkling, smear-free windows with vinegar
And if that’s not enough, you can clean chopping boards with it, deter ants with it and you can add it to the rinse cycle to soften your clothes.
All you need to do is half fill a spray bottle with white vinegar, top it up with water and away you go. Use a microfibre cloth and your house will sparkle in no time.
Many people are worried about the smell, but it dissipates as it dries and doesn’t linger for too long.
If you want to learn more about household uses for vinegar, click on the books below to buy!
Vinegar by Margaret Briggs
Vinegar by Vicki Lansky
Vinegar: Over 400 Various, Versatile, and Very Good Uses You’ve Probably Never Thought Of
Vinegar by Julie Townsend
Vinegar: A Guide to the Many Types and Their Uses Around the Home
6 responses so far ↓
1 Fr. Peter Doodes // Mar 10, 2008 at 6:42 am
What a fantastic and interesting blog! Many thanks and with much admiration.
Peter.
2 Using bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to spring clean your home | Little Green Blog // Mar 11, 2008 at 10:14 am
[…] Using vinegar for a natural spring clean […]
3 Go Green with St.Patricks day | Little Green Blog // Mar 17, 2008 at 4:48 am
[…] Make an eco friendly household cleaner and use it. Just a simple white vinegar and water spray will […]
4 Mrs Green // Mar 23, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Hi Peter,
Thank you for dropping by and for your lovely comment. There are so many good blogs out there sharing lots of information and experience. It’s one of the great things about modern life I guess
Keep up the great work with your blog as well; you have some interesting information on GM over there and I’m looking forward to spending some time reading your DIY blog too.
Namaste
Mrs G
5 Adriana // May 22, 2008 at 10:00 am
I agree with you on all the different types of cleaners to be found in a retail store..you can almost follow the smell that brings you to the aisle where these cleaners are located! But why do we believe in smell and why do we associate smell with clean?
I have been trying to find out the scoop on vinegar? I have even asked the manufacturer for claims that vinegar works on killing bacteria…still waiting! Does anyone know of any studies on vinegar and claims that when used on cutting boards especially (e.coli) it actually does kill it and decontaminate the surfaces? Humm..salad dressing anyone?
6 Mrs Green // May 31, 2008 at 5:56 am
Hi Adriana,
How is this beautiful sunny day treating you?
I haven’t figured out the smell thing yet - lots to do with advertising (we believe that washing powder and bleach smell = clean rather than the truth which is ‘toxic chemicals’ polluting our lungs and the planet!) and, if you think about it, smell is really our most primary sense. It goes very deep - you might remember an old memory, say, of your Grandmother, just by the smell of something that passes you like a rose or a woman wearing talc or a certain perfume. We pick up those smells out of thousands of others in the air. How many times can you say ‘Ahhh, that smell reminds me of……….’ it’s totally amazing when you stop to think about it!
I don’t know about any research on killing bacteria using vinegar, I guess my searches would be on acetic acid, which is the main acid found in vinegar. According to this site (http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0008.html) vinegar will kill the foot and mouth virus, but not other bacterias.
Interesting stuff, do report back if you find anything!
Mrs G x
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