One of the keys to staying healthy is to have a clean and pure environment in which we live. Think about how much time is spent in your house and then consider how many chemicals there are in that home. We use a lot of harsh, manmade chemicals to clean our home and the residue ends up inside us.
Staying healthy means that we have to look for natural solutions to cleaning up so we aren’t exposing ourselves to toxic ingredients that can cause cancer, asthma, or any number of ailments.
Luckily, there are plenty of natural ingredients that do a great job of cleaning up. In this article, we will go over several of the natural ingredients that you can use to safely clean your home.
1 – Vinegar
One of the best ingredients to use in a variety of cleaning applications is vinegar. It has so many properties to get rid of stains, mildew and so much more.
What you are trying to accomplish does depend highly on the type of vinegar you use and in what combination with other ingredients. For instance, apple cider vinegar is great for hair and skin, but not great for cleaning.
Usually, distilled white vinegar with high acidity is ideal for a variety of cleaning purposes. For instance, an all purpose cleaner for things like kitchen counter spills, hard water stains, and even cleaning your trash bins. You can make on yourself with white vinegar, lemon zest, rosemary, and water to replace your typical spray.
Cleaning glass is easy when you make a mixture of white vinegar with water, rubbing alcohol and a few drops of your favorite essential oil for scent. Use newspaper to wipe the windows and you are reusing it before throwing it away.
2 – Baking soda
Second only to vinegar in how often it can be used as a natural cleaner is baking soda. Since it causes dirt to dissolve, it is extremely effective in many applications. For instance, if you have coffee mugs with coffee and tea stains that you can’t quite get out then adding a pinch of baking soda will clean it right up in seconds.
It also absorbs smells really well so mixing it with water and using as a cleaner for your fridge will leave it smelling fresh and clean.
3 – Lemon
Lemon is very similar to vinegar in that you can clean a wide variety of things depending on what it is mixed with. If you have a lot of brass and copper fixtures or pots and pans then add some salt to lemon juice and you can polish them to their original shine.
When mixed with borax, you have a powerful scrub that can clean just about any surface. If it has some stubborn stains or anything caked on then this scrub will remove it easily. This is especially helpful for people with enamel pots or sinks made of porcelain that need to be brightened up. As long as you don’t use it on granite or marble then you are fine.
