Homemade Cleaning

Eco-friendly Cleaning Products in Your Kitchen

When I was still a young girl very long time ago, I watched my grandmother clean our bathroom and I wonder how come she is using lemon juice for cleaning? As I grew older, I thought of that as being primitive because of my exposure to the chemical based cleaning products available at the supermarkets.

Now, with all these concerns about the environment and climate change, I came to realize that I am the primitive one and not my grandmother. To save mother earth, we are going back to basics, back to natural cleaning agents or the so-called eco-friendly cleaning materials.

It is amazing that most of these eco-friendly cleaning materials can actually be found in the kitchen.  Let’s talk about our first ingredient, vinegar. Vinegar is like an all-purpose cleaner. Just by mixing ½ cup vinegar and ½ cup water in a clean spray bottle, you already have an instant cleaner for most areas in your house.  However, always keep the correct proportion or else it will be more damaging than being helpful.  If there is bad odor in your house, you can eliminate it by spraying your solution to act as deodorizer. If the bad odor is so strong, mix 1 cup of vinegar with 1 cup of water and pour it in a small casserole.  Boil the mixture with out the cover and the steam will eradicate the smell in your house.

For the kitchen, clean your countertops, stovetop, appliances, and floors with the vinegar solution.

You can use vinegar as fabric softener by adding ½ cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle instead of store bought fabric conditioner.  Use pure vinegar to clean toilet bowls and sink. The vinegar can remove stains.

The next ingredient is baking soda. It is used not just in baking but as an excellent cleaning agent as well.  For carpets, sprinkle baking soda on the carpet and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then, vacuum your carpet. To clean tub and tiles, make a smooth paste by mixing two cups of baking soda with just enough amount of water to make a paste. Coat the tile with the paste and let sit for 30 to 45 minutes. Wipe off the paste with soft cloth in circular motion. For cleaning refrigerators, ovens, countertops and tables; put amount on wet sponge and use for cleaning. Finish off with wet clean cloth.

Another ingredient is lemon juice. To remove rust on metal, mix 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with 4 tablespoons of salt. Apply on the rusted portion and rub well.  To polish furniture, mix ¼ cup olive oil and 1/8 cup lemon juice. With a soft cloth, wipe furniture until well polished. Mix 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of olive oil and with a clean rag, rub wooden furniture in circular motion.  For stubborn stain on tiles, you can directly rub the cut lemon onto the tiles then finish off with wet rag. The tile will not only be stain free buy clean smelling, too. Just like how my grandmother cleaned our bathroom when I was still a young girl.