Cleaning Your Home Naturally and Safely With Vinegar and Bicarb

There is no need to use such dangerous products to clean our homes. You can clean, polish and disinfectant your home and belongings with a few common pantry items, some micro-fibre cloths, water, a scrubbing brush and a decent vacuum cleaner.

Two of the most affordable and versatile products would have to be good old-fashioned bi-carbonate soda (baking soda) and white vinegar. There is not too much that vinegar and bicarb can’t do!

Ways To Clean Using White Vinegar

Use 1/2 a cup of white vinegar in a couple liters of hot water to mop your floors.

Clean windows and mirror with a mix of equal parts vinegar and hot water.

Clean your kitchen drains by pouring a cup of straight vinegar down them and let it sit for 30 mins.

Clean your fridge and bench tops with equal parts vinegar and water. Mix up in a handy spray bottle so you always have it on hand.

Shine up glassware by washing in some vinegar and hot water, rinse well and then buff dry.

Remove mould from your bath and shower by applying straight vinegar, let it sit then scrub grouting with a stiff cleaning brush- even an old toothbrush will do.

Add a cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle of your washing machine to get clothes free of soap residue and to deodorize.

Use a cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle when you first wash new clothes to help reduce the amount of chemical exposure to formaldehyde used to fix the dye colours in clothing.

Polish stainless steel.

Clean spilled food off your stove top with vinegar.

Disinfect and deodorize toilets and sinks.

The list is endless-see these great tips below for more uses for vinegar and also how it works as a disinfectant.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vinegar-kills-bacteria-mold-germs.html#

http://www.versatilevinegar.org/usesandtips.html

Cleaning Around The Home With Bicarb

Bicarb is another cheap, safe and natural, yet very effective cleaning agent. Bicarb can also be combined with vinegar to form a powerful cleaner.

Bicarb makes a great scrubbing paste, deodorizer, degreaser and mold remover.

For stubborn mold and mildew in the bathroom , combine bicarb and vinegar into a paste and while it is bubbling away, scrub!

To deodorize and clean carpets , sprinkle liberally with bicarb let it sit for awhile then vacuum up.

When made into a paste with water, bicarb is great for cleaning in the same way as you would with any cream cleanser.

Soak stained clothes in a strong solution of bicarb and hot water overnight before washing.

Sprinkle smelly shoes with bicarb to neutralize odours.

Remove crayon from walls and blackboards with a damp cloth and bicarb.

Soak burnt or caked on bake-ware, pots and pans with a strong solution of bicarb and hot water, leave for at least an hour before scrubbing clean.

Clean your oven when it is still quite warm, with a thick paste of bicarb, leave it for an hour, then wipe off old burnt food and follow by rinsing it off with clean water and then polish the over door and metal with vinegar, hot water and a soft cloth or tea-towel, for a sparkling new oven.

Soak nappies is a solution of bicarb and water to remove stains, mold, then wash in hot water and hang outside to dry http://www.bakingsodabook.co.uk/baking_soda_cleaning_tips.shtml

A good microfiber cloth is all you need to dust and polish mirrors and furniture with. To get rid of dry dirt and dust nothing beats a good once over with the vacuum cleaner.

More Tips On Natural Cleaning

If you really miss the perfumed smells of an artificial cleaner, you can sprinkle a couple of drops of pure essential oil and add to your vinegar or bicarb cleaner.

Another great all natural cleaner is Eucalyptus Oil and I have an entire article on, it read Cleaning Tips using Eucalyptus and Clove Essential Oil.

Also salt is a great natural cleaner see my article – Healthy Uses For Salt & Cleaning With Salt as are eco-friendly, 100%,natural Soapnuts -see The Natural Cleaning Power Of Soapnuts

If You Buy Natural Cleaning Product Please Be Sure They Are Accredited Cruelty Free

You can also purchase some fantastic ready made ‘all natural’, safe and cruelty free cleaners, disinfectants and washing detergents.

For a list of certified cruelty free cleaners go to the Cruelty Free List by Choose Cruelty Free ,or the Leaping Bunny List if in the USA/UK/Europe, provided they are not owned by a parent company that are not certified cruelty free e.g Body Shop is owned by L’Oreal, as we will not list such companies on the basis that the parent company receives the profits.

Please remember, you can not trust that a company may write on their products, or advertise that they are cruelty free, as any company can use clever loopholes to claim this, when in-fact they are still animal testing.

See more in my articles
Cruelty Free Cosmetics, How To Be Sure Your Cosmetics Truly Are Not Being Tested On Animals and Animal Testing do your part to stop it.