Green cleaning recipes?

Question

Does anyone know some good recipes for cleaning with? (for example, it might have salt or baking soda or vinegar in it)

Answer 1

Hot water & vinegar is great for cleaning windows and glass.

Lemon juice mixed with bicarb is a great all round cleaner and deodoriser - good for kitchens, bathrooms, anything.  It's slightly abrasive and especially brings up showers, toilets, etc nice and sparkly.  Works absolute wonders on mould!

Eucalyptus oil is very versatile - especially if you've got kids!  On carpet or clothes put it neat on things like ink stains, lipstick, anything that looks sticky or impossible to get out.  Just be careful with the kind of cloth you use and test first on carpet - it can sometimes strip the dye right out if you leave it for too long!!  Just put it on and rub with a damp cloth.  Will also get permanent marker off walls and furniture.  Gently dab on and you'll see the marks dissolve before your eyes - then wipe off well.  Also put a few capfuls in the washing machine with your woollens - they'll come out so fresh and soft and fluffy.

Metho is pretty handy too - although smelly.  But it'll bring up stainless steel, cutlery, etc nicely.

Salt can be a good abrasive - but it's pretty harsh due to the shape of the crystals - much better to use bicarb soda.

Bicarb is a great deodoriser as well.  e.g. if one of the kids is sick in the bed, just clean up the bulk and then smother with bicarb - leave it sit a little while and then vacuum up.

And let's not forget elbow grease!  Often that's all you need!

Hope this has given you a few ideas.

Answer 2

hydrogen peroxide and water, 1/2 and 1/2.  Pretty good cleaner and decent bleacher/whitener.  You can get a bottle of peroxide at the dollar store......

Baking soda and salt is a good wall scrub (bathroom), and in a desperate pinch, a good toothpaste (really!).

Answer 3

My favorite green cleaning supplies include baking soda, white vinegar, and borax.  With baking soda and vinegar I can clean a drain, freshen a drain, and scrub filth off almost anything!  With vinegar, some water and a drop of dishwashing liquid, I can clean windows, counters, floors and baseboards.  With baking soda with a bit of water, I can clean my SS sink, scrub soap scum off the tub without scratching, freshen  and soften laundry and extend my soap and make it work better, I can deodorize a carpet, make my pool sparkle and help soften the pool water and make my chemicals in the pool last longer and use less of them.  With borax and some water, I can clean SS sinks, use it as a spot remover, a fabric freshener, a stain remover, and a laundry brightener.  Vinegar can be used with some water and nuked in the microwave for 5 minutes to loosen spatter messes and odors and then simply wiped down and now it smells all fresh!  A bowl set in an oven overnight will help loosen baked on messes so that you don't HAVE to use those nasty oven cleaners, and if you add it in when you have finished baking something and just let the warm of the oven keep it and leave it overnight, it works EVEN BETTER!.  There are lots of Green Cleaners out there now, but honestly, why buy them when for pennies, you probably already have them in your kitchen anyways?  I have stopped buying lots of cleaners I used to get, as I realize how much money I save, how my lungs feel better using simple products that do the same thing as those expensive and caustic ones do, if I am a bit patient, and how nice the house smells, simple and clean, instead of all perfumey and chemically.   I don't have to worry about the kids using it either, or that they can have their health compromised by my cleaning.  And honestly, saving the money right now doesn't hurt either!  Hope this helps you!  Good luck!