Cleaning cupboards are easily over crowded with endless cleaning supplies If they are organic/ natural ones then you find yourself spending a fortune. If they are not then there is the strong likely hood that they are filled with harmful toxins and chemicals. I prefer to keep my cleaning supplies as simplistic and natural as possible. How do I do this? By using six ingredients that many of us already have around the house that are fairly easy to obtain that can be used to make almost any product you could want. What are these six cleaning essentials? White vinegar, baking soda, dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, olive oil and soap nuts. Soap nuts aren’t something everyone has around the house but they are easy to find online.
White Vinegar
White vinegar is amazing! It is dirt cheap, I can buy a gallon for about $2.00 at my local market. It is nontoxic and disinfectant, making it a safe cleaner for your family and the environment. It’s nice not to have to worry about the harmful chemicals. White vinegar kills 99% of the bacteria, 80% of viruses (germs) and 82 % of mold. I try to keep a gallon of it on hand at all times.
I use it to make my 3-in-1 All Purpose Cleaner, clean toilets, soften laundry, un clog drains and a fly trap. For more ideas on how to use white vinegar read Simple Cleaning Tips Series Part 1.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is a gentle yet but semi abrasive must for your cleaning supplies. I use for cleaning toilets, making a soft scrub for grout, as an odder remover. Read Simple Cleaning Tips Part 2 for more ideas.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen Peroxide is great stain remover. My top uses for it are removing spots from carpets and fresh blood stains on cloths. Replace the cap with a spray nozzle and you are good to go! Spray on stains and let sit for 5 minutes before trying to scrub or rinse them out.
Dish Soap
My favorite dish soap is BioKleen. I like that is a safe, natural soap since you spend so much time washing dishes. I use it in my 3-in-1 All Purpose Cleaner. I even use it to wash my car!
Olive Oil
When you mix two part of olive oil with one part white vinegar (or lemon juice) you have a natural wood cleaner. Add a little to a soft cloth such as flannel and polish your wood.
Soap Nuts
My progression to safe and eco-friendly detergents was a slow one. I started with All Small and Mighty Free and Clear. It was fragrance and dye free but that was about it. After a couple years I won a giveaway on Passionate Homemaking for a sample of liquid soap nuts detergent. I loved how it cleaned despite the hard cold water that I have. After the sample I had ran out I went to NutriOil’s site to buy more. The liquid was a bit expensive so I opted to buy just the soap nut themselves. I love soap nuts, the one disadvantage is that if you aren’t washing in warm water you need to soak them in warm water before washing. Then you add the soap nuts and warm liquid to the wash.
You can simmer soap nuts for an hour and use the liquid for a dish washing liquid, carpet steam cleaner and more. Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking has a post about different ways she has used them, I love her ideas!
Thanks so much for sharing this on Natural Living Mondays! I never thought to combine olive oil with vinegar as a wood cleaner. Ill have to try that on my floors! A little lemon essential oil would be perfect for that.
Great idea!