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Posts Tagged ‘Vinegar’

When it comes to green cleaning products you obviously want a  non toxic cleaner for your home.  Some of the green cleaners are easy to make with ingredients you probably already have on hand.  Just a few basic items are all you need to clean safely and completely.  You can even make flea powder for your pets in a natural way.

Vinegar is a neutralizer.  If you want to maintain the color of your clothing, add some vinegar to the wash water to set the dye.  With the addition of some lemon juice you have a powerful acid to dissolve hard water stains, tarnish, grimey build up and dull surfaces on wood.

Washing soda is an old fashioned product found in hardware stores.  It is similar to baking soda but with a higher pH factor.  Washing soda is sodium carbonate and offers no fumes with use.  You should wear rubber gloves when handling this product which does a great job on cutting grease stains like lipstick, petroleum products, softened candle wax and kitchen grease.

Washing soda should not be used on aluminum or fiberglass and should only be used on waxed floors if it is your intention to remove the wax.

Baking soda is like a cousin to washing soda.  It is made from soda ash and it neutralizes odors in refrigerators, water and air.  You can use baking soda to remove green scum from a flower vase.  If you sprinkle baking soda on a sponge it is an effective abrasive cleaner for bathtubs, kitchen counters, ovens and boats and fenders made of fiberglass.

Add ½ cup baking soda to the washing machine and you will find it neutralizes underarm odors in the clothing.  Sprinkle some on your carpets before vacuuming to freshen both the carpet and the vacuum cleaner bag.

Liquid detergent and other soaps are another non toxic cleaner, especially for grease.  Fat and lye are the ingredients in soap.  Liquid soap purchased in a health food store is adequate if you have soft water in your area.  If you have hard water, detergent is a better bet.

Detergent is made from synthetic chemicals and was uncommon before the 19th century.  They’re beneficial for not reacting with hard water to create soap scum.

Soap is a good disinfectant.  To add fragrance to the air while you clean, add 20 drops of essential oil to one quart of warm water.  Tee tree oil works well on mildew and mold and is a natural fungicide.  Tee tree oil can be irritating to the eyes so be sure to avoid contact with the face as you mix your natural disinfectant and mildicide.

To clean your family pet and repel fleas at the same time, combine 1 teaspoon dried fennel, 1 teaspoon pennyroyal and 1 teaspoon dried eucalyptus with one cup cornstarch.  Grind all ingredients and place in a jar.  Sprinkle on your pet and comb into fur.  It takes about 15 minutes for the mixture to permeate the skin.  The remaining product can be stored in the jar indefinitely however it will lose its potency in one month.

Essential oils make an excellent tick repellent.  Rose geranium, bay, eucalyptus, pennyroyal, lavender, rosemary and lemon balm all work to keep ticks at bay.  If you are pregnant, take care not to come into contact with pennyroyal.

Bug repellents cause much concern, especially for parents who don’t want to harm their children.  Try eating more garlic, leeks, onions and chives.  These get processed through the skin and have an unpleasant taste for mosquitoes and other flying pests.

Avoid using lavender soap when you go outdoors.  The floral nature of this non toxic cleaner will attract bees.  We invite your comments if you have some favorite green cleaning products that you would like to share with our readers, we would love to hear from you via the comments tab.

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A natural carpet cleaner is what is advertised by many companies in our country claiming to have such products or services. It is a surprise to see the different approaches.

“Naturell” claims to be powered by nature. This sounds good. They have a patented cleaning product made from sea kelp and only natural occurring processes. The EPA has recognized this completely organic product. Naturell was the recipient of their SDSI Champion Award.

Some of the good points regarding the way Naturell cleans your carpet are encouraging. Their process uses 95% less water than most conventional cleaning companies. All the dirt from your carpet is collected in bonnets with no waste water to dispose of. With no detergents used there would be no sticky residue that would remain on your carpet. The carpet dries in less than thirty minutes.

“Naturalist” is another all natural carpet cleaning service. Their system utilizes the natural cleaning properties of citrus along with oxygen. This company also makes the claim of only cleaning with minimal water, but neglects to state how much. The non-toxic process dries in less than an hour without the use of detergents or soaps.

For the natural carpet cleaner that you can do yourself use good old baking soda and vinegar. A mild soap like dish soap will help with most common stains. Use a damp sponge and scrub. If the stain is stubborn add the baking soda and vinegar and let it bubble.

The combination of these two natural and common household products can do wonders. Most of their cleaning ability comes from the reaction between the two. When the carpet is dry you just vacuum away your dirt. Yes this is a little more work that hiring someone, but you get to control the ingredients and there is no waste water.

There are many other natural carpet cleaners but we believe baking soda and vinegar are the cheapest and eco-friendly to use.

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There are many chemicals out there that are good at cleaning carpet stains, but are there any natural ways of doing it so to help avoid the harmful toxic chemicals most cleaners contain? The answer is yes.

The best-known way to clean a carpet stain is to use club soda.  First you should take a clean dry rag or cloth and dab at the stain until all possible liquid has been absorbed.  Remember to dab at it, if you rub the stain it will only smear and get bigger. Then take club soda and liberally pour it on the stain.  Soak up the club soda with a new clean cloth or rag.  Do not reuse the previously used cloth because you may restain the area by accident. Let dry and the stain should be removed.

There are other cleaning methods that are natural but more specific to the type of stain.  Like red wine stains, this is the strangest I have ever known.  If you make or see a stain made of red wine immediately, yes speed does matter here, pour the equivalent amount of white wine on it. The white wines will counteract the staining effects of the red wine and the stain will disappear.  If there is a little bit of a stain or residue from the white wine use vinegar to dissolve it and dab clean with a clean dry clothe.  It’s enough to make a grown wino cry I know.

For oil or grease stains use the old reliable baking soda or cornstarch. This one takes a little time, usually overnight. In the morning vacuum up the area and most if not all of the stain will be gone.  If there is any remnants of the stain break out the baking soda or vinegar and blot or dab until the stain it totally removed.

Always remember harsh chemicals are not necessary for cleaning carpet stains, use the natural approach and stay green and toxic free.

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Note: as we are now in the midst of a health epidemic with a flu virus that originated in Mexico, we want to call our readers attention to a website that has been monitoring the spread of the infection and publishes fair and balanced reports.  We are in the camp of no panic, but information is always of great benefit in such epidemics as this.

We recommend reading: www.mexicanflu2009.com to keep up with the worldwide reports.  They even publish information direct from the Center for Disease Control on the Mexican Flu.

Homemade Cleaning Supplies:
One of the biggest sources of poisons in every household is the cabinet that has the toxic cleaning supplies in it.  To help safe guard your family and the environment think of the alternative, homemade cleaning supplies. Most of these can be made with ingredients already in the average American home. Best of all they are non-toxic and non-polluting.

Next time there is a clogged drain in your house, try a non-toxic alternative. Mix ½ cup of baking soda and ½ cup of salt.  Pour them down the drain immediately followed by a gallon of boiling water. This will need to set overnight but in the morning turn on the tap, the water will drain down the pipes, and the clog will be gone.  This approach is non-toxic to the environment and safe for your pipes.

Baking powder has many uses as a cleaning tool.  The mild abrasive it inherently has makes it ideal for cleaning anything were scouring powder is used.

Another handy ingredient most homes have is vinegar. Combine this with baking powder and the black heel marks on the floor will disappear along with the grime in your bathtub. Vinegar by itself is a good cleaner on it own.  Use it to remove coffee stains and to clean your coffee pot and coffee maker.  When cleaning the coffee maker pour the vinegar into the area were water is usually put. Turn it on and let it run through a cycle.  Next to get the taste of vinegar out of your maker run two loads of just plain water through. This will help flush out any stubborn stains along with all traces of the vinegar.

Club soda is not just for cleaning stains out of cloths and other fabrics; it can also be used to polish hard wood floors and vinyl tile.

Homemade cleaning supplies are a safe non-toxic way to help the environment and keep those kids safe.

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Here are some great household cleaning tips.  There are many different ways and ideas for cleaning your home. Most of which are known like to using newspapers to clean your windows. But I also have non-traditional ways of cleaning that most people have not thought of or use.

Window washer fluid for your car will work just fine on your home windows and it’s cheaper.

Vegetable shortening is great for getting grease off your hands or out of cloths. This one makes a lot of sense. As a chemist I know the principle of like dissolves like. Shortening is a grease but without impurities. This is why mixing cleaner grease with dirty grease, the two will join and the spot will disappear.

Vinegar is a wondrous liquid. In the laboratory it is known as acetic acid. This acid is very mild but has all the great characteristics of acids that are useful around the house from cutting grease in dishwater to reacting with baking soda to remove carpet stains.

The abrasive ingredients in most toothpaste can be used to clean and polish other items like rings and candle sticks that are made out of metal.

To repair scratches on furniture try rubbing a walnut on it. For dark furniture apply a little appropriate color shoe polish.

For those that have super glue around, make sure you also keep nail polish remover. This is actually acetone, which dissolves super glue.

If your iron has build up or rust from sitting too long, rub emery cloth on the base to bring back the new finish shine.

Yes another use for baking soda. On a damp sponge place a small amount of baking soda and watch those crayon mark on the wall just disappear.

Worcestershire sauce not only tastes good but cleans the bottom of copper pans. The heavier the stain the longer you let it sit on it before washing it off.

These are just a few helpful household-cleaning tips. Just remember keep it simple and it might just work.