Keeping Clean, Keeping Green
With people becoming increasingly aware of their impact on the environment, we're all looking for ways to do our part. Can you keep your house clean without the expensive (and harmful) chemicals in most cleaning products? So far, reports are suggesting that yes, in fact, you can.
Keeping Clean In A Green World
Are there natural, environmentally friendly alternative to today's chemical based cleaners? Even when you choose "environmentally friendly" alternative, the packaging will still end up in a landfill. How can you keep your home or office clean while doing your part to keep the planet healthy?
Another major aspect to consider is the adverse health impact of chemicals. People, especially children, are vulnerable to the toxic effects of chemical cleansers. In the past 6 decades alone, over 70,000 new chemicals have made their way into our homes and the environment, with very few tested for their toxicity.
The effects of these chemicals are not fully known, but some symptoms of long-term exposure to cleaning products can include migraine headaches, nausea, depression and high blood pressure. You can even develop immune disorders such as food allergies and asthma from prolonged exposure.
Go Green, Save Green, Be Clean
This isn't all doom and gloom, we are here with good news. You don't have to spend a lot of money on expensive "eco-friendly" cleaners (with decidedly eco-unfriendly packaging) to keep your home and the environment clean. You can clean your home with a few cheap, traditional methods. There are six main, and natural, ingredients you'll need to do this:
- lemon juice
- washing soda
- borax (sodium borate)
- white vinegar
- bicarbonate of soda (baking powder)
- pure soap (also know as castile soap)
White vinegar is great as a degreaser and deodoriser, as well as a mild disinfectant. You can mix it with warm water to make an excellent general cleaning solution and it works great for cleaning your windows. Pure soap can be used to clean dishes, and you can add an extra shine by adding white vinegar to the rinse water. You can use bicarbonate of soda (baking powder) for a variety of things: a water softener, scouring and deodorising. It's also great for deodorising and removing stains from carpet, cleaning ceramic tile, sinks, benchtops and it makes an excellent chrome polish for your car.
Borax has a wide variety of uses. You can use it to kill mold and to control pests like ants and cockroaches. It's also an excellent cleaner, it bleaches and it disinfects.
You can mix it into a paste with lemon juice to make an excellent toilet cleaner and it's great for whitening white or brightening your color in the laundry.
An environmentally safe laundry detergent is made using a third cup of washing soda and a third of a cake of unscented laundry soap, grated. Dissolve these into hot water and it will set into a soft gel. You then add two to three cups to your wash and you've got your own home-made, environmentally friendly laundry detergent.
You can find a cheap, eco-friendly, non-toxic way to solve every single household cleaning problem. Council websites and library books on natural cleaning alternatives are often a great source of information on what products to avoid.
If doing things the old fashioned way is too much work for you, you'll find excellent green products available in your local supermarket. Look out for products that are low sodium as well as phosphate and ammonia free.
By choosing eco-friendly alternative, especially by making your own, you'll be doing yourself, your family and the planet a great service. It takes a little work and dedication, but it's well worth it in the end.
Once you make the switch, you'll find that not only do you, personally, feel better; but so will your family and your guests. Who knew there were so many great ways to make a positive impact that were also so inexpensive?
