Keeping Your Home Clean Naturally

By Contributing Author, Kate Harveston

Switching to natural cleaners keeps you and your family healthier. Chemicals in commercial household cleaning products can exacerbate symptoms of myriad diseases. Even if you’re not chronically ill, these chemicals can cause allergy misery.

How can you keep your home clean the natural way? Easily! As a bonus, you’ll save money, too. Here’s what to do.

1. Make a Volcano in Your Disposal

Remember back in science class when you made a volcano by mixing baking soda and vinegar with a bit of food coloring? You can use this magical science to clean and disinfect your garbage disposal and dishwasher, too!

Simply sprinkle 1/2 cup of baking soda and pour in the vinegar. Let it bubble and sizzle to clear gunk and deodorize. Then, take a handful of ice cubes and lemon peels. The ice cleans the blades while the peels add a lovely fragrance.

2. Mix a Natural All-Purpose Cleaner

You may think that switching to cleaning everything with water is a good way to avoid the nasty chemicals in most store-bought cleaners. However, water alone won’t pull all the grease from most surfaces. So, learn how to make your own all-natural cleaner!

One way to do so is by using a homemade cleanser with borax and castile soap. Alternately, mix 1-part vinegar, 1-part clear dish soap, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and 2-parts water.

3. Use Vinegar to Disinfect

If you make a homemade glass cleaner, you can dilute it a bit further and use it directly as a vegetable wash. To clean glass and disinfect steel appliances, simply mix 1-part distilled white vinegar with 3-parts water.

To make a vegetable wash, simply dilute the mixture with twice as much water. Spraying this mild vinegar solution directly on produce kills bacteria that cause it to rot more quickly.

4. Scrub Your Oven with Baking Soda Paste

Did your last Sunday dinner leave a mess in your oven? Wait until it cools and remove the racks. Mix baking soda and water to a paste-like consistency and spread it inside your oven. Leave the paste on overnight then wipe away dirt and grime the next day. Finish with a mild vinegar solution like the one above to polish the inside of your oven to a shine.

5. Shampoo Carpets Without Chemicals

If you have feline friends, no doubt you clean up your share of hairballs. And this can leave a lot of chemical residue in your carpets. Instead, make your natural carpet cleaner to fill your shampooer with.

All you’ll need is water, clear dish soap and your handy baking soda and vinegar. You can put this in a spray bottle to dab with a towel or pour it right in your machine. Alternately, invest in a steam cleaner. These devices use nothing but water to lift stains and dirt, and you can find inexpensive models in most retail stores.

6. Sprinkle Boric Acid in High Places

Do bugs, well, bug you? Ants and roaches aren’t just creepy — they carry diseases that can infect human food. But commercial insecticides contain chemicals harmful to pets and humans.

Instead, invest in boric acid. Sprinkle it liberally, especially atop cabinetry. Roaches can climb high and they carry the acid back to their nests where it kills the colony. For ants, you can find boric acid-filled traps at many home improvement stores. Place these traps inside cabinets and near entryways where the creepy crawlies tend to enter.

The Bottom Line

You don’t need dangerous chemicals to keep your home clean and sanitary. By following a few simple tips, you can keep your home sparkling the natural way!