One of ways many of us try to move towards eco-friendly cleaning is to choose natural cleaners. It is true that much of the harm done by conventional cleaning products is due to the synthetic chemicals involved. So, if we all buy natural cleaners, we should be helping the planet to no end, right?
There is no right or wrong way to go about making your cleaning routine eco-friendly.
It’s about what is practical, within budget, and desirable for you. Maybe choosing less toxic and less polluting products is your route. Or you may want to go completely organic and all natural. You must do what you can that fits your beliefs and constraints.
After all, every reduction in bleach used is a very good thing indeed!
Natural Household Cleaners
Household cleaners are some of the most dangerous things the average person ever comes into contact with. In fact, household cleaners are the primary cause of accidental poisoning in American children. You can see why so many moms are switching to natural household cleaning products instead.
Moving away from harsh petroleum based detergents and switching instead to gentle natural soaps derived from vegetable oils is a great way to improve the safety of your family and do your part to keep the planet safe too.
When looking at natural household cleaners, it is imperative not to be drawn into the misleading packaging used by some conventional brands. If you are looking for vegetable based soaps, natural scents and low allergy products, you need to look at the back of the packaging, not just the front. “Lemon scent”, “contains plant extracts” and so many other nonsensical statements are often make it to the front of household cleaners, but they mean very little.
Make sure to look at the WHOLE list, too. Yes, there may be organic plant extracts, but what about the ammonia, or detergent? A lot of the “natural” ingredients are tiny proportions used to sell us the notion of a natural cleaner without actually having to supply one.
Be very wary of perfumes too. Unless it states that the essential oil of a particular flower, fruit or plant has been used, you can pretty much guarantee that synthetic compounds make up that “lovely lemon scent.”
Choosing Natural Household Cleaners
ALL Natural Cleaning Products
If you want to make your household cleaning eco-friendly by choosing natural products, make sure they are ALL natural cleaning products. Otherwise, you may have a little bit of something green, but chances are you’ve still got a whole lot of something far less desirable. Any little step forward is a step in the right direction, but if you really want to be committed, you’ll have to switch out most, if not all, of your cleaning products.
Allergies
Don’t forget that “natural” does not mean 100% safe for you and your family. Many of us are allergic to perfectly natural things and you should take this into account, particularly in relation to the type of perfume used to make your new natural cleaner smell gorgeous.
Biodegradable Household Cleaners
To keep cleaning eco-friendly, we should aim for 100% easily biodegradable products. Or, as close to that 100% as possible.
Concentrated Household Cleaners
One thing that can be extremely frustrating, as more brands cash in on our desire to make cleaning eco-friendly, is the amount of money wasted. It is far better to buy a slightly less natural product which is highly concentrated, than an organic cleaner which is too diluted.
First off, you’ll be spending a fortune. Secondly, you’ll be wasting huge amounts of packaging. Thirdly, it just doesn’t add up to eco-friendliness at all! After all, all the resources taken to manufacture, deliver, package and pay for the product are wasteful when it doesn’t last for any amount of chores.
Finally, diluted products allow no scope for varying the strength of a cleaner to suit the task at hand. Using concentrated cleaners means you can use lots for really tough jobs, and then dilute much more to deal with simple chores. This flexibility means your Eco cleaners will do the jobs you ask of them, and not leave you screaming for your old conventional product.
The key to doing our part to save scarce resources we have on this planet is to think long term. It’s okay to buy some organic cleaner today, but if it doesn’t work well enough, you may well be tempted back to harsher products in the future. It is better to opt for something slightly less green that works that you will stick with in the future.
Which Natural Cleaners to Buy?
It makes sense to start first by switching the worst offenders in your cleaning store cupboard. While a synthetic mild dish washing liquid is not ideal, it is doing far less damage to you and the planet than those toxic drain and oven cleaners. When switching to a more eco-friendly cleaning regimen, these should be your first new purchases (natural oven cleaner and natural drain cleaner). Some Eco Friendly Cleaning Products are just more important for us to use than others, because in the real world, few of us are going to make it to the higher echelons of zero impact living!
Read more about the best, most effective ways to make the switch to eco-friendly cleaning here.
Natural Household Cleaning Products
In terms of some of the best natural household cleaning products you can buy, you can find ready-made ranges such as the Simple Green, Ecover or Mrs Meyer’s cleaning products. These, of course, are the easiest option, particularly if you are pressed for time.
Again, you will really need to study the labels to ensure you purchase a green cleaning product that is up to your personal “green” standards. You may have keen interest in packaging, how easy it is to recycle, whether it is produced from post consumer recycled materials to begin with, or is it plastic free (a pretty tough one). For some, the avoidance of petrochemicals is a must, or maybe you just want some super mild to protect your babies skin when you are dealing with the laundry.
The options are huge, and to be honest, no one range is likely to appeal to everyone. We all have compromises to make between being less harmful to the environment, and our standards of cleanliness. You must choose green cleaning products that are exactly right for you and your lifestyle.
Our desire to make cleaning eco-friendly and live more sustainable, less polluting lifestyles, is a noble one. But we have to be realistic here and never forget that even one product changed is a help. Choose or make one Green Cleaning Product today and who knows, next month you may choose another until by next year perhaps all your household chores are more environmentally friendly!
Amazon now sells a wide range of green and Eco cleaners.
Making Your Own
An easy way to know exactly what ingredients are going into your cleaning supplies, and to make sure they are environmentally friendly, is to use homemade remedies. Now, very few of us have time to create all our own cleaning materials. But, switching one or two key items from pre-made formula to home-made recipe can be done easily and with little trouble on your part.
If nothing else, use baking soda to deodorize your garbage pail rather than usually extremely toxic deodorizer sprays. Or, ditch the windolene in favor of some vinegar and a microfiber cloth. A few homemade recipes can really cut costs to your pocket and the planet and are a great way to supplement your other less than perfect green cleaning products.
Here are a few easy recipes:
Cleaning Spray
For a general, all-purpose cleaning spray around the house, follow this recipe:
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 20 drops fragrance essential oils (orange, lemon, cinamon)
- 5 drops of antiseptic essential oils (tea tree, rosemary, lavender, clove, cinammon)
Laundry Detergent
There’s tons of ways to improve the laundry room.
Yes, a green laundry detergent is possible! Laundry detergents are so diluted these days with extra water and chemicals, but you don’t need any of that for your needs. All you need is:
- 1 Cup Borax
- 1 Cup Baking Soda
- 1/2 Tablespoon Salt
- 1/2 Tablespoon Lemon juice
Mix together and throw it in with your next load of clothes!
Here’s a great video for a few more ideas/tips:
Generally, when making your own cleaning supplies, the simpler, the better. Keep ingredients to a minimum, with no added fragrances or chemicals in the base ingredients. Also, make sure you don’t mix certain ingredients like vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Other than that, making your own cleaning products is pretty simple! Just follow the tips and recipes below and get cleaning!
Summary and Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are many routes to take if you want to take a more natural approach to your household cleaning regimen. Switching to safer products, making your own altogether, and just generally being more conscious of what you and your family are coming into contact with will make you a greener cleaner in no time! Hopefully you found some of these tips helpful, and you can get on the path to natural green cleaning as soon as possible.
Credits
Photo
Wolfgang Claussen
Christine Sponchia
Table of Contents
Here are a few cleaning tips you might find useful
Microwaves – Mix 1/2 of water with a few teaspoons of baking soda in a microwave safe bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave and run it for 2 minutes. Take out the bowl and wipe it clean with just a rag; every last spot will come out!
Coffee Makers – When the coffee maker is empty, pour in a mixture of 1 cup white vinegar and some hot water to fill up the reservoir to the top. Run the coffee maker like you were making coffee, just without any beans in it. Once the cycle has finished, run it twice more with just plain water, which will rinse out the vinegar and any build up left inside. The coffee will taste better the next time you make a cuppa Joe!