We all know how critical it is to detoxify and cleanse ourselves from chemicals, waste and other harmful unwelcome visitors living in our bodies. A great contributor to the detritus that sits in our systems has a lot to do with the chemicals we are exposed to in our everyday lives. Chances are, at some point during your day you will be faced with this exposure; while cleaning, while at a restaurant, or while being in a room that has just been cleaned with a harsh smelling chemical.

When we wrinkle our noses upon smelling some kind of chemical-based solution after entering a room, that’s really the result of those artificial scents tricking us into thinking that’s the way the room ’should’ smell. We have been conditioned to think that smell indicates the job has been done and our health is safe; no flu bug for us. This, coupled with ads shown by big companies reinforcing this strong connection between chemical use and optimized health makes us even more confused about what the right cleaners for our homes should be. Once we see past these ads and feel assured that we can have a clean and healthy home without the use of powerful chemicals, we can start ‘detoxing’ our home and creating a healthier, chemical-free environment under our own roof.

Luckily, there are some very simple ways to create a cleaner, less toxic home environment, just by eliminating cleaning agents and replacing them with natural alternatives.

First things first, start airing out your home. Open windows and let the fresh air in! There are likely a lot of cooped-up toxins and chemicals that need time to migrate out of your home. Second, go to your pantry, your sinks, your laundry room and your garage, placing every single cleaning product in a box. Your township or city should have a depot where you can drop off these old cleaning products that you will no longer want to use. The next time you have to drive somewhere, add this drop off to your route. If you can’t find a depot, you may donate your products to a shelter. Ideally, no one should be cleaning with chemicals, but the least eco-friendly thing we can do is throw them away. The idea is to use them up and start fresh.

Then you’ll need to pick up the basics for making eco-friendly cleaning supplies. All you’ll need is vinegar, baking soda, lemons, essential oils, microfiber cloths and castile soap (plain or scented with essential oils). Try looking for green certifications, such as EcoLogo — which is a standard trademark found on eco-friendly and reduced or no chemical content products.

For general cleaning, there are plenty of options! Try using a vegetable-based all-purpose cleaner (scent-free or natural essential oils only), vinegar, or 2 tablespoons of castile soap mixed with water in a spray bottle. For heavier stains (such as soap scum), place some baking soda on the area and agitate with a scrub brush and the all-purpose cleaner. For glass, try using vinegar and newspaper - it’s an old trick that works very well.

If you don’t fancy the smell of vinegar in your livingroom, try moistening a microfiber cloth for washing and have a dry one on standby. Wipe the glass with the wet cloth, and buff with the dry cloth. The windows will be spotless, streak-free, and shiny! Essential oils and water will do the trick for keeping your space disinfected.

For quick disinfecting or freshening up your home, try using essential oils and water instead of room deodorizers, electrical socket companions or spray cans full of artificial misty mountain air. Simply add 10 drops to a spray bottle filled with water and mist away! It’s a great counter top cleaner, post-bathroom spray, or air refresher, and keeps the germs out. Imagine smelling the real scent of tea tree oil, lavender, lemon, or cinnamon. The oils actually disinfect your home at the same time, so you get natural scents and actual health benefits from doing this.

By opting for chemical free cleaning products, the scents you remember will no longer linger, which means you may have to mist more often to produce the same effect. The extra effort is well worth it when it comes to your health.

Detoxing your home is simple, so why not give it a try!

Thanks for checking back!  Over the next little bit, we’ll focus on spring cleaning and de–cluttering tips. This is a critical time of the year to get your place refreshed.  The best part is, these tasks take between 5-10 minutes of actual work!  Sure, spring cleaning is inevitable but often greeted with a frown.  Here are some great tips to help you clean up your space and go easy on the coin purse at the same time!

All of these tips are cheap, easy and a great way to freshen up for spring!

Cruddy Cabinets Are So Last Season

Do you find that items, crumbs and other unwanted particles roll around in your bathroom and kitchen cupboards? What about if something spills on the shelf?  People notice these things you know.  All of a sudden your friends don’t want to come over anymore.  It can be a real disaster.  Easy solution!  After the cupboards have had a thorough cleaning (removing all items, cleaning the surface), line the shelf with a piece of rubber shelf liner (available in a roll from the Dollar Store).  You can cut the liner to your specification then promptly replace all items.  Finally,, your stuff stays put, your cupboards stay clean, and your liners do the dirty work.  You can either change these or clean them every few months.  Now you will be eager to show off your spring cleaned cupboards.

The Uncleanly Coffee Experience

If your coffee has been tasting a little less latte and a little more mucky, there is a solution (and no, it’s not running out to Starbucks).  Coffee makers and mugs need a spring cleaning too!  Easy and cheap, this solution will have you charging $1.75 for a grande in no time – and you’ll make your entire cleaning investment back in the price of half that cup.  Simply pour plain white vinegar into your coffee maker (non-diluted) and run through a brew cycle.  Dump the vinegar down the drain and rinse the carafe.  The next step is to get the drinking vessel just as clean.  If your mugs are stained from extreme coffee or tea exposure, we have the perfect solution for you. Rub a slice of lemon on the stained ceramic, toss salt over the lemon juice, and rub stains with the lemon slice.  Rinse, dry and admire.  Sounds more like a tequila shot, but it’s really a quick and useful cleaning tip.  Maybe those Mexicans were on to something…Anyway, now you have cleaned, deodorized, and maintained your coffee maker, shined your mugs to a sparkle and can now proudly brew a delectable morning cup. 

Pet Peripherals Need TLC Too

If you are wondering why your cat’s litter box absolutely reeks despite the fact that you have changed the litter as per stated box instructions and fresh spring air is abound, you are in a pretty obvious funk (no pun intended…wait, yes it was).  You have to pay special attention to the litter box and this goes above and beyond changing the litter.  Easy to do and cheaper than your cat’s lunch, this solution will make your place smell fantastic and your cat ever so grateful.  Empty the litter from the box and pour about half an inch of vinegar into the box.  Powder this with about a half cup (or eyeball it) of baking soda and allow the mixture to bubble.  Fill the container about 2/3 full with water and stir the mixture.  Let this soak for several hours, then drain the liquid and scrub it out.  Finally, wash with hot soapy water and dry.  Before you place litter back in the box, pour about ¼ inch of baking soda on the bottom of the container.  Not only have you created a cleaner smelling place, you have done so without placing anything unnatural in your cat’s box.  Now just pass your cat the daily news and leave it to its business. 

Vinegar works very well for removing odors. When cleaning something out (for example, a garbage pail—see the baking soda trick from a few weeks back), wash it with vinegar as opposed to anything else. It will remove any foul smells and neutralize the material. Following that, keep it fresh by using the baking soda trick.

Another thing I love about vinegar is that it can remove cooking odors if you simmer it in a separate pot while you’re cooking. What I do is designate the far burner for the pot with vinegar. I place about a cup of vinegar in the pot, simmer on medium, and voilà! The smell of broccoli and salmon is gone!

And for those looking for an extremely low maintenance trick, simply leave about ½ a cup of vinegar in a small bowl to deodorize while cooking or if there is a smoker in the house.

Melissa

You will surely run out of vinegar by the time you have had the chance to use all of these tricks, so stock up on the large containers! Here are some little tricks using vinegar for everyday use around the house. We have found them to be quite useful!

Ants can be warded off if vinegar is sprayed in the infested areas.

The same also goes for cats: simply spray vinegar in places where you want your cat to stay away from and vinegar will deflect your feline friend from that area!

Next is an amazing stain remover trick; this works for teapots, laminate counters, mugs, china, and sinks. Sprinkle salt over the stain and then spray the affected area with vinegar. Let this mixture sit and then use a soft cloth to agitate. The stains will magically disappear! It’s quite exciting to watch stubborn stains go away with simple, eco-friendly ingredients.

Happy cleaning!

Melissa

Sponges and cloths are playgrounds for nasty kitchen bacteria. Bacteria goes everywhere because we spread it about while cooking, cleaning, and preparing meals. Just think of how many times you touch and use that dish towel while preparing a dish such as roast chicken!

The concept of paper towels is what we want to go with—frequent disposal (or laundering) of the cloths. Paper towels are ingenious yet wasteful, so here is the environmentally friendly way to keep things clean.

Have a stack of 7 dishtowels and use one a day. (Think: those socks with the days of the week embroidered on them.) At the end of the day, toss the dishtowel in a separate basket along with your other cleaning rags and launder it at week’s end.

For cleaning counters, we recommend getting cleaning cloths (available at grocery stores; they’re a cross between a dish towel and a face cloth). For those who get incredibly excited about cloths, try microfibre cleaning cloths. Clean what you like during the day, but pitch it in that laundry basket before you hit the sack.

You may find that a good microfibre cloth will eliminate the need for a sponge (clearly because you are already using the great pot cleaning techniques I discussed in the vinegar and baking soda blogs). If you do require a sponge, clean it by soaking it well in water (get all soap out first) and then microwaving for 2-3 minutes to kill most germs and spores. The inside of the microwave will be damp and steamy, at which point you can wipe it clean with a dry cloth. What a great way to multi task!

Melissa

For starters, decaying food is a huge problem! Examine your fridge and remove old foods at once. Wipe the bottom of the fridge regularly to remove stains and odors.

While cooking, use the exhaust fan; it removes the grease from the air, which helps to reduce odors and also prevents you from inhaling the stuff.

You can also boil vinegar to remove odors. See the previous vinegar blogs for more detail.

I came across the coolest trick a while back, and use it whenever necessary. You have to try this to believe it! Broccoli is amazing, but we all know how it smells when being cooked. Simply take a slice of bread and place it in the pot on top of the broccoli, then close the pot and let it steam. The bread acts as a natural sponge, absorbing the odor from the broccoli!

I have a lampe berger, which is a catalytic alcohol- and oil-burning lamp; I use it to burn “crème brulée” to deodorize. A lampe berger is incredibly effective at neutralizing odors and leaving a beautiful scent in your home, without the chemical effects of scented candles and air fresheners.

Finally, you can investigate air purifiers which can be helpful, too.

Melissa

If you are lucky enough to have a stunning modern kitchen, you will need to know how to clean it. Many commercial cleaners are available but natural solutions do an amazing job and should be your only consideration for these projects.

Stainless steel is all the rage in kitchen design—and it looks lovely! To keep it that way, here’s what to do. Fill a sink with warm water and about a ¼ cup of white vinegar. Immerse a clean cloth in the solution and wipe away all marks and dirt. Vinegar cuts grease, so all fingerprints will be gone. Give it a quick buff dry. For the ultimate shine, blot a clean cloth in some vegetable oil and polish the appliance in the direction of the grain. Be sure to use the oil sparingly to reduce stickiness. The results are amazing—you will be blown away!

To clean a stain out of the sink, try tossing salt and lemon juice over it and wiping clean in a circular motion. This combo practically erases marks right out of any sink—think coffee, tea, etc.

To clean granite, a gorgeous addition to any kitchen, you must be extremely careful to take good care of the surface. To start, we crouch to eye level to see where the dirt is because granite can always “look” clean. Following this, focus on the areas with blotchy stains (old spills, dried-on jam, etc). We suggest using an eco-friendly marble and granite cleaner or even dishwashing liquid and hot water (you can mix a few drops into a spray bottle full of water, or simply fill the sink up—your choice). This is gentle enough to treat the stone without harming it and no harsh chemicals are used, either.

It’s a win-win situation! You can have a beautiful kitchen and maintain it easily, inexpensively, and without harming the environment or yourself.

Melissa

Many people believe (or have been conditioned to believe) that a clean house should smell like Mr. Clean, Windex, or bleach. This is not true! In fact, after my endeavors into the cleaning business, I learned early on that “naturally clean” smells like—well, not much at all.

You can choose to clean your house with four or five basic items, such as salt, lemon, vinegar, baking soda, and oils (lemon oil, olive oil, etc). If you choose to clean using these basics, your house will be immaculate, but you won’t smell the masking scents of commercial cleaners.

Now, I must admit that I am a sucker for any eco-friendly product with pretty packaging and equally pretty scents, so when I clean, that is what I prefer to use. However, these are not the kind of scents that are damaging to our bodies or the environment. More companies are moving towards aromatherapy or “mulling” scents. In fact, I know there are some brands of eco-friendly cleaning solutions that will create a delicious bakery-like scent in the home.

If you care to be a bit more experimental and are open to using products with scents, there are a ton of choices available to you in grocery stores, hardware stores, and drugstores.

Make sure you look for a number of reputable seals and symbols that can help out, such as the Green Seal and the Environmental Choice Program. That will let you know your products are truly eco-friendly and you can feel safe using them at home.

Melissa

I am an avid tea drinker and have a couple of tea pots in my rotation. I have a beautiful black ceramic one as well as a white one, but the white one, of course, gets stained each time I boil a pot of my favorite morning drink, English breakfast tea. I usually scramble out the door to get started with my day, so I rarely have time to rinse the pot or even dump the cup out. (I know I should rinse it, seeing that I do run a cleaning company, but that’s for another discussion)!

I have fallen in love with this trick (which you can also use at kids birthday parties—it’s magical)! You need a lemon and a few shakes of salt. Simply run the lemon over the stained area, sprinkle the salt over the lemon and agitate with a clean and dry cloth. Add more lemon or salt if necessary. Rinse the porcelain and voilà, your porcelain piece will look brand spankin’ new!

Melissa