the mind of a moonstruck mommy

This week for Green Tip Tuesday, I want to talk about cleaning green.  A lot of the cleaning supplies that you use everyday are horrible for your family and the environment.  Every time you use them, harsh chemicals are sent into the air. (You know that stuff you and your kids breathe?!?) It’s a poisonous habit, but it’s one you can stop.  Not only are there plenty of natural products you can buy,  there are also some of the best cleaning supplies right in your pantry!

Green Works

A baby company of Clorox.  Their products are 99% natural and work really well.  I’ve tried the following two items and love both!

Natural Bathroom Cleaner- made with essential oils, filtered water, and a coconut based cleaning agent, this spray not only works great on bathroom counters, sinks, tub, tiles and shower doors…. it actually smells pretty good too.

My favorite! These natural cleaning wipes work on almost anything but wood and they don’t leave any yucky chemical residue.

Seventh Generation

Is a really amazing company with some SUPER products. This is from their web site:  Seventh Generation brand-name products include: non-chlorine bleached, 100% recycled paper towels, bathroom and facial tissues, and napkins; non-toxic, phosphate-free cleaning, dish and laundry products; plastic trash bags made from recycled plastic; chlorine-free baby diapers, training pants, and baby wipes; and chlorine-free feminine care products, including organic cotton tampons.I use a lot of their paper products and would recommend all of them…. haven’t tried the tampons yet though, I’m guessing those are just organic though, not recycled

Using what you got

To be completely honest with you, you might have everything you need to be a green cleaning master already in your kitchen!

Lemon- there is a reason it’s in every cleaning product known to man… it works!  Lemons smell great and clean away grime, grease, and grit even better then most of those chemical filled products.  Use it with Olive Oil for a furniture polish or baking soda to clean your dishes.  The rinds can be tossed anywhere that needs to be deodorized and the juice will help whiten your whites. Check out these other cool uses for lemons!

Salt- Great when you need to get your scrub on!! Pots, pans, counters, and sinks.  Mix it with lemon (& water) to shine metal or vinegar (& water) for an all-purpose cleaner. And, here are 15 more neat household uses for salt.

White Vinegar- great for all over the house. (Remember to spot check people… I will NOT be replacing anyone’s counter tops!)  Mix it with warm water to clean floors, microwaves, coffee makers, refrigerators, walls, toilets, shower doors, tubs, fireplaces, almost anything… go and see for yourself! Also, the Vinegar Institute has a bunch more uses for vinegar.

Baking Soda- Not just for deodorizing your fridge-  It will fight nasty odors all over the kitchen and bathroom. Baking soda can remove most stains from your laundry and you can make volcanoes with vinegar to clean out clogged drains!  If that’s not enough to get you hooked, check out these 75 Extraordinary Uses For Baking Soda.

Rubbing Alcohol- Back in the day, alcohol & salt was all I ever used to clean the bongs, so I should have known I could use it to clean other stuff too! You can add some to your vinegar and water mixture and really shine your mirrors and glass.  It can also be diluted a little and used as a disinfectant. Don’t forget:: this one is SUPER flammable! Here’s: Top 10 Weird Uses for Vodka wait, that’s not right— 10 Uses for Rubbing Alcohol and Extraordinary Uses for Rubbing Alcohol that’s better!

Borax- From the 20 Mule Team Web Site: 20 Mule Team® Borax is made of 100% Borax, a naturally occurring mineral composed of sodium, boron, oxygen and water. 20 Mule Team® Borax is not harmful to washing machines, plumbing or septic tanks and does not contain phosphates or chlorine.  Right now, I only use it for cleaning my shower/tub. Not only does it make it shine like you wouldn’t believe, it doesn’t take that much effort either. LOL  And there are tons of other ways to use borax around the house (20 Mule Team lists some of them on their web site, click here!)

Hope you enjoyed this week’s Green Tip Tuesday and I really hope you will try and green a little bit of your cleaning routine!

Moonstruck Mommy