Kitchen Table Wisdom: Use Natural Green Cleaning Supplies in Your Home Part 1
Sometimes I wonder if the effort it takes to find a good green cleaner or variety of cleaners is worth the investment of time and money when there are so many safe and natural ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen (or certainly widely available for a low cost) you could use to make your own green cleaning solutions. Below 3 of 6 suggestions taken from an article in the April 2009 issue of Real Simple magazine. Check back in a few days for the other three as well as additional resources.
Lemons
The acid in lemon juice removes dirt and rust stains and works especially well as a scouring paste when mixed with table salt. Use it to clean stainless steel countertops by dipping a lemon half in baking soda and running it across the surface (then wiping clean); increase the grease-cutting power of your dishwashing liquid by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice to it; deodorize your garbage disposer by cutting a lemon in half and running it through the disposer; clean stains out of grout by adding a little juice to a teaspoon of cream of tartar to make a paste and use a toothbrush to scrub it out; or brighten your laundry whites when you add a 1/2 cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle.
Liquid Castile Soap
This gentle, plant-based liquid soap is great as a natural body wash and because of it’s ability to loosen grime and dirt from surfaces, it can do double duty as an effective floor and surface cleaner too. Combine 1/4 cup (i.e. 2 oz) of liquid castile with a gallon of warm water and use it to wash your car, or mop your floors (if the floors are greasy you can add 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar and a couple of drops of orange essential oil to the mix). You can also use it to clean leather upholstery (add two drops of soap to a quart of warm water). Combine 1 tablespoon of soap with 1/3 cup of baking soda and go to town on your sinks, showers, tubs, and ceramic tiles.
Cooking/Vegetable Oils
You probably never considered that the same oils you cook with can be used as furniture or even shoe polish! Plant-based oils like olive and safflower dislodge dirt, diminish scratches and bring new life and luster to wood that has aged or dried out from exposure to the sun. Make your own polish by mixing 2 cups olive or vegetable oil with the juice of 1 lemon. Use it to keep rattan and wicker furniture from drying or cracking. You can even use it to clean cast iron cookware by making a paste with vegetable oil and a teaspoon of coarse salt to remove cooked-on debris. And a little vegetable oil can help remove paint or stubborn glue from your hands (Jojoba oil is especially good for this, though a lot more expensive).
Have you tried any of these solutions? If yes, then share your experiences with us by commenting below.
