Simple, Natural Solutions for Everyday Life

Life is messy. Spills, constant maintenance, muddy paw prints and chaos happen. While it might be your first instinct to grab the standard cleaner to attend to the daily grime of life, there are many options that are more natural, earth-friendly, and probably already in your home. The average American uses about 40 pounds of toxic household cleaning products each year. These cleaning products contain dangerous ingredients, including neurotoxins to heavy metals, and other agents that cause or contribute to cancer, respiratory problems, allergic reactions, and this list could go on. Make simple switches in your home to ensure the happiness and healthiness of your family and the environment around you.

Baking soda is the superhero of cleaning.  Baking soda works well solo or combined with other simple ingredients like vinegar. Most people already know about placing an open box in your refrigerator to keep it fresh. It’s best to replace that little box every 3 months and you can actually dispose of it down the sink drain without worrying about what it will do to water and the animals living in it. A lesser-known use but equally full of superhero power is a dusting of baking soda on your cutting boards draw out odor and stains. Just dust, leave for about 15 minutes or so and then rinse. Piece of cake…think of all those bamboo cutting boards you could give new life! Speaking of cutting boards all that produce that you chop can be cleaned with a sprinkling of baking soda in a bowl of water, soak, and rinse.

Vinegar, as mentioned above, is another cleaning product that holds great bang for its buck. Spray it on countertops, let sit, and wipe off to get rid of stains. Substitute vinegar for your average glass cleaner (extra points for using newspaper – no streaks!) for a streak free shine. You can even pour this full strength on unwanted grass growing on your walks and sideways since it’s much nicer than any chemical weeds-no-more product. This wonder liquid also relieves itching from insect bites or stings, even sunburns!

Lemon juice is yet another natural tool to help you clean your home. It can get rid of annoying soap scum and the hard water deposits that go along with it. Combine lemon juice with the baking soda and vinegar mentioned above and you have a powerful cleaning paste. Or maybe you already used the lemon in your vodka tonic – no worries, you can put the peels down the garbage disposal to keep it so fresh and so clean.

Salt plays really well with these other natural cleaning products. Mix with some vinegar for an all-purpose cleaner around the house but not for gentle surfaces like marble. Salt and lemon juice work wonders to clean metals particularly brass and pewter – just be sure to rinse well, it’s powerful stuff. Bust out the salt if you’ve spilled your favorite Merlot on your favorite shirt. Put some salt on the area ASAP and it should absorb the wine before it sets and stains. Then wash as soon as you can.

Plus you should make sure you’re taking care of yourself after toiling away around the house. Treat your hands to a moisture treatment by microwaving a small bowl of olive oil and soaking them. For an added bonus, you can add some sugar and make it a scrub.

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