Great Green Idea: Green Cleaning: Five Ways to Clean Green

Five Ways to Clean Green

There are so many ways that ANYONE can clean using natural, biodegradable cleaning agents that are non-toxic and gentle on the environment.

The question one has to ask oneself before embarking on a cleaning regime that consists of totally natural, easily biodegradable cleaning agents is "where can I obtain them from, and what will be the added cost of "saving the environment".

In these difficult times, any money one can save regardless if it is only pennies, will all eventually add up. Take a look at how much you spend over a 2 month period on non natural, chemical bleaches and cleaning agents from the supermarket, and look at what you actually do with them.

Many of the products you buy do the same type of job, but you don't always know this because it is not in the manufacturers interests to tell you this which would reduce their profits.

Let's take a quick look at some places one has to clean around the house, and how you can do this with biodegradable, natural products that are good for the environment, and which you can generally find in the kitchen cupboards of your home.

1. Lemon. A pretty innocuous, but very versatile fruit; not nice to suck on, but a powerful cleaning agent and disinfectant. Use a squeeze of fresh lemon juice in water and see glass surfaces come clean instantly. Some water and a couple of lemon slices, heated in the microwave oven for about 5 minutes, not only will this disinfect the places you can't get to, but will make baked in food splashes wipe off with ease.

2. Vinegar. An extremely efficient, natural and totally biodegradable and non-toxic cleaning agent. Mix together 3 tablespoons of vinegar, half a teaspoon of very mild liquid detergent and 2 cups of water, place into a trigger action bottle and you have a very easy, environment friendly de-scaling agent made by your own fair hand, and it is also a natural de-oderizer and disinfectant. Banish lime scale from the toilet bowl, sink and taps; in fact anywhere lime forms.

3. Baking soda. Mixed with some hot lemon juice, a very effective drain cleaner and unblocker. Much better for the environment than ANY of the caustic, corrosive gels that you can buy that do the same job, but are hideously more expensive.

4. Salt. Fed up with rust? To remove rust from metal, without damaging the metal surface, mix some salt with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, rub onto the rusty area and the rust will wipe off if you use a second, clean dry cloth.

5. Borax. Borax in the correct mix with warm water will remove blood stains from almost any fabric, and because it is a natural salt compound, it will not damage the fibers. Borax is a non toxic, environment friendly cleaning agent, and is also a very efficient mold remover and disinfectant. For those not in the know, Borax can be found in the cleaning agent aisle of your local supermarket, and most likely from the hardware store or garden supplies store.

Now you have a few handy, natural, non-toxic and environment safe tips for cleaning, which is usually the hardest area for greening, it is only small, positive steps you can take forward and become a seasoned eco warrior cleaning guy or gal. Pretty soon you'll be wondering WHY you ever wasted so much money on all those chemical, non biodegradable cleaning agents.