Green Friday

The first of what I hope will be many “Green Fridays” where I’ll be sharing environmental news, attempting to spread the word on pressing environmental issues and hopefully get your feedback and opinions on the subjects.  I might also just take the time to share some ideas on how to minimize your own negative impact on the environment.

Today’s topic is green cleaning.  I’ve spoken about it before but I can’t stress enough that you don’t need to use chemical cleaning products to get things clean!  You’ll save money and contribute to greening.

• Baking Soda/Sodium Bicarbonate:
  • Good at removing stains
  • Scours sticky messes
  • neutralizes acid
  • softens hard water
  • excellent deodorizer
  • good for polishing aluminum, porcelain, stainless steel
• Beeswax:
  • Can be used as a furniture polish if carefully melted down and combined with essential oils and distilled water

• Borax:
  • Deodorizes
  • limits the growth of mould and mildew
  • freshens laundry
• Cream of tartar
  • removes stains in tubs, sinks and toilets
• Lime Juice:
  • powerful cleaner that cuts grease
• Olive oil:
  • great for softening leather furniture
  • alternative to furniture polish
• Orange Oil:
  • great for polishing furniture when mixed with beeswax or olive oil.  Cleans and freshens.
• Salt:
  • cleans abrasively
  • best way to clean wooden cutting boards
  • deoderizes
  • mix with vinegar for great all purpose cleaner
• Tea tree oil:
  • kills germs, mould, mildew
  • antibacterial and antifungal properties
• WHITE Vinegar:
  • the best natural cleaner – disinfectant
  • cuts grease
  • when warmed it loosens caked on gunk (try warming equal parts water and vinegar in a glass bowl in your microwave then wipe away the gunk)
  • great stain remover

I could write a book about the recipes to create cleaners but I don’t have to.  Many people already have.  Amazon and Indigo have several green cleaning guides to offer but if you don’t want to buy a book, you can get some recipes for free via the greenpeace site, as well as at one of my favourite green sites, EarthEasy.

You might have to use a little more elbow grease, but it will get you up and moving, making your home a healthier environment to live in, and helping to conserve the natural environment not to mention saving a few dollars on cleaning products.  Here is one comparison:

A 32oz bottle of Windex costs about $5.00 but a 135oz jug of white vinegar costs about $3.

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