Most of the cleaning products or cleaners you purchase from stores will get you the results you want. However, what they can’t guarantee is the safety of these products. There are hidden toxins in your cleaning products you may be unaware of.
Our focus here is to offer you safer alternatives you can use. These home remedies for house cleaning can easily be mixed and used with no side effects.
As you read on, you’ll find commercial cleaning products increasingly unattractive due to their side effects.
Hidden Toxins in Home Cleaning Products
Do home cleaning products really contain toxins? Unfortunately, a lot do contain harmful chemicals. These range from phthalates, triclosan, PERC (also called perchloroethylene), and 2-butoxyethanol.
Others are quaternary ammonium compounds, chlorine, ammonia, and sodium hydroxide. How are these harmful?
They are in many ways. You’re likely to experience different types of irritations with their use. Common irritations associated with commercial cleaning product use include eye and throat irritations.
With continued or sustained use, more severe health conditions may arise such as cancer. It’s much safer to use home remedies for your home cleaning needs.
This helps you avoid all of the above risks.
7 Safe & Powerful Home Cleaning Remedies
There are varieties of home remedies that are safe and will serve your cleaning needs. These include the use of simple household products such as vinegar & soda, rubbing alcohol, lemon, and rye bread.
Other household items you can use for cleaning include tea thyme, borax, salt, and melamine foam sponges. You likely have most of these items.
If you don’t, they can be readily bought from your local store.
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Cleaning the Dishwasher
To clean your dishwasher using locally prepared home remedies, you’ll need a dishwasher safe jar (a bowl can also be used). To this bowl, pour in about 2 cups of vinegar. This should be set or placed at the top rack.
Switch on the dishwasher and run a hot cycle.
It’s important to remove any other dishes in the washer apart from your jar containing vinegar. What results after this process is a dishwasher that’s free of a musty odor.
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Making Stainless Steel Sparkle
Sometimes, stainless steel gets stained with continued use. The good news is that such stains can be removed using home remedies. There are two main types of stainless steel stains; watermark and rust mark stains.
To remove watermark stains, you’ll need some surgical spirit and a piece of clean cloth. This is dipped in the surgical spirit and rubbed over the stained areas until they disappear.
A different approach is done for rust stains. Here, the stained area will need to be treated with water, non-abrasive scouring powder, and lighter fluid. A drop of lighter fluid is all that needs to be added to the scouring powder.
Now, rub the area and clean or rinse off for a brilliant surface.
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Oven Cleaning with Baking Soda
Your baking soda will come in handy when adopting the home-remedy approach. Make a paste of baking soda and water. This paste is placed at the bottom of the oven and allowed to sit for a few hours (approximately 3 hours).
When you clean or wipe off your oven surface, it sparkles.
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Sterilizing your Sink with Rubbing Alcohol
Instead of using expensive and toxic cleaners, all you need is some rubbing alcohol to get rid of germs. Sterilization of a sink is best performed by filling a spray bottle with full-strength rubbing alcohol.
Spray its contents over your sink and use a clean towel. This should kill any germs lurking around.
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Clean and Disinfect Surfaces with Citrus Infused Vinegar
This is another easy-to-make home cleaning remedy you can make. Get some citrus peels (whether those from orange or lemon etc) and put into a bowl or container. Next pour in some white vinegar until the citrus peels are covered.
This home cleaning remedy isn’t used immediately but is allowed to stay a couple of days (about 2 weeks). The vinegar is then strained and used for a variety of cleaning tasks. Apart from cleaning, it can be used to disinfect surfaces.
It’s important not to use this directly. Dilute with equal parts water for mopping, window cleaning, and a variety of other tasks.
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Use Tea Thyme to Clean Porcelain
Certain sinks are made of porcelain. This beautiful material adds a brilliant feel to your home. However, such surfaces are eventually ruined by using abrasive cleaners. This doesn’t have to be so.
With lemon thyme tea, you only need a few numbers.
Place about 5 or more of lemon thyme tea into a bucket (preferably metal) and fill with hot water. Allow to sit for about 5 hours and strain the water. This solution should then be poured into your porcelain sink.
Before you do this, you’ll need to stop your sink to ensure the water doesn’t go down the drain.
Having filled to the brim, allow sitting overnight. After removing your stopper for the water to flow out, you should have a clean and odorless sink.
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Air Freshener
Homes need to be freshened up to smell nice. To do this, you’ll need a slice each of lime, orange, and lemon. Next, get 2 tablespoons rosemary, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons of thyme.
You also need a dash of nutmeg and cloves, a piece of chopped ginger root, and a dash of vanilla. All of these ingredients should be emptied into a medium-sized saucepan and a quart of water added. Now simmer for as long as you want. It’s important not to allow the water to completely evaporate.
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Removing Pencil Marks with Rye Bread
Some cleaning needs may require the removal of pencil marks on surfaces. These sketches can be gotten rid of by getting a slice of rye bread and gently rubbing over such a surface. This should serve to get rid of the pencil marks.
An alternative to consider involves the use of an art-gum eraser. This gives you the same good results.
These are some popular home remedies to replace commercial and potentially harmful cleaners. You can easily make these with common home items and save money while performing an excellent job.