Environmentally friendly, efficient cleaning

Posted on Wed Dec 19 2007

By: Susan Reed in Daily Green Tips

I recently caught a couple of episodes of the BBC’s great drama “How clean is your house” which featured some wonderful traditional methods of doing everything from getting your drain unclogged to getting your grout clean. This reminded me that many of the old fashioned remedies my Grandmother still uses not only work, but are much greener than cheap cleaners and much cheaper than ‘green’ cleaners. Here are my favorite green & cheap cleaning tricks that work with things you probably already have (or should have) on hand.

Baking Soda

Not only is it cheaper than Clorox-type cleansers, it works better! You probably already know of it’s uses in toothpaste and refrigerators, but it works wonderfully on any surface. I use it on the stove, the bath tub, the shower, the sink, the counters, etc. in the very same way you would use any other powdered cleanser. It is easiest to manage if you put it into an old jar and poke holes in the lid for easy sprinkling and then sprinkle on your SPONGE, not on the surface to be cleaned. I the second half of this tip from a book called “Speed Cleaning.” It’s true, if you put the baking soda onto the sponge it cleans just as well but takes about ¼ of the time to rinse off. The best part of using baking soda instead of a bleach-based cleanser is that you never have to worry about creating a toxic environment to cook in or on. This also is a great way to clean pans with stuck-on grease.

Vinegar

If I’m not using Baking Soda, I’m using vinegar. It has amazing properties for dissolving buildup from hard water, which I inevitably have. Coffee pots, tea kettles and my husband’s meditation fountain are all beneficiaries of vinegar’s cleaning powers- I mix half and half cheap vinegar with water and run through these appliances one or two times to get all the buildup off of them. “How Clean is Your House” reminded me that it’s also great to use vinegar for cleaning glass, just put a couple of drops into a spray bottle of water and use instead of ammonia-based cleansers. If you have fine hair, use the half and half vinegar water mixture instead of conditioner to add volume and shine to your hair after shampooing. It goes without saying, but don’t use Balsamic!

Aluminum Foil

I use aluminum foil for anything that requires some tough scrubbing, just wash aluminum foil after you’ve used it for covering or baking something and once it’s dry, wad it up and keep the balls in a sack until you need them. The wads work just like a steel wool pad, and are a great way to re-use aluminum foil. I have had wonderful success using them to clean my oven, pans (without non-stick surfaces of course) and car parts. Yes. Car parts, especially batteries (un hook first, of course) get beautiful shines if scoured with aluminum wads, great for removing rust (in small doses) and for getting tar off of wheels and wheel wells.

I have read that to clean silverware (true SILVER) you should boil water, add salt and aluminum foil and dip silverware in for a few moments and the tarnish will literally fall off. The science behind it seem strong, but I have never done it personally. Grandma swears by using lemon juice and elbow power.

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