Green Cleaners: Buying Instead of Making

If you'd rather buy your household cleaners than make them, here is some information you should look for when choosing to find products that are good for the earth:

• All-Purpose Cleaner: should be chlorine-free, ammonia free, solvent free
• Window & Mirror Spray: should be ammonia-free with no synthetic fragrances or dyes
• Liquid Dish Soap: should be plant-based, biodegradable, with no synthetic fragrances or dyes.
• Dishwashing Detergent: should be plant-based, biodegradable, phosphate free, chlorine-free, with no synthetic dyes or fragrances.
• Oxygen Bleach: should be chlorine-free.
• Stain Remover: should be plant-based, biodegradable, chlorine-free, and solvent free.
• Toilet Bowl Cleaner: should be plant-based, biodegradable, chlorine-free, and ammonia-free.
• Surface Scrub: should be plant-based, biodegradable, chlorine-free, with no synthetic dyes or fragrances.
• Concentrated Cleaners: should be plant-based, biodegradable, with no synthetic fragrances or dyes.

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Green Cleaning: Non-Toxic Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Non-Toxic Toilet Bowl Cleaner:

Ingredients ~

• 1 cup borax
• 1/2 cup white vinegar

Here's what you do with it ~

• Flush the toilet to wet the bowl.
• Sprinkle borax around the toilet, then liberally apply vinegar on tip.
• Let sit for 3-4 hours and then scrub.

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Green Cleaning: Air Freshener Spray

Air Freshener Spray:

Ingredients ~

• 1 clean 12-oz. spray bottle


• 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol


• 25 drops bergamot essential oil


• 8 drops clove essential oil


• 5 drops lemon essential oil


• 1 cup distilled water

Here's what you do with it ~

• In the spray bottle, combine the alcohol and oils, shake well to disperse oil.


• Add water and shake for a minute or two to blend.


• Let the mixture sit for a few days before using. This will allow the fragrance to blend.

A quick spritz will freshen a room!

You can experiment with different oils like lavender, pine, orange, grapefruit, eucalyptus, rose or spearmint.

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Green Cleaning: Fabric Softener

Fabric Softener:

Ingredients ~

• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup white vinegar

Here's what you do with it ~

• Fill the washing machine with water.
• Add the baking soda and then the clothing.
• During the final rinse, add vinegar or pour into softener dispenser.

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Green Cleaning: Automatic Dishwashing Detergent

Automatic Dishwashing Detergent:

Ingredients ~

• 2 cups borax
• 2 cups washing soda
• 1 clean 32-oz. plastic container with cover

Here's what you do with it ~

• Combine the borax and washing soda in the container and seal it tightly for storage.
• For each load of dishes, put two tablespoons of the mixture in the dishwasher soap dispenser.
• For sparkling dishes, add 1 to 1-1/2 cups of white vinegar to the rinse cycle or pour vinegar into the rinse compartment before starting.

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Green Cleaning: Super Window and Glass Cleaner

Super Window & Glass Cleaner:

Ingredients ~

• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
• 3-1/2 cups water
• 1 clean 32-oz. spray bottle

Here's what you do with it ~

• Mix all the ingredients in a spray bottle.
• Shake well before using.
• Spray on surface; use newspaper to wipe.

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Green Cleaning: Citrus Disinfectant Spray

My kids have been on their school's environmental team for the past few years. They brought home several "recipes" for non-toxic cleaners so I thought I'd share them.

Citrus Disinfectant Spray

Ingredients ~

• Peel from one orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime


• 3 cups white vinegar


• 1 clean quart jar with lid


• 1 clean 32-oz. spray bottle

Here's what you do with it ~

• Combine citrus peel and vinegar in quart jar. Fasten the lid and store the mixture in the cupboard for two weeks. Give it an occasional shake during this time.


• After two weeks, remove the peel from the jar, strain vinegar and return to jar.

To use as a spray cleaner, pour one cup of citrus vinegar in the spray bottle and fill it with water.

To use it to clean linoleum floors, add one cup of citrus vinegar to two gallons of water.

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Green Cleaning

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting many recipes to make your own household cleaners that are safe for the environment and your family. My kids brought these home from their Green Team meetings at their school (environmental team). These could help prevent 32 million chemicals from being dumped down our drains every day. Wow! That's a lot!

Take care of our environment. Take care of our wildlife. Take care of ourselves.


Subscribe to my blog so you don't miss the Green Cleaning series of posts coming soon.

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The Buzz Today - 5/7/09

The Buzz for Thursday, May 7, 2009:

• Today is the National Day of Prayer. There's a controversy about President Obama doing away with the tradition Former President George W. Bush made of the day with a service at the White House. About the only time you'll see me agreeing with President Obama thus far during his term will be on this issue. I don't believe the government and religion should mix. A private service for the President, should he feel the need or desire to do so, is appropriate in my opinion. Religion and faith are private, not federal.


• Maybe not the best place to put this following information about the National Day of Prayer, but there's supposedly racy photos of Carrie Prejean (Miss California of the Perez Hilton controvery the last couple of weeks) floating around. Do I care? Not really. I guess she may lose her crown over it and if those are the rules then I guess if you are going to be a part of pageants who have this rule, then you should abide by the rules. Personally, I don't really care. I don't watch pageants.


• Clayton Homes has introduced their iHouse (or iHome)...supposed to be 30% more efficient than the traditional houses built, reducing the carbon footprint.
• Censorshipbook.com: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio
  
  
  
  

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