Today I am scrambling around my house trying to get it cleaned up before my husband comes home from his business trip. Floors need mopped, counters need scoured, etc. However, being pregnant, the noxious fumes from household chemicals give me a headache and make my nose burn. I've been sitting here trying to come up with something a little less evasive that won't make the house smell like a chemical factory.
The answer: Baking Soda!
Good ol' baking soda is good for more than school volcano projects or baking cookies. Baking soda, I've found, is one of the most versatile and environmentally safe cleaners out there. You can use it as an abrasive, in your laundry, as a deodorizer, a scrubbing paste, and much more. The best part is-you can buy several large boxes of baking soda for the cost of one bottle of multi-purpose spray cleaner that's chock full of chemicals.
Let me share with you all that I will be doing today using natural items from around the house:
*To clean out and deodorize your refrigerator, start by making a thick paste of baking soda and water. Empty the fridge and scoop up a small bit of paste and scrub the inside shelves and sidewalls. This will not only act as a mild abrasive to get that stubborn mess off, but it will double as a deodorizer.
*You can use this same past to clean stubborn sticky spots and stains off your counter tops, as well as to scour out and deodorize your kitchen sinks.
*This same paste works great on cleaning toilet ring and acting as a deodorizer.
*vinegar works great to dissolve the lime build up on shower heads. Take a quart-sized bag of vinegar, and secure it around the shower head. Allow to sit for several hours to overnight. When you take it off, the build up should be gone.
*coffee and tea are great for bringing out the natural shine in wood. Simply take a rag and dip it in the coffee or tea and rub it gently into your wooden tabletops. Afterwards, buff away with a clean, dry linen cloth to absorb the moisture. You'll be surprised at how just a little of that will make your wooden tabletops shine! Tea also works well for cleaning hardwood floors as well.
*Lemon juice works well as a stain remover for laundry. Especially for rust and fruit-based stains.
*sprinkle some plain baking soda in your carpet (make sure little hands/mouths can't get down to eat it). leave it for a couple of hours, then vacuum it up.
I can go on and on, but you get the hint. Next time skip the harsh chemicals and pick up a box of baking soda and a bottle of vinegar. For less than one bottle of chemical cleaner you can clean your whole house in an environmentally-friendly way. Happy Earth Day!
HINT FOR THE DAY: Greasy, grimy grill got you down? Take a piece of aluminum foil, and cover the grate, shiny side down. Turn on the grill for 10-15 minutes, then remove the foil. The greasy mess will be gone!
CHECK THIS OUT!: 75 fantastic uses for baking soda: http://lifehackery.com/2008/07/22/home-4/
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