Top 3 Natural Cleaning Products You Need

Who wants to live in a dirty home? Nobody, that’s who. These days, almost everything in your house is cleanable with the help of various cleaning products. But you don’t have to use chemicals to achieve clean results. In fact, there are top 3 natural cleaning products are much better for you and for your family as well.

I want to share my top 3 natural cleaning products because I truly think they can make a tremendous difference in your home.

What are Natural Products?

We made natural cleaners from ingredients that can be found in nature or in our kitchen cabinets. Some of the most commonly used natural cleaning products include baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice, salt, lavender oil, lemon peels, and essential oils.

Vinegar

Vinegar can be used for so many things. It’s honestly amazing. If you’re looking for a good, all-purpose cleaner, vinegar is something that you should always have in your house. Since vinegar is acidic, it works great to remove rust. It also does a great job of breaking down grease and cutting through soap residue. If you have a hard time getting rid of stains on your carpet or in your clothes, vinegar can help you remove them.

The best thing about vinegar is that it doesn’t have any negative side effects like the other products on this list do. It’s safe to use around children and pets, but it can still get the job done if you need to clean up after them too!

Olive Oil

I have been using olive oil as a natural cleaning product for several years now. I first learned about it when I read The Wholesome Cookbook. Olive oil is wonderful to use because we can use it in so many ways. Here are some of how I use it:

Cleaning Produce and Fruit:

I use a little olive oil to clean off produce like apples and potatoes before eating them. It makes the fruit taste so much fresher! Just rub a little olive oil on your hands, then rub the produce along with your hands. Then just wash your hands as you normally would.

Cleaning metal and glass:

I use the end of a paper towel to apply olive oil to my stainless steel sink, then wipe it down with another paper towel. This will leave your sink shiny and fingerprint-free! You can also use this method of metal silverware and glass cookware.

Baking Soda

Baking soda is one of the most popular natural cleaning products you can use in your home. There are so many ways you can use it. You can clean your refrigerator, oven, microwave, flooring, and much more with baking soda. This ingredient is very cheap and an all-natural way to get rid of all the nasty things in your house. These are three significant reasons you should start using baking soda as one of your primary cleaning products today.

Conclusion:

No matter what type of house you have, you can reduce the number of toxic chemicals in your home. And by using natural cleaning products, you will not only be reducing the harmful chemicals and toxins in your home but also money spent on cleaning products too.

Guide To Natural Cleaning Ingredients and Their Benefits

With so many natural cleaning ingredients out there, selecting the best ones for your home can be a little overwhelming. Chances are you already have some of the best natural cleaning ingredients around your house, so here is your guide to natural cleaning ingredients and their benefits.

What do you actually need to know about natural cleaning ingredients?

Many people are switching over to natural cleaning products. Some people want to avoid harmful chemicals, while others want to save money. The average cleaning product from the store can be pretty harsh on your home and your health. Natural cleaning ingredients are much gentler on you and your home.

Natural ingredients are exactly what you’d think they are — substances that occur either in nature or because of natural processes. These ingredients aren’t always safer than their chemical counterparts, but they are less toxic. They’re often similar in price compared to regular cleaning products, although many natural ingredients can be used in place of multiple chemicals, so they might save you money in the long run.

Natural cleaning ingredient list

The best way to clean is to prevent messes. But this is easier said than done. That’s why you need cleaning products. If you have gone naturally with your cleaning products, then you need a guide to help you with all the ingredients out there. Here is a list of the best natural cleaning ingredients and their benefits:

White Vinegar—White vinegar is a popular ingredient in many natural recipes for cleaning. It helps cut grease and can used as an all around cleaner for your kitchen or bathroom. We have also found vinegar to work well on coffee and tea stains on cups and mugs.

Baking Soda—Baking soda comes in handy as an all-purpose cleaner, but it can also gently remove soap scum from shower doors and tile grout. Baking soda also works great for unclogging drains, sinks, garbage disposals, and drains.

Lemon Juice—Lemon juice is another popular natural cleaner which has antibacterial properties that make it great at killing germs and removing stains. We can even use a bit of lemon juice mixed with olive oil as furniture polish!

Castile Soap—A natural alternative to bleach, Castile soap can disinfect surfaces and remove stains.

The benefits of each natural cleaning ingredient

Now, I want to share with you some natural cleaning ingredients and their benefits. There are many benefits to making your own cleaning products.

1. It saves money!

2. There are no harsh smells or fumes when you make your own cleaners.

3. There are no harsh chemicals that are absorbed into your skin when you clean (which is why I prefer to use gloves when I am cleaning).

Key works to remember when using natural cleaning ingredients

Here are some of the key works to remember when using natural cleaning ingredients:

It’s unnecessary to go out and buy every single product listed here. Instead, think about your current cleaning routine and figure out which products you could replace with natural alternatives.

Use the internet. The best way to learn about natural cleaning ingredients is to look them up online. There are countless blogs and websites dedicated to this topic, so use them to your advantage!

Recipes are a good place to start. It's fun to search online for homemade recipes that include the ingredients you’re interested in trying out. Not only will you get new ideas, but you might also discover a product that’s already in your home that can be used as a cleaning ingredient!

Start slow. Don’t suddenly go from using chemical cleaners to only using natural ones without giving yourself time to adjust. It’s better to replace one product at a time instead of changing several at once.

Buy in bulk if possible. It’s better for the environment and cheaper in your wallet if you’re able to buy large quantities of natural products in their most concentrated form.

Conclusion

You now know what items we need for a natural cleaning regime, and the various benefits you can expect from using naturally derived ingredients. Now it’s up to you to get started and see what kind of difference natural cleaning can make.

Which Is Better: Natural or Store Bought Disinfectants?

You need to disinfect your home; so, you want the best product for the job, right? Thatís understandable. However, do you have to run to the store and pick up the first chemically-loaded disinfectant that you come across, or are there alternatives that are natural and safe for your home and family?

When most people think of a common disinfectant, they probably think of CloroxÆ or LysolÆ. Are they the best choices to use? What about the natural products available online? Or can you make your own? How do they compare in availability, price, and effectiveness?

While CloroxÆ and LysolÆ are available at almost any retailer that sells cleaning products; there are natural products that you can purchase online. You can also make your own disinfectant spray.

Clorox Bleach has been available commercially since 1913. They have created numerous cleaning products in the ensuing years. Their products range from plain CloroxÆ Bleach to aid in whitening clothes to cloths to help clean and disinfect hard surfaces around your home and a disinfecting floor and surface cleaner.

While CloroxÆ is well known for disinfecting, the products are not entirely safe if not used exactly as indicated. Two hazardous ingredients in many of the CloroxÆ are didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride and n-alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride. The packaging says to avoid skin contact and that you should use protective eye wear and gloves while using it.

The LysolÆ products have been in production a year longer than CloroxÆ Bleach. However theyíre not any less hazardous. LysolÆ also lists dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride 0.08% and dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride 0.02% in their ingredients.

So, if you want to disinfect your home, but donít want to subject your family to the chemicals in these well-known products, what options do you have? Watkins, a familiar name since 1868, found that pine oil is a natural disinfectant. This naturally-occurring disinfectant may just be what youíre looking for.

Pine oil (a phenolic disinfectant) is an essential oil used in cleaning products such as Pine Sol and similar products. You can use Pine Sol (which is a CloroxÆ product), but you can also purchase pine oil from various sources online as well as many local health food stores. By doing this, you are able to control the ingredients in your cleaner and disinfectant.

Other eco-friendly essential oils you can use to disinfect are tea tree oil and thyme. These essential oils are interchangeable when used in homemade all-purpose cleaners or disinfectants.

To make this homemade recipe, combine two tablespoons of borax (easily found in the laundry aisle of any grocery store) and one-fourth cup of lemon juice and two cups of hot water in a spray bottle. Cover the bottle and shake until the borax is dissolved. Add twenty drops of either tea tree oil or thyme essential oil. Shake again and then use as you would any commercial product.

Another homemade recipe, especially good for disinfecting toilets is a combination of vinegar and essential oils. Mix two cups of white distilled vinegar with three drops of tea tree, thyme, eucalyptus, or pine essential oils. Spray in the toilet then clean as usual. When making homemade cleaning products, please make sure to label the bottles.

While it may be easier to find commercially made cleaners and disinfectants, homemade cleaners and disinfectants can be made for pennies on the dollar. You can pronounce all of the ingredients that you add to them, and you can rest assured that what you use wonít be hazardous to your family.

You Can Unclog a Drain without Using Chemicals. Here's How:

It never fails! You've spent the last half hour or so getting ready for a very important meeting or date with your spouse. You look into the sink and thereís a clog. You really donít want to pour a chemical product into the sink to get rid of the clog, so what can you do?

Many people will say you should never use a chemical product because they just donít work. So what are your options? Those options will depend on how quickly you have to be out the door, and the amount of effort you want to expend.

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to move a clog is to use a plunger to try to move the clog out of the way with pressure. If you have previously used chemicals in the drain to remove the clog, make sure you use rubber gloves and safety glasses to protect yourself.

Following the plunger method, you could try plain, boiling hot water. Plug off the overflow holes and start pouring boiling water slowly down the drain. Leave the water in the sink for at least a half hour. The clog may dissipate on its own.

If you havenít used a commercial drain cleaning product recently, you might consider using this solution. All of these items would commonly be found in your kitchen.

Pour one-half cup of baking soda into your drain. Carefully pour one-half cup of vinegar over the baking soda and cover the drain, if at all possible. At this point, the two will begin bubbling just like a childís volcano experiment for school. After a few minutes the bubbling should stop.

Pour at least a half-gallon of boiling water over whatís left of the baking soda and vinegar. Then follow that with hot running water to flush it all down the drain. This process may have to be used more than once to clear the stubborn clog.

If after youíve tried the vinegar and baking soda and the clog is still there, you have other options besides chemicals. Do you have a ìsnake?î This is a 25-50 foot metal wire with a bulb at the end. You push the snake into the drain. When it hits the blockage, you just keep twisting until the drain runs free.

So youíve tried a plunger, vinegar and baking soda, boiling water, and a snake. What happens if your drain is still clogged? It might be time to bite the bullet and call a licensed plumber.

While home methods will sometimes work on the first or second try, there may be more of a problem than you realized. It is at those times that you will want to allow a professional to take over. Not only will they be able to get your drains running again, they might save you a bigger problem in the future.