Archive for the ‘Recipes/ Tips’ Category

Here is an interesting article from Re-Nest – Clean Your Bathtub with a Grapefruit and Some Salt.

I have often used lemon juice in my homemade cleaning products, but this is an interesting use for produce that I don’t think I would have thought of.

See the full article with recipe HERE.

The discussion in the comments is interesting too – which is the lesser of the two evils for the eco-friendly – to “waste” food to clean your home, or to use manufactured products (a.k.a chemicals?)

Enjoy!

Let the machine do your dirty work!

There are many things around the house that never get cleaned- either because we forget about them or they’re just a real pain-in-the-neck! But what if we had some kind of automatic cleaningmachine to do it for us?

1. Shower Caddy

These necessary evils are magnets for soap scum, and impossible to clean in between all those wires! Toss it in the dishwasher and watch those soap-scum stalactites disappear! (Works for soap dishes too!)

2. Dish Drain

Funny how the tools we use to clean the dishes never get cleaned themselves! Dish drains (particularly the trays underneath them) are spotless after a run through the cycle.

3. Toothbrush

Both old-fashioned toothbrushes as well as the heads for electric toothbrushes will be free of those mouth-germs after a trip through “Pots and Pans!”

4. Stove Drip Pans

These can get permanently charred after only a few meals! Run drip pans from electric stoves and grates from gas stoves once a week to keep them like new!

5. Scrub Brushes

Much like the dish drain, the brushes we use to clean our dishes, scrub our potatoes, or scour our showers are never cleaned themselves! Keep them germ-free by cleaning them often.

Tired of staring at my badly tarnished unity candle, I decided to start exploring natural methods of polishing silver. (I had never actually polished any silver before since this is the only silver piece I own!)

Here is the recipe I tried first:

Silver Tarnish Remover

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
6 cups of warm water
1 sheet aluminum foil

Instructions:
Line a large bowl with aluminum foil (this is not to protect the bowl; it is part of the recipe.) Mix salt and soda with warm water in the bowl. Place silver items in mixture and soak for one hour. Dry and buff with a soft cloth.

This is the most common method I’ve come across in my years of natural cleaning research.

I didn’t have a container large enough to fit the entire candle holder in, so I used the largest baking dish I had, which submerged about half of it. Then I went to a movie.

4 hours later…

It didn’t really work. I experimented with adding more salt and soda and left it for another hour. Nothing.

I was pretty surprised by this actually, although I should know by now that not all natural cleaning recipes really work all that well (which is why I keep this blog in the first place!) This recipe is just so widely spread across the internet, I never really thought to question it. Maybe I did something wrong?

In the end, I used Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste (must be white paste not gel FYI) and it came out beautifully.

It would take quite a lot of toothpaste to polish something much larger than a candle stick though. If anyone out there in cyberspace has any other natural recipes for silver polish that could more easily handle large pieces, post them in the comments – I’d love to try them out!

Mix:

2 cups baking soda

1/2 cup liquid castile soap

4 tablespoons vegetable glycerin (acts as a preservative)

optional – 5-10 drops essential oil of your choice. Another alternative would be to just use scented castile soap, like Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap!

Store in a sealed glass jar. Shelf life of up to two years!

Mix equal parts walnut oil and lemon juice

Add a few drops of eucalyptus oil or other fragrant herb essential oil of your choice for fragrance (optional)

Rub generously into wood

Let stand for a few minutes and then buff with a soft dry cloth to a beautiful finish!

Fill a 32 oz spray bottle with warm water

Add 2 tablespoons of natural dish soap – I like Seventh Generation, Bi-O-Kleen, and Ecover. Don’t use conventional – it will be too soapy!

Add 20 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract to disinfect (find it in the supplements section of your local health food store.) 

Optional – add 5-10 drops of essential oil of your choice for fragrance. Lemon or Jasmine are my top picks! 

Shake gently, and enjoy your new scent of clean!

Add 1/2 cup vinegar to a 32 oz spray bottle

Fill the rest of the way up with warm water

Add 1 tsp of Dr. Bronners Peppermint Soap

Shake!

Voila! No more streaks!

I love my steamer. I would be lost without it. I didn’t even know what a steamer was before I got my start in the cleaning industry, and now I just can’t imagine life without one. When faced with dirty grout, a soap scummy shower, sticky baseboards or other tough messes, it is a lifesaver. 

For example, just last week the grout in my kitchen was black. Fed up with looking at it, I pulled out the steamer. Here is the after pic: 

No nasty chemicals, just my steamer and a grout brush. 

Steamers are easy to use, melt away grease, dirt, grime, and soap scum effortlessly, and are relatively inexpensive. They clean with the power of dry steam – usually heated to between 240 and 275 degrees – sanitizing hard surfaces using only water. 

We have two: 

The “big steamer” for large jobs will run continuously for 45 minutes without refilling. We paid around $100 on Amazon. 

The “baby steamer” is for quicker jobs, running around 15 minutes at a time.  I think I picked this one up for around $30 at Walmart one day when big steamer was being repaired.

Please keep in mind steamers should not be used around small children or pets! They are safe to use on most hard surfaces, but always be sure test a small area first. Happy cleaning!

Here are two more tools no natural cleaner should be without – the pumice stone and the plastic putty knife. 

Pumice Stone 

Natural Pumice Stones are another well kept secret of the cleaning industry. They will remove stains and mineral deposits from toilet bowls, and scrub burnt on messes from ovens like nobody’s business. Cleaning-quality pumice stones are sold in the cleaning supply aisle of most stores, and crumble easily when wet (do not attempt to use a cosmetic-quality pumice stone in your toilet!) To avoid scratching, keep your pumice stone very wet when in use, and test a small area first. If it doesn’t scratch, go to town with it! 

Plastic Putty Knife

Have you ever been cleaning your kitchen, wiping along innocently, and suddenly run into a mysterious glob of something – petrified pancake batter, or worse, dried egg -  and it just won’t budge? No need to pull out the big guns (chemical cleaners) in an attempt to dissolve it. Just whip out your plastic putty knife, scrape it away easily, and move on. I recommend sticking with a plastic knife to minimize risk of scratching.