Читать книгу The Going Green Handbook - Alice Mary Alvrez - Страница 11

Thought about cleaning greener, but got lost with all the various cleaners on the market? Not sure how environmentally-friendly they are, or not happy with the higher price tags? Well, with a few handy recipes, you can make some excellent non-toxic cleaning products for around the house that are much cheaper than anything you can buy.

General Surface Cleaner

No matter what the commercials say, you don’t really need to have a whole cabinet filled with cleaners for every specific purpose. One good general cleaner will go a long way, and you can make an easy one with basic ingredients.

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup baking soda

2 quarts water

Just mix everything together, let any fizzing settle down and store in a spray bottle. You can use this mix for lots of surface cleaning around the house. The vinegar is a naturally acidic disinfectant, and the baking soda gives just a hint of abrasive power. The baking soda can settle out if the bottle has been sitting for a while, so just give it a shake when those cleaning chores crop up.

Tub or Tile Cleaner

If you need a more robust cleaning solution for the tub, or even around the stove top in the kitchen, you just need to use a damp sponge and a sprinkling of baking soda. Just because it’s a tougher job, doesn’t mean you need harsher chemicals.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

You can use the surface cleaner to give your toilet a basic wipe-down, but for scrubbing inside the bowl, you’ll need a different recipe.

1/4 cup baking soda

1 cup white vinegar

Just dump both ingredients straight into the bowl and let it sit. The fizzing will help loosen the grime, and then you can use a standard toilet brush to finish the job.

Laundry Soap

For the more industrious DIY-er, you can even make your own laundry detergent.

1 bar of Ivory, Fels-Naptha ® or other pure soap - grated finely

1 cup Borax

1 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda)

Mix everything together and store in an air-tight container. Use just 1 tablespoon for an average load of laundry.