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Natural Cleaning Products To Use In Your Home

Natural cleaning products are gaining popularity, and it’s easy to see why with a bit of digging!

Our homes get dirty. Unfortunately, that’s a fact of life. A quick visit to the home improvement store will show you a seemingly endless amount of chemical cleaning products for your home, but these products may not be welcome in your home once you learn about the dangers they pose. For example, the American Lung Association identifies eight different household cleaners that may contain Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs. Aerosol sprays, air fresheners, and even detergent/dishwashing liquid might contain dangerous chemical compounds! Luckily, there are natural cleaning products that you can use as alternatives to the hazardous products!

Vinegar

It’s hardly a secret that vinegar is a jack-of-all-trades within the household. Cheap, safe, and versatile, vinegar can be used for cooking, cleaning, and more! Vinegar can clean your countertops, your dishes, your stainless steel appliances, and even your laundry! Usually, you will want to dilute the vinegar with some water. You can add baking soda to vinegar to create a cleansing paste that can be used to scrub out your bathtub and shower! If the vinegar smell bothers you, you can use apple cider vinegar instead of regular distilled white vinegar, but the smell will disappear after about an hour. You can even add essential oils to your vinegar mixture!

Witch Hazel

Witch haze is as magical as it sounds! You can clean your jewelry, refresh your yoga mats, and use it in a room spray mixture. If you have vinyl, tile, or linoleum floors in your home, witch hazel can be a powerful cleaner when you mix it with some warm water. If your floors are particularly dirty, you can add a tablespoon of borax to the witch hazel solution.

Baking Soda

Baking soda has more utility than being able to create an explosion when you mix it with vinegar! As mentioned above, baking soda is perfect if you need a more powerful cleaning agent to add to your vinegar. I have found baking soda to be perfect for absorbing odors from my upholstered furniture. Every six months or so, I like to do a refresh of my cloth furniture and rugs. Simply sprinkle a layer of baking soda around the surface, wait about an hour, and vacuum it all up!

Dr. Bronner’s All-One Castile Soap

Alright, y’all. If you somehow aren’t aware of Dr. Bronner’s soap, now you are. This stuff is amazing. It can be used for just about any kind of cleaning that you could imagine doing in your home. Use it on dishes, use it for your laundry, mop the floors, wash your hair, even brush your teeth! Dr. Bronner’s is safe and effective in so many applications. Seriously. Go get a bottle, you won’t regret it.

Bonus! Air Freshener Alternatives

Many commercially available air fresheners are terrible for the environment, and are definitely not good to be breathing in. If you want some natural, potent ways to keep your home smelling magnificent, there are lots of great options! One of my favorite air freshening methods is to create a potpourri on the stove. In the autumn, try mixing some apple cider, orange slices, vanilla, cinnamon, and clove in a large pot of water and simmer to create a warm, cozy scent that will fill your home! In the spring and summer, try mixing some lemon juice, orange slices, rosemary, and lavender into a large pot of water for a delightfully fresh springtime scent! You can also burn incense sticks, resin such as frankincense, or palo santo sticks as a way to fill your home with lovely scents without relying on chemicals.