Eco-Friendly Home Cleaning Tips for Spring
Though many homeowners believe that harsh cleaners are needed to clean places like the inside of their oven, this isn’t necessarily true. Over time, harsh chemicals can degrade the components of the things they’re supposed to clean. Drain cleaners can cause pipes to break down and spring leaks, for example. They also tend to be bad for the environment. Here are some eco-friendly tips that can get your home sparkling clean for spring and still be suitable to nature.
Multi-use cleaning tools
Cleaning tools that you use once and then have to throw out are wasteful. This includes paper towels. Tossing bar towels, flour-sack towels, or repurposed face towels in the washing machine is less expensive.
Use everyday substances to clean
Some of the best cleaning products are inexpensive and easy to find. Baking soda, whether mixed with water or vinegar, is great for clogged drains, oven grease, refrigerator racks, burned pans, and even shoes. White vinegar and scrunched-up newspaper work for cleaning windows, and a solution of vinegar and water helps to prevent limescale in bathroom and kitchen fixtures. Cutting a lemon in two and using one half to scrub salt into a cutting board cleans and sanitizes it. Put the other half of the lemon in a bowl of water in the microwave, run the machine for five minutes, and let it sit for 15 minutes. You’ll be able to wipe the walls.
Hydrogen peroxide bubbles out a variety of stains. Isopropyl alcohol removes permanent ink and can clean your computer’s keyboard and mouse, return the sparkle to a chrome fixture, and clean Venetian blinds. Warm or hot water with a squirt of dishwashing detergent or soap can clean things beautifully.
Compost your food scraps
It’s sort of a shame to throw food scraps in the trash. They not only go to waste but cause you to buy more garbage bags, and most garbage bags aren’t particularly eco-friendly. One way to avoid these problems is to compost. Invest in a composting bin or build a composting area in a corner of your yard. Toss the right food scraps and old paper, including used paper towels you can't quit, into a kitchen bucket. Take them outside, and add them to the compost bin. Turn the bin either with a hand crank or the pile with a gardening fork and give the pile some water now and then. Over time, composting breaks down materials into wonderful fertilizers for your garden.
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