Make the Switch: The Why’s and How’s of Natural Home Cleaning
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We are at the beginning of yet another wonderful new year. And in the spirit of starting fresh in 2022, we here at the SDC thought it might be a good time to pay more attention to a commonly overlooked household item – our cleaning products!
During your grocery shops at the local supermarket, what do you look for when buying a cleaning product? Is it the brand? The price? Maybe the ingredients used?
We admit that, sometimes, we fall prey to unbelievably great discounts and one-time special offers. But are you aware that some of these 100-per cent-germ-killing cleaning products can actually be more harmful than effective?
That is probably the reason why more and more people these days are going all-natural.
Of course, we know that there is a lot of talk about “chemical-free” cleaning products on the internet, but we must note that the term ‘chemicals’ is used to simply describe any compound or substance. Even water is considered a chemical substance!
So worry not if you ever encounter the word ‘chemical’ because every natural cleaner will surely have some kind of chemical substance in its ingredient list. At the same time, you can infer that brands that claim to be “chemical-free” are, well, lying to you.
So, if you wish to make the switch and become a greener and more mindful consumer, let us convince you further with these four reasons.
Credit: ThamKC/Getty Images/iStockphoto.
The first (and probably the best) reason to opt for natural cleaners is to protect you and your family from toxic products.
Studies have found that daily exposure to harsh cleaning products (such as bleach, detergents, glass cleaners, etc.) can increase health risks, especially for our skin and respiratory system.
And such health risks are dangerous, especially if you have young grandchildren at home. Breathing in toxic fumes can expose kids to long-term health problems, such as asthma, while contact with these products can cause allergic reactions and skin irritations such as eczema.
Natural cleaning products are more suited for home cleaning.
Aside from protecting your family, opting for greener cleaning products will also protect your home while cleaning it.
Commercial cleaning products usually have harsh ingredients that are corrosive, which may affect your home’s floors, walls, benchtops, even appliances and furniture.
Misuse of products with bleach and chlorine tend to leave hard-to-remove marks and stains, and may also fade the colours of your furniture and paints.
Natural cleaning products are more eco-friendly.
Switching to natural cleaning products is not only good for your home and your health, but it is also good for the environment.
When we pour cleaning products down the drain, they enter our area’s waterways. And since many common cleaning products have ingredients that are known to harm the environment, they may disrupt the local flora and fauna. A few examples are sodium lauryl sulfate (known to be toxic to aquatic life), phthalates (may cause reproductive health issues in animals), phosphorus, and nitrates.
Natural cleaning products are cheaper and more cost-effective.
Contrary to popular belief, green cleaning products are actually cheaper, and much more sustainable, than their commercial counterparts. They are also the cleaning products we used to opt for before all these cleaning products became so heavily marketed to us and accessible.
Rather than buying multiple products to clean your kitchen, bathroom, toilets, showers, sinks, and windows, most natural products function as a multi-use cleaner, which cuts down unnecessary costs and waste.
They can also be bought from your local supermarkets, with some you can even make yourself! Like, remember mum’s vinegar and bi-carb concoction? Or vinegar and water? They often work just as good as store-bought cleaning products. If you’re after some natural cleaning “recipes” for around your home, then keep on reading!
Credit: The Spruce / Ulyana Verbytska.
Here are some tips and tricks on using natural cleaners for common home problems:
Credit: The Spruce / Margot Cavin.
We can bet you probably have a bottle of vinegar sitting in your kitchen pantry right at this moment. But aside from dressing your salad and seasoning your meat and vegetables, vinegar is also an excellent cleaner and disinfectant because of its acidic nature.
And while there are a lot of types of vinegar available in the supermarkets, we recommend using white distilled vinegar for cleaning.
The first reason is: it doesn’t have a colouring agent. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about it staining any of your surfaces.
Another reason is it has about 5 per cent acidity, which is almost similar to the acidity level of many common multipurpose cleaners.
You can mix equal amounts of water and vinegar in a spray bottle to remove any hard-seated grease from kitchen appliances. Aside from its cleaning properties, it can also freshen our laundry and make them soft again.
However, one small caveat of this natural, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly cleaner is its strong odour, but you can always mask it by adding a few drops of your favourite essential oils (we suggest lemon or lavender!).
Credit: Heike Kampe/Getty Images.
One of our members, who goes by the username KGB71, even recommended salt for removing water stains. Simply add salt to a small amount of cooking oil and mix it into a paste. Dab the mixture generously onto any water stain and leave overnight. The salt is said to draw out the moisture from the wood, removing the water stain, while the oil prevents the wood from discolouration and from drying out too much.
Credit: Joshua Resnik / Shutterstock.
As the saying goes: When life gives you lemons… use them to clean your home! Did we get that right?
Lemons are not only great as ingredients to our desserts and dishes, but they are also a great all-natural alternative for most commercial cleaning products.
Since lemons contain some of the most powerful naturally occurring acids in food, you can also use them to cut grease and kill bacteria. Simply rubbing a slice of lemon on your kitchenware can remove stubborn grease and leftover dirt (isn’t nature amazing?).
You can also remove build-up of hard water in your faucets or sink by spraying lemon juice on the affected area. After leaving it on for around 15 minutes, simply wipe it away. Leaving lemon juice on floor grout for about a minute is said to be effective as well.
Lemons also work effectively as deodorisers. Simply boil slices of lemon with water and white vinegar to remove the pungent smell in your kitchen.
Credit: Facebook / Mums Who Clean.
For home laundry, washing soda is used to remove a wide range of stains, including coffee, tea, grease, mud, and even blood stains.
Here, one mum used washing soda, along with other natural household ingredients, to make her own DIY laundry powder to ease her children’s skin condition!
On the other hand, this is a recipe for an all-purpose ‘miracle spray’ that makes use of other common household products that are big cleaners as well, such as vinegar, dishwashing liquid, eucalyptus oil (for scent), and water.
Credit: Tham Kee Chuan.
Bicarbonate of soda, also known as baking soda, is an extremely versatile household product that can be used as an extremely effective (yet gentle) abrasive and a natural deodoriser to dissolve dirt and cut through grime and grease. (Again, not to be confused with washing soda!)
When paired with white vinegar, the solution can clean and unclog drains, just like in this bathroom hack. It can also be mixed with water, citric acid, and your favourite essential oil to make this self-cleaning toilet bomb that would make your bathroom smell heavenly.
Are you finding it hard to let go of bleach? Use hydrogen peroxide instead! It can disinfect and function as well as bleach. Together with baking soda, they can be mixed to create a solution for cleaning bathroom tiles.
Who would have thought so many of the household items sitting in our pantry have plenty of other uses, particularly for cleaning?
We hope these all-natural cleaning hacks inspired you to skip the chemicals and make the switch! Do you know any other natural cleaning tips? Share them with us here!
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