General Cleaning
1Instead of cleaning products that contain harsh chemicals, try using:
- White vinegar – to clean windows, counter tops, chrome, grease and floors
- Baking soda – to absorb odours, and clean ovens, sinks and counter tops
- Lemon juice – to clean windows, sinks and grease
- Vegetable oil, lemon oil – as a furniture polish
- Plant-based dish soaps
- Borax – as a substitute for chlorine bleach. Borax should be used sparingly, as it too can be toxic in high doses
- Washing soda – to whiten laundry and cut back on the amount of detergent needed
Tips:
- To clean your oven, sprinkle with baking soda, spray with water and leave on for 12 hours, respraying the water periodically. Scrub until clean.
- To open a clogged drain, use baking soda followed by boiling water or vinegar.
- Try using herbs and spices or boiling a lemon instead of using commercial air fresheners.
- For an all-purpose cleaner, use a 50:50 mix of water and white vinegar.
- To save time, make your cleaners in advance.
- Label all ingredients, and keep them out of reach of children.
- Wear rubber gloves when cleaning. Even though products are environmentally safe, they may nevertheless irritate the skin of sensitive individuals.
Laundry
Use:
- A mixture of one cup soap flakes, ½ cup borax and ½ cup washing soda as a laundry soap
- Sodium perborate or hydrogen peroxide as a chlorine-free, natural bleach
- ½ to 1 cup of white vinegar in the rinse cycle of your laundry, to soften clothes and remove odours and residual detergent (instead of fabric softener)
- Less-toxic commercial
- laundry products – look for ones that have been certified as safer, and carry an EcoLogo
Other tips:
- If you still want to use a “regular” detergent, try one that is scent-free.
- Instead of dry cleaning clothes, try hand washing or “wet cleaning” (a relatively new procedure that doesn’t use perchlorethylene (PERC), a strong irritant, known to be a neurotoxin and carcinogen at higher doses)
- https://www.womenscollegehospital.ca/care-programs/environmental-health-clinic/healthy-environment/ ↩︎
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