Cheap and natural cleaning alternatives
Nobody likes bathroom cleanup, and it's made worse by the harsh chemical products most people use for the job. Here's how to clean — naturally.
SQUEAKY CLEAN: Your water closet will be spotless with these green tips. (Photo: Evil Erin/Flickr) 
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Ice cubes and salt clean the bottom of a coffee pot fast and easy, put some salt in the pot then several ices cubes, swish it around and the burned in coffee is gone fast, and cheap.
Does Vinegar, Baking Soda or Salt remove mold?
will vinegar help get the puppy mistakes smells out of carpet?
Actually the vinegar with breakdown the urine.. and take it away so the pup won't resmell it and come back to the same spot..
you should pat dry the spot.. and then spray 2 parts vinegar:1 part water mixture.. pat dry until all the urine comes up
or if a big mess... clean with some carpet cleaner then finish with 2:1 mixture
It worked for my dog and light colored carpet
Growing up we always used a vinegar and water (probably 1:3 ratio) to clean up after the dog. Just use a rag or a scrub brush
I have been using Vinegar for years. It works great.
Not only is it useful for the lobs described in this article, but if you have mineral deposits building up on your sink faucets or showerheads, etc...just use a little vinegar. Spray...let set a few minutes and then wipe. If you have a large buildup, repeat a few times.
Also, If you have a room humidifier...soak the wicks in a mix of vinigar and water every few weeks. They will last for years.
Vinegar is a great all-purpose cleaner, but you don't want to use it on natural stone like granite or marble. Try (cheap) vodka. Some great ideas: www.cathysparkle.com
Put vinegar in washing machine - really gets rid of any odors - especially if you have pets.
I love the natural cleaners idea and will use them. If you have problems with sluggish or plugged up drains: 1 cup salt, 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup vinegar. Let it sit for at least an hour and then pour boiling water down the drain. Repeat if necessary and you can plunge it also. It really works -- I use it all the time. Got it from my mother-in-law years ago.
No more bleach! and other harsh chemicals
wow, use even half of these and your place will smell like a pickle factory
I'm asthmatic and found many of the newer cleaners were really causing problems. But I admit I was quite skeptical about whether vinegar could take on so many cleaning issues. I'm convinced now, though. I use it on my floors, in my bathroom, for laundry (I've given up softeners in the washer entirely, using vinegar in the rinse cycle instead--works great and it helps the washer stay clean, too). My clothes are soft and clean.
And vinegar is WAY cheaper than the chemical cleaners.... More
Vinegar and Baking Soda have been used as natural cleaning products for a long time now. Been cleaning kitchens, bathrooms, and clogged pipes with vinegar and baking soda for years now and it works great. And the smell does go away after a short bit. Much better than the harsh chemical smells of cleaners brought to the chemical companies.
The vinegar smell goes away and leaves everything "smell-less." It's a fabulous cleaner.
Had a couch recovered by a chain smoker - ugh. When we picked it up we had to spray it down with vinegar and water an leave it in the garage for several days. After that no smell of smoke. Same thing with a used car owned by a smoker. Sprayed it down, for several days smelled like a salad, then no smell. Great all around product.
I bought some Tupperware tumbler cups for my kids on eBay. They arrived like new, except for the awful smell of cigarette smoke! I washed them in soap & water and let them soak in vinegar for 3 or 4 days. I re-washed them and the smoke smell had completely disapeared. :)
Baking soda always works great to remove hardened food from pots and glass baking dishes.
A fellow college chem major in 1973 wanted to clean his toilet bowl but didn't want to spend money so, knowing toilet bowl cleaners were oxidizing agents and that potassium permanganate solutions were standard for cleaning lab glassware, he decided to use sneak some out of the chemistry department at UMBC. He didn't realize it was so strong it would also oxidize the ceramic toilet bowl as well! I wonder if a toilet with a permanent brown hue below the water line is still in UMBC's.... More
I prefer to use a swiffer to clean tile floors. Sweep up dry debris with a dry swiffer, then wet mop with a wet swiffer. Easy and fast!
I use a swiffer dry mop head with microfiber cloths to dry sweep and then with a wet dishcloth for daily damp mopping. For my weekly scrubdown, I use a swiffer with a dishcloth rinsed regularly in a water/vinegar solution. Not everyone will need to damp mop daily, but I have cats and the food dishes are in the kitchen, so I at least damp mop daily. Once I remodel the kitchen and get rid of the old linoleum and put in tile, I'll go back to using my steam mop once a week in the.... More
Swiffer has been proven unsafe for pets. The tile man said just use dishwashing detergent and water.
Whatever is in it stinks
Swiffer hasn't been proven unsafe for pets. It's perfectly safe. Check snopes.com, and stop needlessly scaring people please.
Wet swiffers contain chemicals. I only use natural cleaning products.
"Natural products" contain chemicals. Everthing is chemical. A potatoe contains chemicals, water is a chemical. You cannot avoid using chemicals. The notion that using "natural" products means "chemical free" is somehow better is false. So called "natural" products just have a different set of chemicals than common manufactured products.
the point isn't an attempt to avoid chemicals of all kinds forever and ever.... it's to limit the use of chemicals which cause damage when they enter our environment. And a wet Swiffer uses chemicals that have a negative impact for several reasons, while vinegar and water have a radically different impact.
Yes, and vitamin C is a chemical, too. One must choose one's chemical wisely.
I couldn't agree with Henry more. You hit the nail on the head!
Vinegar also works well on cleaning baked on gunk off of "nonstick" pans. What you do is combine 1 part white vinegar with 3 parts water, then boil for 10 minutes or so. That usually gets the gunk off.
I totally agree with you. I also use it to clean my coffeemaker and also the stainless steel coffee pot that gets very brown after a while. Hot vinegar will make it look as good as new. It also works on thermos bottles and stainless steel travel mugs. If something burns in a pot, you can use baking soda and water, boil it and let it sit. It will lift the burned food right off the pot and make it easier to get it totally clean.
Hi please try the attached and save money. So much better for the earth and your health AND pocket!!!!!
love mom
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