Greening my cleaning

Cleaning greener has been on my to do list. I have accumulated quite a few cleaning products and decided that I would just use those up before turning to other means of cleaning. After this past weekend, I started thinking maybe I won't wait.

I spent the majority of Sunday grocery shopping and preparing several meals from Fix, Freeze, and Feast (more on that in another blog). The kitchen was a mess, plus it smelled like garlic and onions. I used a multi-purpose cleaner with bleach to clean the sink and a different type of cleaner for the counters. Well, when Harper got up from her nap she said that the house stunk. She was so bothered by the smell she went to her room and closed the door. We finally had to open some windows and air out the house. Of course Mitch also made a sign for his Dad's 60th birthday party using a sharpie. I am not sure if it was a combination of all these things or just one that made Harper sick, but it really bothered me. It can not be good to breathe something that smells that toxic.

I have been using vinegar to clean the kids humidifiers and a couple of weeks ago I soaked the kitchen faucet in some to remove all of the crud that had formed. My friend Tara says she uses vinegar, water, and some essential oils to clean just about everything. Wow. Why do we have to have all of these toxic cleaners when something so simple works just as well? Check out this site
to see all of the things you can do with vinegar.

There are products on the market that you can buy that are non-toxic, biodegradeable, and made from renewable resources (not petroluem) like Simple Green, Clorox Greenworks, and the Seventh Generation products. However, I like the idea of going back to the basics, so I am going to give vinegar and baking soda a shot. I'll let you know how it goes.