Cleaning Supplies You Can Eat – How to Clean Your Home with Food

Clean With Food

Are you still cleaning your house with store-bought cleaners? Save money and your health by cleaning your house with food items instead.

People tend to think that if a chemical is available for purchase, it must be safe. Thing is, virutally none of our tests for chemical safety look at the long-term effects. This article goes into the details of just how toxic most common household cleaners really are.

Just because a product doesn’t kill you in a matter of hours doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

Studies show that the air pollution inside homes is often eight times worse than outdoors, and that’s mostly due to commercial cleaning products. Things like oven cleaners and wood polish are some of the worst offenders.

Sure, you can just buy so-called “green” cleaning products, but it’s cheaper and easier to make your own.

Baking soda and vinegar* will tackle virtually any household job without making you want to gag on the chemical fumes of “cleanliness”.

Here’s how to clean your home with food items:

Virtually anything else can be scrubbed with a paste of water and baking soda, and then sprayed down with a vinegar rinse. The vinegar and baking soda react, so you’ll get rid of any gritty baking soda that’s left behind.

If you absolutely hate the smell of plain white vinegar, you can add essential oils. They pack a cleansing punch of their own, but they’re not necessary.

I reuse an old glass apple cider vinegar bottle by putting a spray nozzle on it and then fill it half and half with white vinegar and water. Then I add about 20 drops of essential oils. Orange, lemon, peppermint and tea tree oils smell yummy and are great for cleaning.

• You can use this mix to spray down your shower walls when they’re wet, to keep them clean longer.
• Sprinkle baking soda on the carpet and vacuum it up about ten minutes later to get rid of odors.
• Counter-tops can be sprayed and wiped down with vinegar. The kitchen floor can be mopped with vinegar and water, too.
• Bathtubs, tiles, and stainless steel sinks can be scrubbed with baking soda and water.
• You can use plain vinegar for mirrors and windows too.
• If you need to clean something wooden, add a bit of olive oil to the cloth you’re using, and then spray and wipe down with vinegar. The oil will act as a wood polish. If you miss the lemon smell of commercial polish, just add a few drops of lemon essential oil!

Don’t want to make your own? Aunt Fannie’s cleaning vinegar is made with 100% food products:

*Full disclosure: I keep pure castile soap around the house to clean with, too. NOT because it’s essential to clean with–but because it’s just so versatile. I can use it to wash my dishes, scrub my floors, and it even triples as body-wash. It has about 27 different uses, and it’s biodegradable, unlike most commercial cleaners.

If you want specific recipes for stuff like carpet shampoo, car vinyl polish, and MUCH more, check out the fantastic book Clean House, Clean Planet, by Karen Logan to learn how to clean with food!