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I am a HUGE advocate of using natural, healthy, green cleaning products in my home and I’ve been using them exclusively for last 5 years. Over the years, I’ve put together a great GREEN CLEAN TEAM and have a lot of experience staying away from chemically laden cleaners.
Products in my Green Clean Team:
Heinz Cleaning Vinegar – Vinegar is my number one go-to product in my Green Clean Team. I love it because it’s all natural, environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and edible. It’s so VERY, VERY versatile. I can use it to clean produce, clean my coffee pot, deodorize my laundry, my sink, my oven, my windows, mirrors, bath tub, AND COOK WITH IT!! What other product has all of those uses??
Lemon Juice – I love fresh lemon juice for a nice smell and it adds an extra punch for tough stains.
Baking Soda – I love this powder. I use baking soda to make homemade laundry soap, clean my sink, and other hard stains in the shower for instance.
Borax – This is another powder I love. While borax is all natural, it’s the only product I use that does include a warning label. Borax should not be ingested!
Essential oils like Tea Tree Oil – Essential oils also add another cleaning element.There’s a huge variety of essential oils. Some of them are naturally antibacterial (like Tea Tree oil), some are great for stains, some are great for smell (Lavender and Peppermint, for instance). Their use is very varied. They are also somewhat expensive so I don’t use them that often.
To contrast my Green Clean Team with more “normal” cleaning supplies, check out the warning labels on this popular “traditional” cleaning product!
I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel comfortable having this in my home. I can’t let my kids use it. I have to lock it up. I don’t want it under my sink leaching toxic fumes into my home and making it stinky and unsafe. Did you know indoor air quality is often worse than outdoor air quality?? Frankly, these labels SCARE me and I need chemical-free cleaning options in my home.
I was recently at Walmart and saw that Heinz has a new vinegar formulated specifically for cleaning.
This vinegar is located in a FOOD aisle… It has no scary warning labels on it.
Look at that! It says right on the container, SAFE FOR COOKING. Can you image eating any other cleaner?? Yeah. Me, neither {other than baking soda and lemons, of course…}.
Well, I’ve been buying vinegar to clean my home for years. I was skeptical of a new formula that says it’s specific for cleaning and had to try it out to see the difference.
I already had a huge gallon and half container of regular Heinz vinegar under my sink, so I bought a gallon of Heinz cleaning vinegar to test out. You can see pictures of my shopping trip here at my Google + album.
My humble opinion is that the extra acidity seems to make the #Heinz Cleaning Vinegar a bit more effective.
Next I put the Cleaning Vinegar to the test with a few dreaded tasks. I wish I could say that I let my house get this dirty for this blog post…but that might just not be true! Please don’t judge me for what you are about to see… 😉
Task #1 ~ Cleaning the top of my nasty stove
Before. Yeah, that’s pretty bad isn’t it? What can I say. I had to pull out all the big guns for this stove: vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. I have an industrial squirt bottle that I fill with half vinegar and half water. When the dirt and grime is particularly nasty, I use undiluted vinegar for full strength cleaning power.
After. I didn’t get all the brown stuff around the burners off, but I did get a lot of it. And the really nice thing, it’s covered up! 🙂
Task #2 ~ Cleaning my nasty oven
Before. I used to use the self cleaning feature, but you know what? That takes 4 hours, stinks to high heaven, and makes my smoke detector go off. I decided to see what else I could do without wasting 4 hours of electricity, and it really took me only 10 minutes to achieve the following result:
After. Yes! How awesome is that?! I used cleaning vinegar, baking soda, AND a bit of elbow grease. I’m really thrilled with those results. I will definitely clean my oven like this in the future.
Task #3 ~ Cleaning my nasty shower
Before.This shower has been ignored for a long time and was a huge mess.
After.I am really thrilled with the outcome of the shower. Check that out! The yellow film easily wiped away with a vinegar soaked cloth. The grime took a bit of elbow grease, borax, and vinegar. But it’s gone! This shower looks 150% better than it did.
All in all, I’m a Heinz Cleaning Vinegar convert. I will pay the extra 17 cents a gallon next time I need vinegar and buy the cleaning formula.
What do you use to clean your home? Are you worried about all the warning labels??
Michelle Marine is the author of How to Raise Chickens for Meat, a long-time green-living enthusiast, and rural Iowa mom of four. She empowers families to grow and eat seasonal, local foods; to reduce their ecological footprint; and to come together through impactful travel.
Are you using only vinegar to clean in those pictures or a combination of vinegar and the other items listed above (like baking soda, lemon juice, etc)?
Suggestions on scent or other cleaning concoctions if you don’t like the smell of vinegar? I am using a peroxide/lemon juice cleaner now, but I’d switch if I could get it to smell better. My husband won’t clean with it!
Hi to all the “Green Freaks”…
I use all the products and ideas listed above (and maybe below) for cleaning my house. When it comes to the subject of elbow grease, has anyone noticed the inversely proportional ratio of “quick and easy” to toxic to the environment and your family? What ever happened to putting a little muscle into a job well done in the end?
I use essential oils in my homemade laundry soap and fabric softener, but my one tried and true discovery for a clean smelling home is eucalyptus. You can find this at craft stores, and even your big chain stores in the craft department. It is sold as a dried product and will give off a refreshing scent for weeks… and the great thing? Once the scent starts to waver, simply mist the bundle with a few spritzes of water and let them air dry for an hour, then put them into a closed garbage bag in the garage or basement, and in about 2 weeks, your bundle will have refreshed itself and can be put back in your home. I have usually rotate 4 bundles, with 1 downstairs and 1 upstairs. In winter time I will buy a couple extra bundles so that the smell and botanical benefits permeate our home to help with stuffy noses and little coughs.
Thank you so much for this post! As someone that focuses on natural solutions, it’s nice to see some good old fashioned cleaning products I can use. (That actually work!)
Great results!!! I need to try that on my oven instead of “stinking up my home to high heaven”!! 😉
Haha!! Tell me other people use that expression. 🙂
Are you using only vinegar to clean in those pictures or a combination of vinegar and the other items listed above (like baking soda, lemon juice, etc)?
I use vinegar and water only for my windows, mirrors, counter tops, and a combination for most everything else.
Suggestions on scent or other cleaning concoctions if you don’t like the smell of vinegar? I am using a peroxide/lemon juice cleaner now, but I’d switch if I could get it to smell better. My husband won’t clean with it!
Use the essential oils. They make the cleaners smell much better.
Hi to all the “Green Freaks”…
I use all the products and ideas listed above (and maybe below) for cleaning my house. When it comes to the subject of elbow grease, has anyone noticed the inversely proportional ratio of “quick and easy” to toxic to the environment and your family? What ever happened to putting a little muscle into a job well done in the end?
I use essential oils in my homemade laundry soap and fabric softener, but my one tried and true discovery for a clean smelling home is eucalyptus. You can find this at craft stores, and even your big chain stores in the craft department. It is sold as a dried product and will give off a refreshing scent for weeks… and the great thing? Once the scent starts to waver, simply mist the bundle with a few spritzes of water and let them air dry for an hour, then put them into a closed garbage bag in the garage or basement, and in about 2 weeks, your bundle will have refreshed itself and can be put back in your home. I have usually rotate 4 bundles, with 1 downstairs and 1 upstairs. In winter time I will buy a couple extra bundles so that the smell and botanical benefits permeate our home to help with stuffy noses and little coughs.
Oh my gosh what great tips…I will have to try these instead of the harsh chemicals I use and like you said it is cheap!!!!
Good luck, Shannon! 🙂
Thank you so much for this post! As someone that focuses on natural solutions, it’s nice to see some good old fashioned cleaning products I can use. (That actually work!)