Greener Cleaners

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To help you get started with your own less-toxic cleaners, turn to Page 86 for a selection of recipes. The recipe ingredients can be found in grocery, drug and health food stores.

Adapted from Better Basics for the Home by Annie Berthold-Bond, © 1999 by Annie Berthold-Bond. Used by permission of Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

5 Ingredients for Less-Toxic Cleaning

With five ingredients — baking soda, washing soda, liquid soap or detergent, distilled vinegar and an antiseptic essential oil — you can clean everything in your house.

Baking Soda and Washing Soda. The magic of these minerals is that they neutralize many stains and odors. They are alkaline, cut grease and can even dissolve wax. Baking soda also serves as a mild abrasive. Washing soda is the best heavy-duty scourer, but it is slightly caustic, so you need to wear gloves when using it.

Liquid Soap or Detergent. Soap is better for your health and the environment than detergents, but because water reacts with minerals in soap, washing clothes with it can leave an insoluble film and turn clothes grayish. If you wash your clothes with detergent, select the most biodegradable brand.

Vinegar and Essential Oils. Vinegar neutralizes many stains and odors, dissolves scale and pulls dirt out of wood. Use only white distilled vinegar for cleaning; apple cider vinegar could stain some materials, such as upholstery. Antiseptic essential oils — such as tea tree, sweet orange, lemon-grass, rose, clove, eucalyptus, cinnamon, birch or lavender — kill bacteria and mold.

Be a cleaning machine...

Soap for Sparkling Dishes

This cleaner works well except in hard water, where it can cause soap scum.

1 ounce liquid castile soap
2 cups water
1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
5 to 10 drops lavender essential oil (optional, but lavender is antibacterial)

Combine the soap and water in a jar. Add the glycerin and lavender (if using). Stir to blend. Pour some on a sponge, or add a few teaspoons to a sink full of warm water.

Soap Scum-fighting Spray

1 teaspoon borax
1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
2 cups hot water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle, and shake to blend. Spray. Follow with a sponge. Rinse. Makes 2 1/4 cups.

Gentle-but-effective Scrub I use this effective formula on Formica countertops, sinks, the bathtub and the shower stall.

1/2 cup baking soda
Enough liquid soap or detergent to make a frostinglike consistency
5 to 10 drops essential oils, such as rose or lavender (optional)

Place the baking soda in a bowl; slowly pour in the liquid soap, stirring all the while, until the cleaner has a frostinglike consistency. If you're using any essential oils, be sure to add them last. Scoop the creamy mixture onto a sponge, wash the surface well and rinse. Makes 1/2 cup.

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