WHY
Most conventional cleaners are TOXIC -- both to your health and to the health of the environment.
PERSONAL HEALTH -- Conventional Cleaners are known to be:
⁃ skin irritants
⁃ carcinogens
⁃ endocrine disruptors
⁃ reproductive challenges
⁃ immunotoxic
⁃ neurotoxic
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: Conventional cleaners flush toxic chemicals into our waterways. Combined with prescription pharmaceuticals (see Natural First Aid Kit) and CAFO animal farms (See Nutrition) are the most significant causes of water pollution for our water systems. (Indeed, both cleaners and pharmaceutical are scientifically engineered NOT to break down).
VINEGAR
Great ALL PURPOSE cleaner
DISPENSER: Spray bottle
Full strength or 1/2 vinegar 1/2 water —
1. Mop your floor,
2. Wipe your bathroom or kitchen or any counters,
3. Clean windows and mirrors. You can wipe with newspaper or get a car squegee for a streak free finish
4. Add on rinse cycle as fabric softener or add to laundry to remove mildewy smell.
5. Kitchen Great edible cleaner for all kitchen needs — Many eco-communities and monasteries I have lived in use vinegar as the primary cleaner in the kitchen.
6. Food stains (or paste with baking soda for bad stains or smelly stains) (Blot don’t smear)
Feel free to add a few drops of your favorite essential oils -- See section below on Essential Oils
• fresh smell of “clean” -- lavender, citrus
• antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal effects
• mood enhancing
Contraindications — Don’t clean Marble, travertine or slate with Vinegar (Bleach can also etch stone)
BAKING SODA
Primary Function: DEODORIZER
1. Deodorizer - Fridge, Garbage disposal, Kitty litter box. Replace in fridge every 3 months or so. When you change kitty litter, sprinkle entire bottom with Baking Soda
2. Make a paste with vinegar or HOOH as a tub scrub, toilet or an oven cleaner
3. Can be used in washing machine 1/4 cup per load for brighter clothes and pull odors from machine
4. Dishwasher can be used with borax as alternative detergent or simply to “clean” dishwasher periodically
5. Mixed with vinegar — can eat away stains
ALCOHOL
Function: Disinfectant and Stain Remover
1. Computer Screens and cell phone screens (mix with 1 part distilled water)
2. Clean Travertine, Marble, or slate which can be affected by vinegar.
3. Great at removing Sticky Goo
4. Disinfect thermometers, earrings, needles, safety pins
5. Clean kitchen sponges
6. Grease stains —(Blot don’t smear) — Follow with vinegar
7. Ink stains — (Blot don't smear) let it sit on the ink to work to cut your work
STAINS
Hydrogen Peroxide, Alcohol and Vinegar+Baking Soda all are wonderful stain removers
- approach quickly
- blot don’t smear
- heat sets stains
Hand Sanitizer
For occasional use, I recommend alcohol with some essential oils. I have this in my car in case gas station is out of soap or i’m eating on the run. A bit of aloe vera or glycerin in the mix can help moisturize the astringent effect of alcohol but makes the solution less stable. Alternatively, you can moisturize your hands after alcohol with a separate salve or lotion.
If you are using homemade hand sanitizer regularly, I recommend adding some emollient/moisturizer:
1/3 cup glycerin or aloe vera gel
2/3 cup alcohol (vodka or rubbing alcohol)
1 tsp vitamin E (preservative)
30 drops Essential Oils (I recommend 8 drops each: tea tree, orange, lavender, rosemary)
EcoFriendly Cleaners
If you really don’t want to make your own
I recommend:
Dr. Bronners -- All purpose Soap, body, laundry, dishes
Ecover -- Laundry & Dishwashing
Seventh Generation: all-purpose, laundry, dishwashing
Bon Ami -- toilet bowl, very difficult jobs
Organic Cleaners
To complicate the problem, there is, as of 2015, no regulation equivalent to "organic" in the cleaner industry. Vague greenwashing terms like "ecologically-friendly", "natural”, “organic” or “non-toxic” are meaningless.
Meaningful terminology includes: "No solvents", "no phosphates", "plant-based", “no petroleum based ingredients.”
The way in which many Americans blindly put their faith in scientists has warped our lens on cleaning supplies in the same way it has warped our lens on food and medicine. We trust what is modern and "scientific" more than longstanding cultural traditions. Reductionistic profit driven science has consumed true observation. Our germophobic, materialistic, magic pill popping culture that places full fidelity in science (as our culture becomes more alienated from the natural world) buys synthetic special cleaners for everything.
I contend that the "organic cleaning supply industry" is simply an industrial business model looking to make money while barely scratching the surface of doing good. It is still tangled in the web of consumeristic profit driven big business mentality.
I propose DIY, home scale cleaners basically using 5 cheap and easily attainable products:
- Vinegar
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Baking Soda
- Alcohol
- Dr Bronners
I like to have a half dozen spray bottles around filled with HOOH and Vinegar to clean windows, countertops, bathrooms, cutting boards. This makes for a very economical cleaner that is less toxic than many of the synthetic industrial formulas popular today and less stressful on our waterways and environment as well.
HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
Great ALL PURPOSE Cleaner
I use primarily in bathrooms and Raw Meat Cutting boards when no High Heat Sanitization available.
Dispenser: Spray bottle
Many human pathogens are anaerobic and don’t like Oxygen rich environments. Our cells first level of immune defense is lysosomes expressing H2O2 against germs. An O element is highly unstable and can kill many microbes, viruses, etc. .
1. Industrially used as a paper and flour bleach. It is very safe around food. Safe alternative to chlorine based bleach.
2. Good for a grout cleaner such as in showers
3. Mold / Mildew
4. Sanitize cutting boards after meat. I also like high heat/dishwasher sanititation with raw meat cutting boards.
5. Clean the outside of the toilet bowl. Inside as well but I don’t think one has to get neurotic about cleaning the inside of something that’s going to get shit in within the next 24 hours.
6. 1/2-1 cup HOOH for a load of laundry — brightens clothes
7. Can be used topically as an antiseptic on wounds
8. Can pour a capful in ears to loosen wax and clean ears.
9. Sanitize toothbrush or mouthwash (1 part HOOH in 4 parts water — I use foodgrade)
Oxygen (Hydrogen peroxide) is great at cleaning: anti-viral, anti-bacterial, blood stain removal
It degrades to Water and Oxygen.
NOTE:There is food grade HOOH but the normal brown bottle is 3% not for internal use. There are some internal cleanses that include daily use of small amounts of food grade HOOH for microbial infections that go beyond the scope of this post. Please research this and USE food grade HOOH if you are considering it as an alternative health therapy such as GI therapy.
I also use food grade for mouthwash,
Essential Oils
I like to add several drops of essential oils to my vinegar bottle for a fresh scent. I use citrus in the kitchen and lavender in the bathroom. Other options include:
Strongest antimicrobial effects- oregano, thyme, clove, eucalyptus, tea tree
Still antimicrobial -- lavender, peppermint, cinnamon, rosemary, juniper, pine, lemon, orange, geranium
The vinegar is plenty for microbes. I use essential oils primarily for pleasing scent.
NOTES: An alternative to using essential oils in vinegar cleaner is to infuse your white vinegar for cleaning with used orange or lemon peels. Grab those essential oils yourself.
1. Put Citrus peels (lemon or orange into vinegar in a quart mason jar.) Leave for a month.