I haven't used shampoo for a month now. Instead I make a paste of baking soda, massage it into my scalp, and rinse with diluted vinegar (2T to 1c). I found this method at: http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/go/index.php/389/why-you-should-go-no...
I was suprised how well it works, because I have long, fine, very oily hair, and normally have to use conditioner. No chemicals, no scent, no expensive product. I'm stoked!

This is a decades old way to clean house. It's exctremely cheap and very effective. Of course, it does require a bit more "elbow grease" to get the job done but the benefits far outweigh the effort.

THE ODOR GOES AWAY!!! The smell of vinegar turns many people off from this method of cleaning but I ASSURE YOU the smell diminishes after it dries (it doesn't take long). I only use vinegar to clean and while it is pretty stinky while I'm cleaning, once the job is don and dry, no trace of that vinegary smell remains. If you can't handle it while cleaning, add lemon juice to the vinegar or even a few drops of Tea Tree Oil.

*Tea tree oil gives it that Pine Sol scent and is a natural disinfectant!

Vinegar can be used in place of liquid fabric softener, it works even better! And again, I PROMISE your clothes won't small once they dry.

I literally use vinegar (and sometime baking soda)for every household chore from windows and floors to drains and laundry. I use a little baking soda when I need a mild abrasive and it works like MAGIC. Especially on grease. That nagging black spot on the bottom of your pots and pans? Baking soda (don't even need the vinegar for that, just a few drops of water to make a paste)

I could go on and on, but the point is, YOU DO NOT NEED TO POISON YOUR HOME WITH NASTY COMMERCIAL CHEMICALS!!! Use vinegar and rest assured the small goes away.

That's a great idea Claudette. I keep forgetting to use my vinegar and baking soda like that. I've been mopping up a storm all week with a sick puppy and used up all my Murphy's oil soap. I'm getting out the vinegar next. Thanks for reminding me.

I have other tips for using vinegar. Pour about 2 cups of vinegar in the wash to give the wash a "smell good". It really eliminates odors such as smoke...It is great for towels and give them a new fluff!

with the growing cost of gas and insurance and everything else it costs to keep a car; i have commited to riding my bike to work (about 3.5 miles) and to 'run' errands; when i'm not on my bike i am walking or taking public transportation - and the car? i sold it to ensure i keep my commitment; i feel a lot better about myself and am now looking for more ways to help our world stay green

ummm, i really wanto to use this new method of cleaning, but where can i find the quantities and all?

We have found baking soda and vinegar to be the best kitchen sink (stainless steel)and porcelain cleaner. We hand wash dishes, adding vinegar to the water for sparkle. We also wear 100% cotton or very close to 100% cotton clothes. After awhile in cotton, polyester has an uncomfortable electrical charge that you can feel!

Claudette,
I too am a big fan of your cleaning products. I need the economy size baking soda. Also occasionally when clothing needs a bit of whiting, instead of bleach, hydrogen peroxide is a good substitute. You live in the place of my dreams, but in Mississippi, it's hot enough most of the year (and even in winter) that all of our clothes get hung out on a line to dry. Oddly enough, it's a chore I enjoy, and the clothes smell great. The only use the dryer gets is to store cat food. Thanks for the tips.

Excellent! I have been doing the same down here in IDAHO. If enough people get wise the earth will profit instead of the companies who make the packaged garbage to muck up our homes.

Just be careful not to mix an acid with a base or alkelin product. I inadvertantly combined two recipes to kill insects...the paramedics who washed out my eyes said I could market mace if I could get rid of the exploding factor. A year latter, we are still finding spots on the cabinets and ceiling! Thankfully, it wasn't toxic.

Claudette:
Can you tell me what books gave you all the info for the green cleaning products? I am struggling at work to have them use environmentally-friendly cleaning substances that won't aggravate my multiple chemical sensitivities.
THANKS!

can you elaborate more about the amount nixed for the cleaning

Vinegar and baking soda are a few of my favorite cleaning supplies ... for rust stains, lime and salt scrub and sitting overnight! Lime is great for greasy clean ups too.

im leave in cancun and i would like to know more things about cleaning products...
i think this is a great idea...

My Grandmother still cleans this way - and swears off all the bleach enhanced spray cleaners - as they harm the surface of your environment... we stopped using them after we accidently over sprayed the counter and the cleaner hit the wall surface only to completely bleach spot the painted walls! So what's it doing to your skin? Hail the words of Gramma, and of Claudette.

I clean my carpet with cider vinegar and hot water.
works in the machine, no suds or residue. deoderizes and neutralizes my hound dog's odor.
it it also works as a fungicide rinse for my dogs, and human feet.
we had skin problems, hot spots and itching.
now we rinse them with a cider rinse and leave it on. stopped the itching and repels fleas.

stop fleas by using salt. a plate or sprinkled on your rugs or carpet. do it on a non humid day.
fleas love salt but it kills them.
wait 30 min to an hour, vaccum and toss the bag.
fleas are gone until the next hatch. about 2 wks.
if you use vinegar on your dogs they won't bring any more in.

Thankyou so much for your effort in change. I will be trying this method now.
regards, Marilyn

Lavender is an antibacterial as well as a natural insect repellent. I have a diaper pail spray which is non toxic.A few drops of lavender oil in your natural cleaning solutions for toilet areas smells great and disinfects naturally- no headaches while cleaning! You can also throw a handful of dried lavender buds on a carpet before vacuuming and they will freshen the whole house.
Get rid of toxic insect killers and repellents and use lavender mist!We just had a fly infestation and they all dropped dead in seconds after spritzing them with lavender mist! Tea tree oil also works well on spiders. Scorpions hate lavender. I sell a baby blanket filled with lavender that is a great natural sleep aid- and for areas that have scorpions, a great scorpion repellent! Cleaning - and repelling pests with natural solutions saves our earth and our bodies from toxic chemicals, that over long term have been found in cancer cells. Its worth it!
www.zenspurplegarden.com

Hello Claudette:

I am actually looking for ways to use lemons as cleaning products and/or odor eliminators. I was aware of the vinegar for the odor but not for the cleaning benefit. Baking Soda is great for cleaning all sorts of things including teeth just by itself. What other methods have you used baking soda and borax?

Thanks for the great suggestions!!

Claudette, thanks for your comments. I would appreciate either more details on when/amounts of each of the vinegar, baking soda, borax and lemon juice you used and/or which books you found most helpful.

Hello Claudette!
This is not a reply to YOU and your wonderfull tips, but a remark for LIVE EARTH that I would like you to comment: Why have T-shirts and caps sold with the Live Earth logo, when we should all know, or at least realize, that making more UNUSUFUL STUFF is precisely part of our exhausted planet's problem: just think of how much power, water, labor , transportation etc... it takes to make those T-shirts and caps, which are absolutely NOT necessary --having 2 is enough!-- when you consider the wardrobes of people who can surf on the net, or even of almost all people on earth... I think that Humanity has better to do (and better to use its intelligence for) than making trivial things. Better spend your time, efforts and and money, people of LIVE EARTH , diffusing your message than add on to the endless piles or manufactured products that we don't NEED!

If you want to remove hard water or mineral stains from something, soak the stained part in white vinegar for a day or two. It works better than the highly toxic products like Lime Away that are on the market, is far less expensive and is healthier for you and everyone else.

Try cleaning your mirrors with a weak white vinegar and water solution. It eliminates streaks, once all the old wax from other window cleaners is gone, and leaves the room smelling fresh (contrary to hat you might think to expect). Debra Lynn Dadd, I believe, wrote a very good book about keeping house using non-toxic and natural products which you might find helpful, called "Earthwise, Natural and Nontoxic". It's been out at least since the 1980s.

2 parts white vinegar and one part water in a spray bottle neutralises the enzymes in urine, vomit and other bodily secretions. Great if you have pets or chilren. Also good for really sweaty armpits.

How do I make my own cleaning products. I don't know of any mixtures.

Borax is also a natural flea repellent. Do not put it on your pets, but add it to your laundry and it will keep the fleas out of your house. Also, if you are infested with fleas, you can sprinkle the carpets with Borax, wait 10 days (the life cycle of a flea), then vacuum. Keep washing the clothes with Borax (add it to your regular laundry detergent), and before you know it your house will be flea-free. (I live in South Florida, been using this for years and haven't had a problem with fleas since I've used it.)

Thisis an excellent idea and has been used to clean silver and metals for many years. I will disseminate this good initiative. Regards. Iris

That's very good tip. what is the tittle of the book that you got all this earth friendly products.PLease send more info.

Essential oils added to floor cleaning water mix are nice, too. Smells good, feels good on the bare feet, feeds the wood flooring, etc.
Keep it up!

How do I know which of these to use in particular areas? For example, I have hard wood floors - what is safe to use on these? In the bathroom, which is the best at killing germs? Thanks - CS

I have always used vinegar for cleaning and floors. To cut down on the plastic bottles, you can use water to dilute things like dishwashing soap and shampoo. If you make them last twice as long, you eliminate a container!

Also we soak all dishes in a sink before putting them in the dishwasher. Saves on running water - just lift them from the soak to the dishwasher. You can cut dishwasher use in half by buying SMALLER dishes at the thrift store. Good luck!

Claudette,
You can also clean your drains by pouring baking soda in first, then the vinegar and sealing the drain opening quickly to force the chemical expansion of both down the drain. Voila.

I like to clean surfaces and doorknobs with Lavender essential oil. A natural anti-bacterial fighter.

Best of luck!

This is a great idea!

I have used vinegar to clean up after pets' mistakes, too, and it works really well. So does baking soda in the rug. I don't know if it will change the color - the rug I used it on was off white and it didn't discolor it but I don't know if a bright color would be affected.

Throw a cupful of baking soda into your washing machine along with dirty clothes. You only need about half the amount of detergent when you do this. And you can skip the extra commercial add-ins (like bleach, boosters, etc.), because your wash will smell great, feel soft, and look just as clean!! Your local shopping warehouse (BJ's, Costco, etc.) usually stocks 12 lb. bags of the stuff.
One other tip...throw half a cupful of baking soda down the drain and add about a cup of white vinegar. It will fizz and foam. Then run warm water and garbage disposal for a few seconds. You will deodorize the disposal, and clean out the pipes!

Thanks for the tips! How can you use lemon juice to clean?

Samantha

Hi Claudette,
I wondered if you could tell me the name of the book you used as I am very interested in making my own cleaning products.
Thanks
Angela

I read somewhere that you can use olive oil, or any other kind of cooking oil to clean your woodwork. I have nto tested it yet to find out because most of the wood we have is antique and we use beeswax instead. Also I find that if I use a mixture of one cup vinegar to 1 tablespoon of bleach it helps keep the mildew problem in the bathroom to a minimum. But only if the bathroom was mildew and mold free to begin with.

Use baking soda when you need to scrub your stainless steel sink. Add just a little water to get a paste, use a clean, soft cloth rather than a paper towel. It will scrub away all sorts of stains without ruining the grain of the stanless steel. Just be sure to rinse and wipe it well, or you will have a slightly gritty white finish. It's also good for stains on counter tops!

Can you tell me what the titles of the books are? I'd love to read them.

I clean houses for a living and use as many non-toxic products as possible, including baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice. Even when I have to use other products I try to use the ones less harmful.

What was the mixture of the products you used, in how many parts per water?

Since you do not give us the recipe for white vinegar, baking soda, borax, and lemon juice, we assume you are working for Amazon ?
MEP

Think bigger! There are recipes out there for making your own laundry soap out of borax, fels naptha bar soap, and washing soda. Look it up! White vinegar makes a wonderful (and natural!) fabric softener, and when you mix borax in hot water (which will disolve it) you can add a few drops of essential oil to make everything smell wonderful! I clean my kitchen down with it.. amazing. Remember to think outside the box, and experiment!

I read your suggestion. I have always wondered about these 'natural' cleaning methods. Do you have formula's or proportions to suggest? Maybe you can direct us to some material or site for more information. Thank you.

White vineger on glass,mirrors,stainless stell cleans and shines better and last longer then commercial products- just pour it on a soft cloth and wipe!
Alot of people are turned off by the smell but it goes away after 4-5 mins.

I have a major problem with ants,crawling and biting. What do you suggest I use to get them out of my house and bed.
Corey
Oakland, Ca

You can also use a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar to replace commercial rinse aids for the dishwasher. I have been using this mix for years because the commercial rinse aids always upset my kid's tummy.

Any one who is concerned about this planet should know about Shaklee Corporation. This amazing 50+ year old company has been providing earth safe cleaning products even before it was fashionable. I encourage anyone who is looking for safe, effective kid & Pet friendly products to visit my Shaklee Get Clean page at www.shaklee.net/stgerdonly/getclean

Feel free to contact me for more info on what Shaklee does everyday to protect our "Big Blue Marble"

thanks for the tip,

That's great! good idea, i've been using natural cleaning products, but that sounds even better!
i'll give it a try.